#10 Breath of Life

This is the name of the study group that I'm part of and is led by Meriel M. as part of the "Systems View of Life" course by Fritjof Capra.

I was immediately attracted to the title of this group because I've been recognizing more and more the presence of this "breath of life" everywhere. It is the natural pattern of nature - the waves, the change of seasons, one breathe in and one out.

My encounter with Toke Paludan Moeller this week also brought up the same topic. Breath is the only constant in life he said. And after he posed an important question: We think we are breathing, but are we? Or are we being "breathed" by life?

And just as we are part of Nature we are also bound to these patterns. In the following newsletter, I will share which chapters I've been closing since January and what new is coming up for me. Breathe in and breathe out.

On this breath out I am celebrating - celebrating my regular personal practice of journaling, meditation and yoga. I am celebrating the gifts that I am giving to myself or allowing to receive from others (e.g. a painting class with my aunt a few weeks ago!)... I am celebrating that I am remembering to celebrate!

Guiding an Organisation Strategically towards Sustainability

We have finally concluded our collaboration with Plant-for-the-Planet Ghana. This project began its first breath in November and it concluded in the beginning of February. It was our first time putting into practice strategic sustainability consulting for a real organisation. I went like smooth sailing. Even though we were in Sweden and the founder and director Rabiu Dannakabu we conducted 2 online workshops with him - one workshop for creating a new vision for his organisation (whilst building on the existing one) and one for finding creative solutions on how to get to that vision. Then hours finetuning the outcomes - prioritizing the strategic actions and creating an action plan.

At the end of this busy period, my main learning is that when it comes to organisational change, one cannot direct an organisation towards change. We can only nudge it. Time will tell if our intervention was meaningful for the organisation and if it would bring about a more sustainable future for Plant-for-the-Planet Ghana.

Can the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) be used strategically?

My main focus in the last weeks has become CSRD and I don't know if it is confirmation bias but I'm hearing all about it... In the next months we will focus our research around the design of the tool, but also on its implementation. If you, dear reader, work in a company that is preparing to implement the CSRD or you are a practitioner and would like to share your view on it as part of our research you can fill in our interest form and we will get back to you!

More Flow is coming

Almost a month ago, I began my practices to become a Flow Game host. The first time I heard about the game was in November 2019 so it has been a long journey for me to come to this point.

This last week, however, has proved to be a really over-Flow-ing week. On Monday I hosted my first online Flow game with a very small circle of close friends. On Wednesday in MSLS we hosted Toke Paludan Moeller who is one of the creators of the Art of Hosting AND the Flow game.

Thanks to his invitation I was able to co-facilitate with him a session for my classmates. Tomorrow is also a big Flow day - it is the day I'm going to pick up my game finally from the post office and on the final session of my practice this Saturday I will be able to play with my own deck of the game. If you are interested in the Flow game and you would like to play - let me know!

Additionally, this week we officially set out the date for this year's Art of Hosting Karlskrona which will take place 11-14th of June in our beautiful Swedish archipelago. If you are interested you can sign up here!

Women in Leadership

Last but not least - I'm proud to say that on the 1st of March, exactly a week before International Women's Day, I was invited by the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) to once again deliver a workshop on the topic of Women in Leadership. This time the interest in the topic has doubled and almost 50 women from all over the world will attend! I'm excited and super grateful for this opportunity to share with them my knowledge and skills and hopefully, this workshop can be a stepping stone in their leadership journeys!

In moments like this, I feel blessed and honoured when I'm able to do the work that I love in service to others.

With love,

Kris