In our Autumn 2021 issue, our sustainability correspondent Davie Philip explored how Buddhist teachings can help us find our way towards planetary healing. Read his reflections below.
In our Autumn 2021 issue, our resident gardening expert, Hans Wieland, took a look at the many health, social and environmental benefits of trees! Enjoy his words below.
We have long been huge fans of the eco-conscious household goods company If You Care, so it was an honour to feature them in our Spring 2020 issue. These environmental advocates have been flying the flag for sustainability since 1990. Read on to learn all about what they offer!
Positively Newsworthy is one of our favourite sections of the magazine. Here, we aim to highlight stories of hope, optimistic perspectives and joyous developments in our world. We hope you enjoy this extract from our Spring 2020 issue, and that you are staying safe and well at this time.
The Mooncup® is a reusable menstrual cup that offers a great way to reduce waste during the menstrual cycle. The company has also provided strong support to a range of charities, while also encouraging its fans to adopt more eco-conscious behaviours in many different areas of their lives. Read on to find out more about their philosophy!
Hema Vyas is an amazing psychologist and spiritual mentor who recently appeared at Positive Nights. She has great wisdom to share on how we can navigate climate change – read the insightful piece below to learn more!
In this sneak peek of a powerful article from our Spring 2019 issue, Davie Philip discusses how we can use new stories of hope and resilience to inspire ourselves to tackle the challenges facing our planet. To read the full article, pick up a copy of the magazine at your local stockist or subscribe here.
In this extract from our Autumn 2018 issue, Davie Philip talks about how we can change our collective mindset to one of collaboration and openness.
Thinking Differently
“With our thoughts we make the world.” – Buddha
By Davie Philips
Change is constant. However, recently the pace seems to be accelerating. To cope with this, and to make the transition to a healthy society based on fairness, wellbeing and sustainability, we need to shift worldviews and open our minds and hearts to fresh ways of thinking. So what kind of thinking would enable us to flourish in uncertainty?
Currently, we are locked into an individualistic worldview where reductionist or mechanistic thinking dominates. This mindset breaks everything down into parts to be analysed and measured. By understanding the parts and how they function, we presume we can understand everything important there is to know about something. This reductionism is useful for understanding inanimate things, or simple systems like machines, but can be destructive when applied to living systems. It also tends to lead to a silo mentality, which is inward looking and resists sharing information and resources.
We justify our superiority over the environment when we think we are separate and with this worldview we create fragile, linear systems. Through the diversity and complexity of their webs of relationships, and by sharing resources across their boundaries, living systems increase wellbeing and resilience. Observing these patterns and principles of natural systems might provide us with vital insights into how to redesign our socioeconomic systems to be collaborative, regenerative and resilient.
So, how might we shift our thinking?
Our current way of thinking is rooted in the industrial revolution. This period of human development was dependent on a mechanistic worldview and has dominated and influenced our behaviour ever since. In integral philosophy, worldviews evolve by including and transcending preceding worldviews. So rather than an ecological mindset replacing a mechanistic one, instead it provides a different perspective and access to another type of knowledge with which to navigate the world.
We cannot make the transformation the world needs without making an inner transformation in our thinking. With an ecological worldview we think in terms of process, pattern, flow, connectedness, and relatedness. I believe that as we become more conscious we evolve to hold an ecological worldview. According to theologian Thomas Berry, we will then realize that we live in a world which is a “communion of subjects,” not just a “collection of objects.”
Davie Philip is a group facilitator and trainer who manages the Community Resilience programme at Cultivate. Davie is collecting stories of transformational community led projects: if you are involved in something in your area, do send him an e-mail.
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The Open Minds Conference: Bringing Changemakers Together
The Open Minds Conference, taking place from the 2nd to the 4th of March 2018 in Dooley’s Hotel, Co. Waterford, aims to bring together those who wish to explore deep truths about the world around them. By inviting a wide range of guest speakers to delve into issues as diverse as environmental pollution, meditation, the history of ancient Ireland and sound healing (to name just a few), the organisers of the conference hope to inspire attendees to create positive change in their communities and the wider world. For more information, go to openmindsconference.com or facebook.com/OMIC2018. Tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS (the Beast from the East). When alternative arrangements have been made, this article will be updated.
If you have been searching for an action-packed event that will broaden your understanding of the world around you and invite you to consider a breathtaking array of new perspectives, look no further than the Open Minds Conference taking place in Co. Waterford this spring. This three-day conference will play host to speakers such as DJ and music researcher Mark Devlin, health and fitness advocate Damien Mooney, and yoga teacher Tracy Boland. The inspirational two-time cancer survivor Bernadette Bohan and the well-known musician, artist and researcher Max Igan will also be in attendance.
Aisling Fitzgibbon, one of the Open Minds speakers, will be discussing the evolution of activism, and how people can effectively deal with pressing social, environmental or political issues while maintaining their own wellbeing. She brings a wealth of campaigning experience to the event, having spent many years raising awareness of the fluoridation of the Irish water system in her role as the Girl Against Fluoride. She is also the director of the Energy is Your Currency Community and the weekly Aisling’s Holistic Health Show. “The purpose of the Open Minds Conference is to bring conscious awareness to different topics that affect everyone, and then connect like-minded people,” she explains. “Once people start learning about health and political issues that impact everyone, they can start to feel quite isolated and negative. The idea behind the event is to highlight those issues, and then present positive solutions as to what we can do.”
Other topics that will be covered during the conference include natural health and wellbeing, nutrition, shamanic drumming, and lively discussions on a range of political and social issues. A full list of speakers can be found here. The video below – featuring the conference’s Executive Producer Trevor Eivers – will give you an idea of exactly what you can expect.
Trevor sums up the event by saying, “be prepared for a life changing experience, and to feel an amazing energy and vibration – the ripples of which will spread far and wide.” Aisling echoes this, adding that the fundamental idea behind the Open Minds Conference is “not to feel hopelessness or despair, but to actually realise just how powerful we are.”
The Open Minds Conference will be taking place on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of March 2018 in Dooley’s Hotel, Co. Waterford. More information about the event can be found at openmindsconference.com or www.facebook.com/OMIC2018, while tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite. To learn more about Aisling’s work on conscious activism, check out her website, aislingfitzgibbon.com
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Positive Life Optimistic October: Samhain Festival, Yoga gathering, Tantra @ Positive Nights & More!
Optimistic October! Autumn is here, bringing the beautiful colours in the foliage, the chills you feel when the wind blows on the early mornings and that lovely craving for the best hot cocoa in town! As every year, we get ready for Samhain, All Hallow’s Eve or simply Halloween and look forward to even more cozy nights next to our loved ones! Our Vibes this month is filled with beautiful events and as always lovely recommendations for your mind, body & spirit! Remember our Autumn issue of Positive life Magazine is now out! Sign up here to get a chilled copy in your postbox! Loads of love, from all the team. Join us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter if you haven’t already.x
Samhain & Yoga!
Samhain Yoga Retreat
Date: 27-29 October 2017
Location: Old Head of Kinsale, Cork, Ireland
Wild Atlantic Way Yoga invites you to celebrate the Celtic New Year with a 3 day relaxing retreat in Cork! The retreat includes vegetarian cuisine, accommodation and yoga classes.
click here to get your tickets and learn more!
Angel Therapy at Positive Nights
Corin Grillo / Angel Therapy
Positive Nights Event (Powerscourt Theatre)
Date: October 26th, 2017
This evening we welcome Corin Grillo to the stage. Weaving a combo of both traditional and energy/intuitive based therapies Corin provides an ideal environment for clients to make profound and often rapid positive changes. She works collaboratively with clients and help them tap in to their own inner voice, so that they can listen to their own wisdom on how to support and ignite their path towards healing.
Corin will also be hosting her own weekend workshop in dublin, find out more below:
You can learn more about Corin here!
Clothing with a Conscience!
Grown A clothing line with personal values that is conscious of the effects retail companies and their associated energy consumption has on the environment. For this reason they produce clothing with a shared responsibility for such impact. One TREE is planted for every T-shirt made. Their clothes are also very lovely! Slip them on this autumn and feel the vibes.
You can check them out and do a little shopping here!
Vitamin C for a Healthy Autumn!
Abundance & Health : fresh new product: Altrient Vitamin C sachets. This high strength nutritional supplement is made to pharmaceutical standards to crash through your body’s absorption barriers -to get high potency vitamin C where you need it most, to your cells.
Visit abundanceandhealth.co.uk to get them and stay healthy and ready this season!
Yoga Gathering 2017!
October 27-30th, 2017
Seagrave House, Dunany, Co. Louth, Ireland
The first annual Kundalini Yoga is a moment when the timing is just right for a big and beautiful experience to unfold! Kundalini yoga teachers, inspirational speakers and Kirtan musicians will come together to share an elevated consciousness with anyone who feels the call to participate.
For tickets & more info visit wellwithin.ie/yoga-gathering
The Organic Trust in Ireland
The Organic Trust was established as a voluntary not-for-profit organisation. The Trust is the centre of excellence when it comes to organic inspection and certification. They have a very broad range of organic technical expertise available within their organisation.
You can learn more about their services and their work by visiting organictrust.ie
Queen of Tantra @ Positive Nights!
Date: October 5th, 2017
Positive Nights event.
The Powerscourt Theatre.
7:30pm – 9:30pm
On this very special evening Paul welcomes back the queen of Tantra, Dawn Cartwright! We will for sure have another beautiful evening to enjoy her wonderful guidance and insights into love & relationships.
Join Paul & Dawn for an evening of love and intimacy that is sure to inspire. You’ll be guided through Tantra practices that open the heart. A journey into the far reaches of human sexuality and Tantra.
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