Ed Dowding

Category: Being Human

Happiness, Health, and Psychology

Solitude

Happy the man, whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply him with attire; Whose trees in summer yield shade, In winter, fire. Blest, who can unconcern’dly find Hours, days, and years, slide ...

Thank you, Waitrose! Free, expensive, friendly, and ethical.

Not only have Waitrose just topped the list of most ethical supermarkets but they’ve also just called me up to give me a bunch of free wood. I was there the other day filling up with petrol, and they had something sitting in a huge wooden crate next to the car wash, so I asked if ...

Year 34: we have sighted land

I think it’s safe to tell you what’s going on, now. Enough of the elements are firmly in place. We’re setting up a small-holding in West Lexham, Norfolk, on 2 acres of land. We will be suppling food to, and helping out with the development of, the new sustainability centre which is being developed there, ...

4 steps to handling emotional or conflict conversations

The four steps, when used in “self-expression” mode, work like this: To observe without evaluation, judgment, or analysis, To express feelings which these observations evoke, To express needs connected with these feelings, (optional) To make a specific request of another person to help meet an unmet need, and to enrich life of everyone involved. Essential ...

The one that got away

There have been lots of coincidences, serendipity, and small-world moments during these last few weeks. Exactly a week, almost to the hour, after the end of our experience chez Jimmy’s Farm, I was helping a farmer friend with a little challenge: There is a field with some cows in it. We have some hurdles. We ...

Don't do anything that isn't play

“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much – the wheel, New York, wars and so on – whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had ...

Happy Monkeys

Pretty much everyone wise who has picked up a pen for the topic of happiness seems to agree that it lies in the simplest of pleasures, mostly coalescing around the contentment of our animal selves.

The surprising truth about what motivates us

YouTube – RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.

It's all too beautiful

It’s so damned lovely here. The last few nights we’ve slept upstairs on the open deck so see stars above us, hear the river below us, and the birdsong and chirping crickets all around. It is serene, and it is beautiful. In the mornings the dawn chorus is simply huge. It’s like being awakened by ...

Vatican reaches out to atheists

The Vatican is planning a new initiative to reach out to atheists and agnostics in an attempt to improve the church's relationship with non-believers. Pope Benedict XVI has ordered officials to create a new foundation where atheists will be encouraged to meet and debate with some of the Catholic Church's top theologians. via Vatican reaches ...

10 Things I Learned From Meditation

Because I find myself coming back to this question from time to time, here’s a list I came across at Fresh Creation. Thoughts are not reality Focus is important Media influence your view on the world People are good Positive thinking is very powerful Mistakes are good There’s too much stuff Listen to your body Helping ...

Status Anxiety

(recreated from Alain de Botton’s book of the same name)

Every single day is a decision you make

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU-6r4zznp4 This is where I just had a melon and kiwi breakfast. Every single day we make a choice how we want to live. Every. Single. Day. We have spare beds and open arms.

Notes from the Pyrenees

A first tentative vodcast… Music muchos gracias to the overwhelmingly talented Nathaniel Slade (Licence)

Travel Forever and Live Rent Free

http://www.camelotproperty.com http://www.guardianangelservices.co.uk http://www.mindmyhouse.com http://www.vagabondish.com/8-tools-travel-long-term-live-rent-free/

God is a stress reaction

An interesting article in the WSJ today about how belief in God is not innate. Because humans are hard-wired for religion, it must be reformed rather than refuted to better fit the modern world. People are genetically preprogrammed to be pious because it confers a selective advantage that enhances reproductive success. If it were so ...

Shel Silverstein

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TZCP6OqRlE

A farm for the future

I finally got around to watching A Farm for the Future (available on Google Video) a few nights ago, and found it to be a great introduction to the concepts of permaculture. Key things to realise (some not from the programme): Current methods of farming will not continue to feed you during your lifetime. We ...

What do we call ourselves?

A question from The Blended Lifestyle if we move away from a materialistic life, what is the name for the kind of life we enter into? I don’t like ‘de-materialised’ (so what is it then?), ‘simple’ (it’s not simple), or ‘spiritual’ (problematic term). So I am missing a word. Do you have any ideas? There’s ...

Two ideas for storing soup

When you make a big vat of soup – and with root veg being so cheap at this time of year you’d be crazy not to – you can freeze the remainder so you’re not eating leek and potato or carrot and parsnip every day. It makes sense to freeze in one- or two-person portions, ...