Weaving the Future

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I’ll present a list of things to consider, to learn about, or to practice in order to help understand and work toward the change we need to see in the world. Honestly, I get frustrated when I see too much individual focus where there, but obviously our society is made up of individuals who all need to start somewhere? So what can we do?

Overall, I suggest the idea of living the questions, rather than trying to have all the answers.

In this episode, I offer the follow starting points for where to start:

1. Slow way down - Feels necessary in order to be able to do any of the other pieces. Stopping the glorification of busy. Avoiding the idea of “We don’t know where we are going, but we are making good time”. Working less for those that may currently have more than we need.
2. Recognize and shift mindsets - Refer back to mindsets and paradigms episode. Also refer to characteristics of White Supremacy Culture
3. Come from a place of love and intention, rather than fear, anxiety or urgency - This is a practice, and a lot of the work we do on our own can be figuring out how to come from love and intention.
4. Ongoing healing of barriers and wounds - Urgency to do work needed in the community can take away from doing our individual healing work. Yet doing our healing work helps us come from a place of love and intention. Important to pay attention to where we are stuck or
5. Embodying unique genius - “Genius” term as used by Michael Meade - each of us has something essential and unique to contribute. It is important for us to find our true voice and inner wisdom. Acknowledging that on some level each of us has a longing to contribute to society, and only we can find it underneath the conditioning and disfunction that exists now.
6. Actively experiment - Bring what you are learning and digging into on an individual level into interpersonal and community level work, and vice versa.

Resources I mention:

• Google document showing a list of resources and theories I have pulled together for this project - https://docs.google.com/document/d/12PMPGaxGG6PFAP-jsJyfEZKvY8V1MqH5dWJn8EBy11k/edit?usp=sharing
• Inspiration for the idea of “living the questions” - https://onbeing.org/series/living-the-questions/
• "We don't know where we are going, but we are making good time" - Human Venture Institute - https://humanventure.com/
• The power of reducing to part-time work - This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein - https://thischangeseverything.org/book/
• Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture- https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-supremacy-culture-characteristics.html
• Michael Meade - Finding our purpose or "genius". Living myth podcast episode about genius - https://www.mosaicvoices.org/episode-188-adversity-reveals-genius

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Introduction to the podcast, including background on the host Robyn McLean, an overview of the goals of the project and how episodes will be formatted.

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The Weaving the Future Podcast aims to foster conversation and tangible insights on how we can live and work in ways that are aligned, sacred, equitable and joyful. Every month, we start by taking some time to frame and get some shared understanding of a topic, followed by a group discussion centred around questions that are emerging, interesting or challenging.

This episode kicks off a regular monthly schedule of community discussions, which are also live recordings for the podcast and YouTube versions of these episodes. We focus on the questions: What would a different economic system look like? How would that look and feel different in our everyday lives?

I start by sharing takeaways from attending the Ownership Matters conference in Victoria, BC in early May 2024. The model of Community Ownership presented in this work presents one of the most exciting and promising ideas for how we might shift our economic system from something abstract into something that brings our hearts, everyday lives and sense of empowerment back into how we talk about economics.

We then had a group discussion focused on these questions:

What is a vision for a different economic system?

We do we want our everyday lives to look like? If we could create the perfect life for yourself and your community, what would that look like?

What needs to happen to support this way of living? This includes the question of what economic system would support the everyday lives we are hoping for.

You can find the video version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/atZgl0Cc1ms

Links for Weaving the Future and Robyn McLean:

https://weavingthefuture.net/ - Information about the podcast, courses and other opportunities to connect

https://tapestrycollectiveco-op.com/ - Information about consulting services of Tapestry Collective Co-op

https://calendly.com/robyntapestry/weaving-the-future-initial-consult - Book a free initial consult to talk about what would support you to make meaningful change in the world

Links and resources for this episode, including a few examples of community ownership in BC and Canada:

https://ownershipmatters.ca/ - Report and resources about building community wealth in Canada, part of a larger research project of Royal Roads University and Scale Institute and is supported by funding from the Vancouver Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

https://www.propoliscooperative.com/bond-campaign - Chance to invest in a community bond campaign to build affordable green homes in Kamloops, BC. This is a community ownership project spearheaded by Tapestry team member Lindsay Harris.

https://www.communityimpactrealestate.ca/ - social enterprise property management company in Vancouver, BC. Income generated by the market-value leased units, allows leases to non-profits and social enterprises at below-market rates in exchange for the impact created through their services.

https://salishseaind.com/ - An Indigenous-owned and operated business in Victoria, BC, offering pile driving and dredging services.

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This episode was recorded back in June 2022. Happy to share it now, as we are rebooting this podcast.
We talked about starting from a belief that the system we live in CAN change, and staring with:

• Comprehensive vision
• Understand what holds the problem in place
• Comprehensive and collective action
• Work with emergence

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Weaving the Future Podcast is a passion project birthed at the height of the pandemic, and the podcast episodes I released at this time are very close to my heart. They capture deep reflections on the kind of world I want to live in and my role in shaping it. The podcast has mostly been on hiatus over the past few years as I grappled with some massive changes in my life. In the background, I have actively continued to live the questions that have shaped this work.
In this episode, I reflect on the question of How can we live and work in radically different ways?

In particular, how do we move toward lives that are nourishing, just, compassionate, meaningful, sacred, joyful, sensual....? How do we return to a sense of belonging with ourselves, other humans, the web of life and the land?

I start with some deep and vulnerable storytelling about the last decade of my life, in which I have orchestrated some extraordinary transformation in my life and my approach to work. I share insights on living and working in radically different ways, emphasizing embodying deep love and nourishment for oneself over urgency and fear.

The episode ends with an open discussion inviting some of the people most dear to me who attended the live recording to share feedback, questions and suggestions for future episodes.
If you would like to learn more about me and my work, check out:
www.weavingthefuture.net
www.tapestrycollectiveco-op