This is an activity. Materials you will need include:

• Pencil / Pen (Yes, we would like for you to write.)
• A notebook or journal
• A quiet space where you can focus
• The PDFs – Values Worksheets

Permaculture.  What is it and why do we keep going on about it?

Historically, the word “Permaculture” is about designing sustainable human settlements, and preserving and extending natural systems. Permaculture, A Designer’s Manual, opening page. Three tenets keep us focused:  Care for the planet, Care for people, Fair share. (Which also involves returning surplus to the system.) https://ethical.net/ethical/permaculture-principles/

Sustainability and regeneration are the two concepts that will keep us living productive lives on this planet. We moved beyond our capacity for these two concepts, and it has created a fair bit of chaos. We feel passionate that these concepts are the basis for a balanced life.

In this piece we will (broadly) discuss how to look at your own development and life through these lenses, and make suggestions to help you think about applying them.

Imagine you in the middle of a circle. You, the center of your own world. You have basic needs and wants, and those go in that circle with you. We’ll list some of those out later.

Now imagine a circle around your circle. That’s your inner circle, the place where your closest people are represented. They have needs and wants and those are the people that you will rearrange some of your own wants for.

The circles build outwards, and that is a map of your personal social permaculture.

Determining your goals will determine the steps to take to get there. It’s important to spend some time identifying the long game on your path. Where are you headed? Why?

Where would you like to be in a year? Five years? Ten years?

One of the hardest tasks for me when I was younger (and it still sometimes is, because I was raised to fervently believe in the worth and value of every person) is, how do you measure where a person is in your circles? My parents told me about concentric social circles when I was younger, and a sense of self was to be developed much later. I did not have a good rule or measure to evaluate how to intentionally place people in my world, close to me or far from me. It almost happened accidentally, as if I was just always thinking “welp, this is my life now. This is what I’m doing today”. It was reactive, and completely lacked a sense of who I was over time.

Even as I was just going with the flow, the flow was shaping me. I just did not have a lot of intention behind the choices.

A lot of people that are neurodivergent have a difficult time with a sense of self. When you are anxious all the time, or you are extraordinarily literal, you may feel that you have to intellectually apply all the rules you have learned (such as: all humans are inherently good, or telling the complete truth means including all of the details. All. Of. Them.). You may be confused by mixed signals, or you may have learning challenges that affect how you apply what you learn. Moving through the world can be intense. If you are overwhelmed, you move through the world and there isn’t a lot of time to process every single thing. It’s important to think about who you are and what is important to you in a broader context, though. Doing this work can help you set and maintain healthy boundaries, and that is so important to healthy connections. It can help you stay grounded in what’s important, and prioritize where you put your energy.

Your sense of self determines all the other social permaculture in your world. If you don’t know, and you can’t figure it out, then it’s almost easier to barrel through the world and then see if you can make life happen without actually understanding yourself. This usually that ends up with you reflecting upon the wreckage of a connection or situation and saying “why did I behave that way?” People would say to me “you are smart; why did you choose that awful choice?” and I never knew how to answer because I was not well defined. Let’s talk about who you are on the inside. Let’s talk about what’s really important.

The ‘YOU’ Section

If you had a tape measure, how much of it would you use to measure the values that are within you? Would it be a little bit, or a lot of the measure? Are there values that you would like to have, and yet every time you have a choice you are frustrated and cannot choose them? Let’s apply some values to that, as an exercise. Let’s see if this fits you.

Take a look at the table below. Moving quickly, identify each value with a level from 0-7. 0=no weight or value, and 7=Highest weight or value.

Once you are done, Identify the values that are a 6 or a 7. Write them out.

Identify the ones that are a 4 or a 5

Identify the 2-3 values.

Write the 0-1 values.

Now What?

Now that you have identified what values are important to you (these are “core values”), let’s reflect. 

Were they what you expected? Were you surprised by any of them? Or by the weight of them? Have your values changed over time? List the core values on the Weighted Core Values Worksheet, with the most important values on the longest lines, and then in decreasing value. This is a visual representation of your personal permaculture. This is what you “plant” in your personal space.

The “DEAR ONES” Section

When you think of who may be in the very next section outward, what do you value in your Dear Ones? What resonates with you when you think of people to whom you are close, or when you think of qualities in someone that might land in that section?

Social Permaculture Images

Values Worksheet for Others in Your World

Do the values you want to see in your close circle match your own internal values? Are they complementary? Conflicting? Do they serve your path and intentions?

Are they birth family? Chosen and intentional family? If you realized that you cannot change them as individuals, would you still have them there?

List the Values from above that you would like to see represented in your circles here:

Inner Circle (one out from your “you” circle) Values:

Middle Circle Values:

Outer Circle Values:

Values you would look for in the wider world:

When you meet a new person, or are interacting with a person you already know, consider weighing their words and actions against these values, and make sure they align. If they do not, then you might think about if you have them in the proper area for who they are and what they do.

This helps you explore your own sense of self, and how that is defined. It also helps you explore how others fit into your world, and where you are planting seeds for growth, and where you are planting seeds for getting stuck.

Consider this list of the Twelve Supporting Principles of Permaculture from https://ethical.net/ethical/permaculture-principles/:

• Observe and Interact.
• Catch and Store Energy.
• Obtain a Yield.
• Apply Self-Regulation and Feedback.
• Use and Value Renewables.
• Produce No Waste.
• Design from Patterns to Details.
• Integrate Don’t Segregate.
• Use Small, Slow Solutions.
• Use and Value Diversity.
• Use Edges and Value the Marginal.
• Creatively Use and Respond to Change.

How do these stack up against the values you have identified?

Let’s Review!

The values that you put the most weight in are the values that define you at your core.

The values that you use to evaluate others indicate where they grow in your world, be it in your inner circle or the outer world.

Your sense of self is the overarching awareness of your values and priorities.

You evaluate these priorities in your mind, in your heart, and in your gut. 

What you plant is what you grow.