Many years ago when I was very ill with cancer I was gifted a perpetual flip calendar based on the New York Times bestseller “Ask and It Is Given” by Esther & Jerry Hicks. I’ve kept it and regularly update to the date. Today seems particularly meaningful especially after listening to Jon Kabat-Zinn speak on awareness, breath and mindfulness. Whenever I’ve been asked about goals I’ve sensed a resistance and resonate much more with “achieving the vibration of allowing…” Each of us is the visionary in creating our lives and here is where the Inner Development Guide makes such a meaningful contribution. If you have the time to sit with this, we’d love to hear your thoughts too.

We talk a lot about transforming our food systems. But almost no one talks about transforming the people who shape them. At first glance, farming and inner development seem worlds apart. Farming is physical, practical, rooted in soil and seasons. Inner development is mental and emotional, rooted in awareness and mindsets. Yet the irony is this: our food system will not regenerate unless the people within it do. And here’s the uncomfortable truth: we will not fix food security or soil health through techniques alone. We need different farmers AND different leaders shaping the system around them. As a farmer myself, I realised that food systems are not purely agricultural problems. They are human systems and human systems behave according to the mindsets, fears, blind spots, and values of the people inside them. This is why complex challenges (“wicked problems”) overwhelm us. We respond with roadmaps, committees, think tanks, five-year plans. These feel productive, but they often tackle symptoms rather than root causes. The cycle continues at every new government mandate or annual budget exercise. So what’s the real bottleneck? Not a lack of knowledge. Not a lack of technology. Not even a lack of land (at least not in my country Mauritius). The bottleneck, I believe, is inner capacity: - the courage to rethink entrenched models - the humility to learn from nature rather than dominate it - the empathy to consider farmers, consumers and ecosystems together - the systems thinking required to see beyond silos - the resilience to stay committed when results take seasons, not quarters. If we want to move from extractive farming to conscious land stewardship, we need to cultivate not just soil health, but human capacity: farmers who think regeneratively, policymakers who understand complexity, consumers who see value beyond price, and leaders who prioritise long-term resilience over short-term optics. The land can regenerate. The question is: can we? And how do we go about it? These last questions have been a lot on my mind lately and honestly, I am not sure I have the answer(s). For now I am mostly trying to get there by seeking partnerships (together we're stronger, right?) and consistently move conversations back to the real bottle necks stated above. Maybe that is the answer: consistency and persistence.

After two days at the Palais des Nations exploring the links between well-being, diplomacy, and human rights, this public conference will focus on: 🧭 “Mindfulness in a Changing World” 👉 The event is sold out, but free livestream access will be available HERE Note: The link leads to a French UNIGE page, but the event will be in English. This event is coordinated by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, with Geneva University Hospitals and the University of Geneva – Faculty of Medicine, and supported by several partners including Nouveau Monde. 📺 I’ll be watching online! About MBSR:Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), has spent over 40 years bringing evidence-based mindfulness into healthcare. His work has transformed how professionals understand stress, suffering, and emotional regulation. Today, hospitals, universities, schools, and organizations worldwide use mindfulness to support resilience and well-being. At this conference, he’ll reflect on what it means to stay present amid complexity and how mindfulness can help manage emotional and professional overload. UNIGE and HUG are currently studying the benefits of mindfulness for students, caregivers, and patients. Moderation: Guido Bondolfi, Emeritus Professor, University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine Mara Arizaga, Head OHCHR Well-being Unit, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Hi everyone, I’m Tanja. I worked for many years in tourism and learned that successful marketing concepts depend far more on structures, processes and collaboration than on communication alone. This insight led me to expand my work: today I support public-sector organizations in strategy, organizational development and inner growth. What brings me to IDG@Work is my conviction that inner development is essential for meaningful transformation. Many of my clients still work in reactive, fragmented routines — often lacking space and maturity across the five IDG dimensions. I’m here to learn, to contribute and to explore how we can strengthen Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating and Acting in practice. Excited to connect and grow together. 🌿✨

Hello Community, ok, let's continue our reverse-engineering challenge with the 3rd dimension: Relating. Thanks to your feedback, we've changed the document into a Google Spreadsheet, which hopefully is easier to navigate (the video still shows the Google Doc, since we filmed it before :-) 👉 Here is the Google Spreadsheet to add your reflections about the real client outcome for the IDG skills under the 'RELATING' dimension Next week on Tuesday, Dec 16th, 12.30pm Nadene will welcome you for our last hangout of the year. And we'll finish the challenge with the last two dimensions in the new year! Looking forward to your thoughts and reflections around relating. Warmly Sarah (and Nadene)