Self-Sufficiency & Sustainability
Le Bois de Grammont

Simple, Economical and Purposeful Living
A Local Vehicle for Global Change
Le Bois de Grammon, 36140 Lourdoueix Saint Michel, Indre, France
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Why? Is always an interesting question to ask, as a counsellor it's one I would have been very careful about presenting, as it can imply negativity to the subject matter at hand.

However I think it's a question well worth asking, because in reality no human ever does anything for nothing, there is always a motive a reward. You may well be shaking you head now and thinking well I do things for no reason.

I must then be wrong. But in fact I am right, you may well enter in to endeavours for no financial or visible reward, but underlying your intention is perhaps one of many reasons. You may need to be liked, or have an aversion to being disliked; this is only another way of saying the same thing though, just a counsellors trick to convince you he is right. Why do criminals continue to perpetrate even though they get caught every time, why do people take drugs knowing they are addictive and dangerous? Why? Why? Why?

There is always a reason a reward perhaps not one that can be seen, or even one that is known to the perpetrator. But there is always a reason.

So why have I committed myself to a life of hard work and low financial reward? My reasons are many fold and complex which is why I am bothering to write this at all. Even my friends do not understand why I have rejected an easy life in surrey with huge financial reward for one of hard work and low financial reward.

Money

Money is no reward at all; society sends us to school to be indoctrinated in to thinking money will guarantee us happiness. Not so I worked for a millionaire for 3 years I even watched him get richer and as he did he paid me more to work for him. Was he happy? "NO" he just wanted to be richer thinking when he was richer he would be happy. I have counselled many unhappy people and all of them had one thing in common, they all wanted to be happy. Each had his or her reasons why they could not be happy, and what would make them happy, each had different reasons. However most of them thought money was at the root of their unhappiness,

I have to admit at times in my life when I have felt unhappy I thought money would have helped me out of that place. In reality money was never and will never be the answer, there is only one answer to happiness and it is irrefutable," choose" yes that's it. I found my happiness within my self I chose to be happy; I still choose to be happy now.

Career

Career or employment is no reward unless you are fulfilled, society sends us to school to be indoctrinated in to thinking work is the path to more money. Money = Happiness; wrong again, are you fulfilled at work? I have been fulfilled in many of my jobs or stages of career but only when I was learning. I love and am passionate about learning not any one thing; just learning, learning fulfils me, as the learning curve for a job subsides, so does my fulfilment. When counselling many of the people I treated thought that if they could change their jobs for one that paid more they would be healthier and happier. Many of my clients; like myself had changed their job but where still unhappy even if they did earn more in the new job, when I looked closer at my own fulfilment, and realised what it was that truly fulfilled me, I was able to help my clients see through their own issues. Fulfilment comes for each of us from a different aspect of our lives, for me it is from learning, but no one will pay me to learn, or will they?

Faith

What is faith? Schools and the church would have us believe faith is connected to the bible and the god that it refers to; those with faith are referred to as spiritual. So does this mean that people with faith would behave with respect for their own spiritual being, and the spiritual being of others? History tells us "NO" wars are started, crusades are commanded, atrocities in the name of god are committed even to this day. Not by the faithful but by the religious those who would distort the words in the bible and those who would follow it's teachings.

Faith is so much more than religion, for a self confessed atheist this is somewhat of an anomaly. Like many young people I was sent to Sunday school and studied the bible, attended religious education classes and found myself doubting. I saw my fair share of abuse as a child and suffered at the hands of a very dysfunctional family myself, still nothing astounding there, still society is become ever more dysfunctional and lawless. So why would anyone find faith in this world how do you stay fully in touch with your own feelings, when there is so much pain all around you? You don't you shut down and close yourself off from all that threatens to hurt you, that is human nature, it's a survival instinct.

I found faith through learning; I wanted to know everything about the human condition and the psychology of the human mind. I wanted to be a counsellor and help to heal others, but to be a guide on the path of life; first one have to learn to walk the path. Counselling is a complex and difficult field it is part science and part art. I suppose you could say the science part is the psychology and the art part is the relationship but they are so intertwined it's hard to define each at any given time during a session. However on the path to becoming a counsellor I found faith not because I learned about it; but because I re-learned to feel and to sense, I learned to feel the higher power that exists indisputably in the meeting of two beings. I learned to feel that power within myself and within my clients. Even now I am loathed to call that power god because of what others make of the name, but faith does not come to those who simply perceive the name.

So you believe in god people say? No I don't have to believe in god I answer, I know god exists. Faith is not blindness faith knows.

Purpose

Purpose what is the purpose of life? Work, Fulfilment, Faith, all of these are possible answers and I am sure many others could be added to the list, but none of these are the answer for everyone. I believe we do have a purpose on the earth, I do not believe that the purpose is simply to consume the worlds resources until they are exhausted and then expire, that would simply be futile. However that is what mankind is doing every day we are moving ever faster ever more ferociously towards the end of the planets resources. Learning fulfils me so I have become a student of life; looking for the answers to all the truly perplexing issues that life presents us with. Whilst learning to be a counsellor and trying to help others, I found some of the answers to my own issues in the stories of others in distress, some in the books I read, and some in the clients I treated. This gave me purpose, which in turn fulfilled me but still I found my self, searching for yet more answers. I realised I had to find fulfilment in my life, but that fulfilment had to come from my having purpose.

Back to Why?

Why? Is now simple, I don't care for money; I have no interest in a career; I don't want to have any part in devouring the worlds resources; I know my life has a purpose; I have faith.

My faith draws me to nurture the earth; nurturing the earth gives me purpose; my purpose fulfils me; the earth I nurture feeds and clothes and shelters me. I am contented and happy.

Dreamer you may say, but I am a realist I have to live in a modern world where governments demand taxes. Use of any utility including the Internet has to paid for, so I have a small income which is provided by nurturing the earth, I raise pigs, they plough the ground and feed it, I sow seeds that grow in to food for the pigs, I sell some of the pigs, and the cycle goes on. I do so much more than this too but it all comes down to one thing a cycle, I exist within and nurture a cyclical life.

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