Enchanting Work at Home
~~~a virtual weekend workshop with Cecilia Macaulay (hosted by Dr Fox)~~~

Spanning both
Saturday 10th October 3–5pm Melbourne time (aedt, utc +11)
+ Sunday 11th October 3–430pm Melbourne time (aedt, utc +11)

This weekend workshop will have you revitalising the spaces in your home, so that you might find focus and flow in work, and flourishing fulfilment in life.

BACKSTORY

Covid-19 has resulted in many of us spending a lot more time ‘working from home’. The boundaries between ‘work life’ and ‘home life’ were long since eroding. Now, they’ve all but disappeared.

… Or have they?

Is it possible for you to create spaces or zones within your home that are sacred and restorative? And is it possible for your workspace to feel somehow enchanted and conducive to productive flow?

After watching Kim attend one of Cecilia Macaulay’s virtual workshops, I would say, unequivocally: yes!

I did that thing where just one person registers for an online event, while the other lurks off camera. I was drawn to it. In one afternoon Kim and I learnt so much, and were able to act on these insights immediately.

I don’t know quite how to describe it, but: it’s enlivening. There’s a wholesomeness to our spaces now; a subtle vividness too. Previously, we used to save up for an AirBnB experience—to visit an enchanted home for a night or two, to feel that sense of abundance that allows us to read, imagine, work and ‘be’. Now: I feel like we have the sensibilities to be able to cultivate that in our own home.

Anyhoo: the workshop stayed with us in the weeks since. And in the meantime I found myself working with clients who were grappling with this global shift to working from home. Many were approaching this new world from a policy/insurance or software/productivity perspective. ‘How can we make this work for the company?’, they asked. Some even asked: ‘how can we make this work for our people?’ (an apt question!).

Well: none of us have all the answers. But I know Cecilia has worlds of experience and savvy to share. The kinds of insights that might change the way you relate to your home forever.

Enchanting Work at Home

I suspect this ‘work from home’ notion will be with us for some time yet. Just a hunch. Work from home may even become the new nor—no wait; there’s nothing quite normal about any of this. Yet still, there are ways in which we can be far more intentional about how we relate to our work—and the spaces we make for it—in our home domain.

I’ve been friends Cecilia for many years now. She’s a fey enchantress (my words) who embodies a Way of living I find so inspiring. And so it is with great delight that I shall be hosting an intimate and interactive virtual ‘weekend workshop’ with Cecilia Macauly for you.

If you suspect that maybe your home/work environment could do with some enchantment—if you seek more than just a spring clean, but something altogether more rejuvenating—this could be the workshop for you.

I lifted the following words from Cecilia’s website, to provide a hint as to some of the themes we shall explore together:—

How to Reduce Useless diversity, Increase Useful Diversity.
That’s the key to making systems that look after us, whether it’s a food forest, a company, or your own kitchen.

How to Make ‘families’ of objects.
Once you make these categories, you can make a happy home for each object to belong to, with its friends. This helps you see what you really need and what you don’t, and takes the decision-making out of tidying up.

How to Recognise ‘Mu’ or ‘creative void’, the Japanese Fifth Element, the element of creation.
Re-framing how you see emptiness will make letting go of clutter easy. This ‘sacred space’ protects against re-cluttering, and takes away the obstacles that discourage you from getting into action in the kitchen. Or in life.

Additionally, I imagine we might explore how you can cultivate the conditions for focus, flourishing and flow in our work from home. And more besides.

This is not some bleak/dystopian/cult-of-oblivion/black-skivvy/stark-white/sterile-minimalist vibe-thing.

It’s about enchanting your home.

Cecilia will share real-life makeover stories and images from decades of travels, while answering your questions, and I’ll be participating along with you.

This workshop is spread over two days, so as to allow us to actually do some home-work in-between the sessions. By gifting yourself (and/or your colleagues and friends) this opportunity, you are cultivating whole new worlds of potentiality for your own flourishing at home.

Who this is for?

In Cecilia’s lovely words:

Designers and managers, who want to see Permaculture in a whole new (non-gardening) way.

People whose work involves making a better world, a world that does not yet exist.

People who want better relationships at home, by taking away reasons for conflict and unfairness.

People with better things to do than tidying up.

I would also add that this is for anyone who seeks to ensure your home is the kind of ‘haven’ and a wellspring of myriad subtle inspirations.

What we shall do together

On Saturday 10th of October we shall meet virtually and learn some of the key principles and approaches from Cecilia. There will be an activity built into this session, and you will be primed to start enchanting a particular space or zone within your home.

Questions will arise in you as you go about your enchantment work. Things will become apparent to you in the practice of applying the principles Cecilia shares. You’ll take note of these, and then on Sunday 11th of October we will rally together once more to unpack these notions at depth.

Then, come Sunday late afternoon you’ll be enjoying a cup of tea in a freshly enchanted space within your home. From this place of reflection and contemplation, you’ll find yourself seeing your home in a new light, and imagining new ways to cultivate a lasting sense of enchantment throughout your home. When Monday comes you’ll awaken with a subtle sense of zest for the days and weeks and life ahead.

How to Enrol

Simply acquire your enchanted ticket below.

If you’d love to attend but find yourself low on funds, email jfox@hey.com and I will send you a generous discount code on behalf of Cecilia and myself. Tickets are limited to ensure intimacy, depth and warmth. We hope you’ll join us! 🧡