It becomes evident👁 in a society focused on consumption and limitless extraction that the design is intentional: it is intended that every human being follow a process of schooling that desensitises to emotions, movement, creativity and curiosity.

It is intended that in adulthood one finds a job and that one follows all the instructions and procedures.⚙️

It is expected that we give up our family to better serve our work (valid for women and men, with the rare exception of some countries) 

The design says that we should spend 80% of our life working in order to rest and do whatever we want to do in the remaining 20% if retirement allows.

🙌Unfortunately this old design is starting to be questioned by both younger and older generations. It is a slow process of awakening.

For some to make this decision is to live in a state of limbo. In fear of failure, in fear of what others might say. It is a phase of sadness (after all we left everything we knew was right to do what we feel is right). 

It is a time to unlearn what no longer serves so that we can relearn the new, the unknown, the path on which we always seem to be lost).Walking these paths was one of the moments in which I found myself the most. 

During this period of pandemic and virtual reality I reviewed several assumptions that were designed and that somehow were unchangeable. The traditional assumption that says “this is the way things are and there’s no going back” was constantly hunting me.

By questioning why I follow this paradigm, I realized a new space in myself. I recognised my strength, resilience skills and creativity. I recognised fear as energy for meaning and directing it to serve my Being. 

I recognised the why of my existence or at least a part of it. I remembered my lineage and songs of hope that said the next generations would be more free and capable.

All this gave me back my ‘agency’: my ability to act in the world as an agent of transformation, following a new, life-centred design. This means that emotions are not to be silenced, but rather to felt and lived, to be listened to and seen as that which most helps us express our humanity. After all, how can human beings communicate their essence to the world without Joy, sadness, fear and pain?

I don’t want to think of this concept as a theory but rather as a state of consciousness and self-observation, a daily practice that invites me to come down to earth. 

What daily practices do you have that remind you of our interdependence? What practices do you develop that bring health and make you, your community and the planet feel alive? 

Designing for life is about realising that in this short time we spend in the world we want to use all our gifts and resources to make it more beautiful, more alive, but healthy for this and future generations. After all, that is what we are part of this vast Web of Life for.