The emergence of a new story
The stories that we tell ourselves and others create our reality of today and tomorrow. They are the pillars of life. When the old stories no longer serve us, then we must write a new one. The process of developing a new story about our future can be filled with confusion and uncertainty. However, when we all listen and observe patiently, we can unravel the elements that reveal themselves and build a collective new story for our present to be. We’re inviting you to join us on this journey of creating a new story with the use of this blog. We will share our experiences and aspire to inspire, inform, and interact with you in creating a story for a better world. A world that exists of economic, social, cultural, and environmental alternatives that support communities and landscape at a bioregional scale.
The first steps
Since the foundation of the Coop Los Higuerones in February 2020, we’ve been in the process of developing a new story for the OSA community. By serving as a community hub, the cooperative has been supporting local entrepreneurs in growing their business by offering spaces to host their activities, such as yoga, co-working spaces, farmer markets, and much more. This journey has taught us so much; with many celebrations and also challenges that helped us to clarify as well as reassure our pathway every time. Our path wasn't clear and we had no clue what would sprout from the seeds we planted. We just knew that we needed to reactivate the connection between people and their place of living within our local community to promote equity, biodiversity, and culture.
On January 14th, 2022, Regener(Osa), a prototype project, was created. Using the framework of social system mapping and Story of Place, we sought to begin documenting the local systems in our community as well as tapping into the expertise that is present in our online community of the Earth Regenerators that we are engaging with.. Through this project we are striving to weave the global network in the cloud with our local community here in the Peninsula de Osa, Costa Rica that we have the honor of living in - A goal was set for our first weaving event to be held on the spring equinox. Though what this event might be, we had yet to discover.
The project was submitted to a funding group 2 days later and we continued to work on how and when we could bring these two worlds together (digital and analog) in a way that nurtures connection, trust, and shared understanding. And on February 2nd, we were informed that the ReGenerOsa proposal would receive a gift from the Earth Regenerator Fund to implement this project. February 20th, we created the first interfacing pod group to begin exploring what role this group might play in supporting the project. Subsequently, two days later, on February 22nd, we were contacted by Glenn Page, one of the founders and design developers of The Story of Place, informing us that he’d be visiting the Osa with a regeneration practitioners group on March 22nd-24th, right around the spring equinox.
It had been through the online community that Glenn Page discovered us and it seemed that this visit was the catalyzing agent for our emerging story. After Glenn Page reached out, we’ve been in the process of listening to what wants to emerge (what wants to happen without pushing forcefully on it to make it happen), being guided (that what needs direction for it to emerge), and being held (that what is already there and wants to stay there). Now as we’ve entered the spring, the blooming of this beautiful story is beginning to unfold. We will allow Osa to unveil herself to us through the people and places during a 3-day tour with Glenn Page and Co. We will visit different areas and local communities to discover the realities of people living here and organize a community dinner to bring our local community together to share their ideas and experiences and connect with these visiting regenerators. All of these events will support our mapping process of the abundant and diverse systems in the Osa, creating the foundation for a new story of this place that we can share with the world.
We have no real expectations of what this coalescing will bring about. Instead, we keep having our deep and abiding trust that the energy of love, support, and cooperation, that has been present in this beloved community throughout our journey so far, will stay present throughout this visit. And we believe that our next step in the journey towards our new story of place will show itself in our present when time and place come together.
Thank you
Co-written by Morgan, Iris and Tricia
