Resources for community living.
Why is it important to have resources? What resources are the most important? What would we do to get these resources?
As with any given subject, there are questions and answers to be discovered. In the case of our Share-It Community living project one of my most important questions would always be, do we have the right people involved? Do they bring the range of skills and abilities to the community, are they adaptable and can they adjust to live in relative peace with one another? As you see the questions are mounting up already. So let me try to reply with some answers that I personally feel give clarity and perspective to the topic at hand, namely resources.
I see the most important resource to be, the right kind of people. People who can understand the basic principles of sharing, caring and building bonds of friendship with one another. Not selfish and self centred people, who care only for their own well-being and what they can get out of the arrangement. A type of person willing to engage in a project that is bigger than they are and offering a piece of the jigsaw to make this happen for all. Once we find these people we need to develop a synergy with them to bring out the best qualities in each one. Obviously we know that in an ideal world there will also be differences of opinion and tastes and that people might disagree, but if we work at cohabiting in a peaceful way, we stand a chance to grow past any dogmas and share a new vision that is developed by the whole group.
Why is it important to have resources?
Well for a co-housing community the project is sharing a living accommodation. Because we all have certain needs we would ideally like to present each person in the community with a basic level of supply of those needs. A space where a person can be comfortable and feel secure that their basic living requirements are provided for and where any surplus is shared equitably with the others of the community and then the outside world so to speak. This means that we are not going to be a completely insular group, but that we will find ways to engage with all other neighbours and society as a whole. Firstly we do want to look at what needs each member has in terms of living space and nourishment, gainful labour and interactions with the others in the community. We guess initially this will be a separate and private bedroom space, or an apartment if a property could accommodate this. Then perhaps a private bathroom for those who deem this important, and then many social spaces where shared activities can take place, or a member could find some restful and quiet alone time. These resources when shared, make a project like Share-It a much more easy to reach an outcome. If we could share a living space like a bathroom for example with one or maybe a few other people, then the project could begin in a much more basic property. If people prefer their own bathroom, then it becomes much more difficult for the project to provide this from the pool of opportunity available on the current property market. Another facet of sharing is that some spaces we would only use occasionally would be able to serve more people, therefore require a lot less space in a property. Heating and lighting of those spaces would also be easier and more cost effective, and cleaning would be kept to a minimum for each member. Then the possibility to meet others of the community in those spaces would provide an often much needed bonding experience, feelings of inclusion rather than exclusion. But as I said, each member gets to decide what their level of need is, based upon what a property can offer.
What resources are the most important?
As I see things, and after much searching, experience and listening to others, the many properties we have viewed each offer only limited amounts of these important resources:-
Personal space. Community shared space. Activity possibilities. Proximity to local towns, shops and possibly medical assistance. Space to grow our own food, especially fruit and vegetables. Access to fresh water, and in many various formats. Access to reliable energy sources, LPG and electricity, wood for fuel. Fuel for the machinery and vehicles needed to work on the land. And then a place where our being there, restores our balance with nature itself.
So whether we want to live in an old stone mansion, a bungalow, a yurt, a tree house or a timber cabin, very few properties offer us the possibility to each have what we feel we want. Very few can provide an abundance of material resources that exceed our expectations and could provide for a self sufficiency to our living community. We have looked at a lot of property over the time since November 2021 and nothing, let me repeat, NOTHING has come close to the resources that are offered by one of the properties we saw, which could provide at least a start for our community.
What would we do to get these resources?
In real terms, the need for resources is paramount to a probability for this Share-It Community to get off the ground, and become all that we hoped it could be. Manuela and I are therefore prepared to work day and night, with all our efforts to get things in place for this to become the sharing reality we hope will bring solace and peace to each of you who consider Share-It a new home for you. We realise that some of you need a little shove, to motivate the sharing gene, but we are fully convinced that once we begin, no-one will feel left behind. The ‘need’ to have resources is obvious, and we are happy to work collaboratively with each of you to make things be the way we all decide is relative to success. We look forward to your participation and input to get to the get-go of the Share-It Community. Resources as we see come in all shapes and sizes, but the fundamental ones are the key to making our community work effectively. Your skill set, is the primary one we value. If you can cook, bake, build, fix, grow food, repair old and broken things, clean, make others realise their own happiness, work in the garden, clean the pool, and even entertain the other members, then those are the things we welcome most of all. Every person brings a unique element for the Share-It Community, and we look forward to discovering those. And last of all, if we lack any resource, we can easily find them from a local source, as we know that all we need is really within our reach. Money, the worst of all devices, is just one of those elements to acquire resources in the form of food, seed, energy and or physical comfort.
If we follow the examples set by age old travellers of the globe, all we really need is a gift from the Universe. When we share that abundance, we will always live in abundance. Please have a serious think about what resources you could bring to the Share-It Community, be they gifts, support, energy, practical skills, knowledge, material abundance or kindness. We look forward to seeing you soon in Umbria and sharing the days finding out what magnificent beauty can be co-created together. You are the key to success, and we really want your input and ideas, your passion and your positive belief in the magic of co-creation.
When we work for ourselves, we might have success. But real value comes when we share the wealth with each other. “Be the change you wish to see in the world”, said a very wise man once.
What do you want to do to change the world? Help the Share-It Community to begin?
As always, with much love and in peace, we welcome you to engage with us.
Peaceful Warrior and Manuela.