Connections & Networks: “A Thousand Fibres Connect Us”

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” - Herman Melville, Author

Join us for episode 3 of Unfurling as we delve into a topic dear to us - Connections and Networks. Through discussion, we offer a kaleidoscope of lessons, ideas and prompts from the natural world to inform and inspire you as you reflect - as an individual, leader, organisation, and/or community.     

We touch on:

• How connections & networks have been key to us professionally, from job creation to fundraising, from local government to building a global community network
• Where we see connections and networks working well - and less well, especially at this time of COVID-19
• What could be possible for individuals, and as a collective, with enhanced connections and networks (from wellbeing, information sharing, and depth of relationship, to work, communities and society)
• How examples of connections and networks in the natural world might help us to think creatively (we draw on lung alveoli; forests and underground fungal networks; coral reefs; and the animal kingdom). 

If you'd like to explore this further, we encourage you to join fellow listeners in our Facebook group, “Unfurling Podcast”, a community space for asking questions and sharing thoughts, ideas and resources about episodes and the power of the natural world to inform and inspire: https://www.facebook.com/groups/313645743154222/

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References:

~0: Herman Melville: “We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

~9: Brené Brown: “I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”

~14: “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” 

~15: “Grief and the Lungs” (https://www.chinesemedicineliving.com/philosophy/the-emotions/grief-the-lungs/)

~16: “The Alveoli in your Lungs” (https://www.healthline.com/health/alveoli-function)

~20: Arukah Network (https://www.arukahnetwork.org/)

~21: “How Trees Talk To Each Other In a Healthy Forest” by Suzanne Simard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=breDQqrkikM) 

~26: “Fantastic Fungi - The Magic Beneath Us” - A film by Louie Schwartzberg (https://fantasticfungi.com/)

~27: Facts on coral reefs extracted from “Scientists are trying to save coral reefs. Here's what's working.” in National Geographic (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/06/scientists-work-to-save-coral-reefs-climate-change-marine-parks/)

~31: Chaos Theory: “…something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.”

~32: The recommendation to be famous for 15 miles is attributed to the poet Gary Snyder (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/10/social-media-24-hour-news-cycle)

~33: Facts on elephants extracted from “Elephants are Socially Complex” in Elephant Voices ( https://www.elephantvoices.org/elephant-sense-a-sociality-4/elephants-are-socially-complex.html)

~37: A selection of research on social media: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180104-is-social-media-bad-for-you-the-evidence-and-the-unknowns

~41: Steve Jobs: “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

~42: Books: 

“Entangled Life: How Fungi make our worlds, change our minds, and shape our futures” by Merlin Sheldrake

“Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success” by Adam Grant 

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