The Possibility Project

"We have the need to be a part of a group. This is human. But it is different - belonging vs fitting it. We can belong, but if we fit in we cut off parts of ourselves. And this is all about the need to see what we do unconsciously to ourselves. That is the point of visuality exploration - to really see."Do we see "reality", or do we see only what we are exposed to, layered with our expectations of what we are going to see based on the conditioning of our past? Visual anticipation is very real, and the result is what art historian and UNESCO Chair Vicky Karaiskou calls "the visuality trap". This trap obscures the myriad of possibilities that there might be in any given moment as we filter what is available to be seen through the lens of what we have been conditioned to be allowed to see. In this conversation host Sarah Knight is joined by guest co-host David Mattson and Dr. Vicky Karaiskou. Dr. Karaiskou is UNESCO Chair on "Visual Anticipation and Futures literacy towards Visual Literacy" and Associate Professor in Art History at the Open University of Cyprus. This is the sixth conversation in the Possibility Studies Network Series.More on Vicky https://www.ouc.ac.cy/index.php/en/university/unesco-chair/the-chair/meet-the-chairholder and on her website (coming soon) https://vickykaraiskou.com/Possibility Studies Network https://www.possibilitystudies.net/Sarah https://www.humhealing.com/David's blog https://typeshare.co/wonderblog

Yes, the Other-Than-Humans that we share the world with are always acting on us! In fact, it seems that our connection to our own lives arises out of how we are affected by our environment. "Affective participation is what connects us to the world...without affect there is no connection" says researcher Dr. Lena Gan, who shares her insights on how entangled we are with all of the elements in our environment, and how affected we are (or could be!) by the plants, animals, and things that we share our lives with. In this conversation with Dr. Gan and wonder researcher David Mattson, we discuss the potential for affective encounters with the other-than-humans in our lives on the levels of both personal well-being and societal change; how the perception of the flow of time and how (and what) we remember can change when we engage in this way of dialoging with our environment; and some practices for encouraging more personal availability for affective encounters in every day life.Dr. Lena Gan: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/individuals/lena-ganPossibility Studies Network: https://www.possibilitystudies.net/Sarah: https://www.humhealing.com/

Creativity is generally seen as something that humans do to the things in their environment. But what if creativity is really a process where every thing in the environment is an acting agent equal to, and entangled with, the human agent? In this episode Possibility Studies Network member, Professor Pamela Burnard of the University of Cambridge in the UK, shares her insights on how the environment and every thing in it is always acting on us to inform our every creative act. She begins with her own beginnings, and the gift of landing into a family that couldn't place expectations on this unexpected child! Her availability to be acted upon by the world around her, and to respond to it's urgings (rather than to the urgings of familial and cultural "habitus"), comes through in her presence here. So as you listen do be as available as you can be, so that Pam's words can act upon you.Prof Pamela Burnard: https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/people/staff/burnard/. pab61(at)cam.ac.ukPossibility Studies Network: https://www.possibilitystudies.net/Sarah: https://www.humhealing.com/

Who doesn't love a happy accident!? Serendipity is the unexpected thing that happens in the space between you and the world, that you have the ability to notice and take action on. In a time of many great global challenges when collectively we need all the help we can get, is there a way for each of us to intentionally create more serendipitous opportunity from seeming mishaps? In this conversation, serendipity researcher Dr. Wendy Ross shares her thoughts on the roles of wisdom & skill, cultivated mess, attunement to the environment, time & perspective, risking failure AND having the practical and emotional resources to be able to absorb that failure, in the manifestation of the positive phenomenon that is serendipity.Possibility Studies Network online conference January 20/21 https://www.possibilitystudies.net/2025-onlineMore on Dr. Wendy Ross https://www.wendyamross.co.uk/ and https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/profiles/staff/wendy-ross/More on Sarah https://www.humhealing.com/

"An encounter with wonder leaves us with something to wrestle with" In this conversation with David Mattson of Drexel University, he shares his insights on the phenomenon of wonder for shattering perceptions, opening doors to new possibilities, and helping us find our way to what really matters (turns out...it's each other). Check out David's wonderful wonder blog https://typeshare.co/wonderblogMore on the Possibility Studies Network https://www.possibilitystudies.net/More on Sarah https://www.humhealing.com/

"The world is not just the way that we think it is." Questioning assumptions can be anxiety provoking, but possibility lives in the realm of what we don't know yet. In this conversation Prof. Vlad Glăveanu, Founder of the Possibility Studies Network, shares his thoughts around the importance of embracing "not knowing" (and all of the discomfort that comes with that) for innovation, collective change, and finding the joy and power of wonder.More on the PSN https://www.possibilitystudies.net/More on Prof. Vlad Glăveanu https://www.dcu.ie/psychology/people/vlad-glaveanu

Paul Shorthouse of Circular Economy Leadership Canada gives the lowdown on how to reduce, eliminate, reuse or recover up to 50% of the carbon currently lost as waste in our cycles of production. Maybe the economy AND the environment can both win if we turn our linear mindsets, models and systems into circular ones? (PS...This is so much more than chucking the "right" thing in the recycling bin.)More on Paul & Circular Economy Leadership Canada: Home - Circular Economy Leadership CanadaAnd on their blog, an article specific to the focus of this conversation Closing the Loop: How the Circular Economy Powers Climate Action - Circular Economy Leadership CanadaMore on Sarah and her work on personal empowerment and transformation hum - About (humhealing.com)

How to put possibility at the center of an exploration into possibility? Simple...ask the archetypes! Working through the lens of an archetypal understanding of self, along with the powerful approach for personal inquiry that is Family Constellations, can bring great illumination into any issue. In this episode I share a family constellations approach for understanding how your dominant archetypes may be unwittingly playing against you as a part of the issues that present in your life. Includes:-intro to archetypes-intro to family constellations approach-guided activities to help you use an archetypes constellation process-how this helped me re-orient my relationship to "possibility".Some references:Caroline Myss "Archetypes: Who Are You?"Carol S. Pearson "Awakening the Heroes Within"Carl Jung "Man and His Symbols" (and other titles)Joseph Campbell on Hero's Journey "The Hero With a Thousand Faces"Bert Hellinger on Family Constellations "Love's Hidden Symmetry" (and other titles)

Samhain on October 31st marks the Celtic New Year, and is a time where the veils between the worlds are said to be the thinnest. What does this mean for our outer experience and for our inner one? Here I take a look at the origins of Samhain, how the customs of modern day Halloween are rooted in many of the Samhain rituals of our ancestors, and how we can make use of this kind of liminal time, crossing the thresholds of our own consciousness in to the challenging but rewarding territory of facing the shadow within. I move in to a story of the legendary Irish mythological figure Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) who, on Samhain, faces a fire breathing fire on the Hill of Tara to reclaim his rightful inheritance. The symbology of this story is rich, and like all myths, can speak deeply to our unconscious knowing.A big thank you to storyteller Daniel Alison, for his telling of this Fionn mac Cumhaill story. See Podcast — House of Legends

We are each immersed in personal, collective and universal energetic fields, but what are these fields anyway and how do people work with them for the purposes of healing? In this conversation with Akashic Records reader Megan Sirett, we share our own insights on "the field", how we approach it, and what we can all learn from leaning in to this layer of understanding about our true natures. More on Sarah at humhealing.com and Megan at megansirett.com.

April 2022 marks the 100 year anniversary of the (re)introduction of Reiki by Mikao Usui into our conscious human experience. That this healing ray has gone from being shared through a spiritual empowerment experience of one Japanese man in 1922, to now being sacredly held and used by millions of people across the globe, is a testament to its power and also to the deep integrity of Mikao Usui and the first few generations of Reiki Masters. This episode was recorded as part of a virtual event on April 3rd 2022, held by podcast host Sarah Knight in her capacity as a Reiki Master and Teacher, to celebrate this important anniversary. It includes an introductory talk, a guided journey into the Reiki field with her lineage, distance healing to the conflict in Ukraine, and an opportunity to include those people near and dear that could use a little more light too. Special thanks to all who attended and supported the creation of this event. Note that all personal information shared by the participants has been removed from this recording to honor confidentiality. THIS IS A REPOSTING OF EDITED EPISODE 26 For more information Sarah's healing offerings visit humhealing.com.

More on Barry and his work at https://www.healingbodytherapeutics.com/More on Sarah https://www.humhealing.com/

More on Lisa https://www.lisasabatini.com/and on the KIHC website https://kihc.ca/team/lisa-sabatini-shamanic-practitioner/More on Sarah https://www.humhealing.com/

More on the Land Conservancy for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington http://www.landconservancykfla.org/Find them on FB https://www.facebook.com/LandConservancyKFLAOntario Land Trust Alliance https://olta.ca/Nature Conservancy of Canada https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/

More on Mary Kate and Anwaatin: Anwaatin | Indigenous Climate Change ActionMore on Great Bear and Nature Bank: Great Bear Forest Carbon Project | NatureBankSome of Mary Kate's Book Suggestions to Sarah: Lee Maracle, My Conversations with Canadians; Arthur Manual, The Reconciliation Manifesto; Larry Sault (CEO, Anwaatin Inc.), The Lie that Binds.

More on Mona and the Janati Yoga School here: https://janatiyoga.com More on the Grief and Ayurveda workbook here: https://janatiyoga.com/the-grief-and-ayurveda-workbook/Mona’s podcast Confessions of Inappropriate Yoga Teachers on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/ConfessionsCIYT

For more about Susan and the Earthfire Institute visit https://earthfireinstitute.org/

More on Belinda at http://www.hunahealing.com/

More on Ayana, her podcast, and her work: https://forthewild.world/

Cloughjordan ecovillage: http://www.thevillage.ie/For more information on the sustainability network in Ireland visit www.cultivate.ie/ EcoVillage Network In Europe: https://www.ecolise.eu/Internationally: Foundation for Intentional Communities: https://www.ic.org/

Host Sarah Knight reflects on her journey into a year of possibilities, and shares her insights on the significant role of healing work in supporting the forward progress of moving beyond our climate crisis and in to a better way of being and living.

More on Karen on facebook (sheis.me) https://www.facebook.com/groups/nolimitsbusinesswoman/ and her website www.nolimitsbusinesswoman.comMore on Sarah at https://www.humhealing.com/

More on Meik at https://www.meikwiking.com/More on The Art of Making Memories at https://www.penguin.co.uk/makingmemories More on Sarah at https://www.humhealing.com/

To Speak for the Trees: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/575305/to-speak-for-the-trees-by-diana-beresford-kroeger/9780735275072/Call of the Forest: http://calloftheforest.ca/WildX Event, Oct 5, 2019: https://www.wildxevent.com/Treesisters: https://treesisters.org/

More on WildX Event: https://www.wildxevent.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/events/339724733649021/ReWild Montreal on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/RewildmontrealAlbert Nerenberg: https://www.elevatorfilms.com/, www.albertnerenberg.com, www.laughercize.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Nerenberg

Host Sarah Knight discusses the role of connection and compassion in planning how we live and build, with Prof. Leela Viswanathan of the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Leela shares her thoughts as to how many of our urban environments promote disconnection as well as environmental degradation. Her insights into how we can better work together to meet both the pressures of our changing climate, and those of our lonely hearts, can be applied not only to urban planning, but to all aspects of life.

Host Sarah Knight provides a short update on the science of our climate crisis, following on from her participation at a major international earth science congress. She gives an overview of the some of the basics of climate change, plus some insights on the possible path that we are on, and what that might mean for humanity. As we are all being asked to engage in facing this crisis, now, more than ever, we need to be able to take in the facts, process what they mean for us, and turn our apathy and anger in to action.

More on Alayna and her work https://hopefulyouth2019.wixsite.com/earthlawstudents

More on Jennifer Millar at jennifermillar.org

Host Sarah Knight discusses how the stories that we hold inside keep us separate from each other, our environment, and even ourselves, with Shamanic Practitioner Michelle Girouard. Michelle shares how our outer reality is directly shaped by our inner world, and the importance of re-imagining our belonging in the world for everything from deepening personal relationships to transformative global change.

More on Chris Magwood and the Endeavor Centre at: http://endeavourcentre.org/ and https://www.chrismagwood.ca/

More on Aisling at https://www.aislingrichmond.com/

More on Tim at https://timyearington.com/

Host Sarah Knight talks the science of climate change with leading climatologist Prof. Gordon McBean. Gordon shares his knowledge on the current state of our atmosphere, where our climate is headed, and how we all need to engage practically, socially and politically, now.

More on Johanna Lynn at https://www.johannalynn.ca/. More on Sarah Knight at https://www.humhealing.com.

Host Sarah Knight talks the psychology of climate change and how our nervous system responds to stress with psychoanalyst, family therapist and lecturer, Prof. Bonnie Harnden. Bonnie provides some fascinating insights in to how we can retrain our overwhelmed systems to be better able to cope with big challenges.