Pablo Alcantara-Ferran

Biological Builder - Spain

I came to know Javan and the work he does, through Darren Doherty and his online training REX. Six months down REX’s program, I separated from whom was then my partner, and the land project were starting suddenly stopped.

After almost a year I contacted Javan to help me looking at the bigger picture, put myself on the spot and help me making the questions, I was not daring to ask myself (about my current situation or what I really wanted from life), or probably didn’t even know existed.

Making your own Holistic Context is part of Rex’s program, so I was a bit familiar with it and had done some work on it. However, it was very important to follow Javan’s steps and guidance to go deeper into creating my Holistic Context and learning about decision making. I felt Javan was always there on the other side of the line, answering all my doubts and offering extra time for completing my homework. So as I guess is quite common at first, my initial HCs were quite loaded, way too long and quite influenced by the examples I had as reference and inspiration.

For our penultimate session Javan asked me to do a viability analysis of potential land-based enterprises. The research I made and the numbers I clarified, left it quite clear that it was not possible for me to make a living from the land in my personal circumstances and context. It was a big blow to my plans and the energy I had already invested on the land. I then followed his advice to go back to my HC and do another editing.

Feeling desperate made me go into surviving mode and this helped me to distil the HC to be more realistic and stay with what is essential and true to myself. At the same time, I came to realize what I want to do for living, and when I went back to my newly edited HC, realized what I want to do is completely in line with my values. I felt it was good timing for me to have my HC edited by the time my previous plan kind of stuttered. I felt I had a structure upon which I can rest and keep  perspective going forward.

This work with Javan has been very important. I feel very fortunate I came across his path. I hope to find work of my own that helps people as much as he helped me. I think it’s a work that has the potential to benefit us all especially these days and the state of the world

It’s amazing to have gone from feeling absolutely lost in life to how I feel now, I’m excited for what’s next.

Thank you so much.

Business, Life Design, Life Design for Permaculture, Limiting Beliefs, One-on-One Coaching

 


Julianne King

Public Servant - Canada
I was a student of yours when I took Verge’s PDC course in 2015 in Invermere. I owe you a huge thank you for the wisdom you brought to that course – it left a lasting impression on me!
I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of the Holistic Management and Life Design tools and frameworks. I’ve refined my personal holistic context and kept it relevant, and I’ve used the HM framework for project management too.
I see the most valuable aspects of the context work to be 1. the innovative holistic “framework” approach that differs from both linear project management tools and typical self-help programs or practices, 2. doing visioning work without setting specific goals or making decisions, 3. the testing questions that make the context operational (praxis, if you will), 4. having an approach that scales well and is transferable/adaptable to almost any “project”. This is how I see the value and this is how I’ve explained it to my friends. From what I’ve heard so far, they agree that these things are uniquely valuable. One friend said that the fact that the HM approach isn’t Oprah’s or Wayne Dyer’s thing but is a tool designed and taught by many permaculturists was significant for them and helped them put faith in the utility and effectiveness of HM. I thought that was interesting. Overall, I think that (as with so many things) you get out of it what you put into it, and you can’t expect HM to do the work for you, which is to say, it’s not easy, but it’s worth it.
Life Design, Life Design for Permaculture, PDC Student