INTRODUCTION

About Me — Desiree Driesenaar

Life-curious Grandma with Messy Hair and Dirty Feet

About me stories always make me cringe a little. Yes, I am a writer. Yes, I’m out there big time on social media. But I’m a little out of my comfort zone too.

It's just that I’m so curious about what will happen next in the world, that I keep writing and writing about the future. Comparing notes. Finding clues about where we are rollercoastering toward and writing to inspire, educate, and entertain all my international friends and clients.

My life is about chi, life energy, and flow. And about practical ways to restore ecosystems, get living soil, living human systems, and better lives for all communities of humans and other species.

Some old-world credibility: I combine being an external expert for the EU Commission with being an official Biomimicry and Blue Economy professional and coach to world leaders.

I’m a published author (non-fiction, fiction, poetry), a keynote speaker, and a TEDx speakers’ coach. I write a lot about science, leadership, and business, e.g. with the Born Global Foundation.

We are now preparing art-filled performances and rational explanations for the World Biodiversity Forum in Davos in June 2022. Furthermore, I fulfill several advisory board positions.

Gaia is the Wise One

Mother Earth and Humanity are making huge shifts now, you know. We all feel it. We all want to know what it means. Well, at least I do… So, I write…

I’m a permaculturist. And a food and resource forest designer out in the fields. Educating and inspiring people who have young hearts and souls how to achieve sustainability with Nature, technology, and systems thinking.

I’m a Gaia person. I just love our Planet! And I definitely think everything that happens now, is good and scary both. I believe in the Universe and in science. For me, all religious creationists, believers in science, and seekers are the same. They form a triangle of opportunities.

The field of infinite possibilities is in the middle of the triangle and starts to flow with plusses and minuses. Differences. Diversity. Biodiversity.

+and — = +++

I have been working with scientists and seekers all my life.

I talk deep talks with complexity scientists. Mathematicians, quantum physicists, high-tech specialists, economists, ecologists, and astronomists to understand what they know and see happening.

And I help design Living Systems for a good future for all of us.

New business models with lots of flowing value streams. New governance systems. New production methods that work for communities locally. New ways of being that help the Earth and Humanity.

I like to be very practical, very down-to-earth. So it’s all about financial minimalism, the power of consciousness, communication that attracts positive vibes, and the good use of technology.

Chi in full flow from the past to the future. It’s never a straight line so we always make sure we put in a lot of experiments, design thinking, and quick prototyping. Experiment and experience our way to the future.

My husband Mike and I have a think-and-do-tank called Abundanism. We talk about the future with international leaders and young people. So they can make wise decisions and cry on our shoulders when they get scared. We are the embracers. The grandparents.

And we are part of local communities in action. We write, we explain and we practically do nature-based solutions. Our new project in Greece is called Olive Bliss. We create chi and biodiversity in olive orchards and extra income streams for organic farmers.

We work on the soil. We work on local Biolabs full of the Alchemy of Plants and Perennial Phytofarming (I don’t like the word phytomining. We keep all plants and trees alive in our processes) so all products can be created with craftmanship or 3D printing in local communities.

Breaking power games and geopolitics. And most important of all, we create chi and fun and glue in communities.

Most of the time, I walk around life with my messy long hair and dirty feet. And in case you are wondering… My hair still has her natural color. I do see a few grey strands in the mirror. But they are not (yet) visible in my pictures. That’s okay. People who read my stories know I’m a grandma anyway.

We write, we explain and we practically do nature-based solutions. Our new project in Greece is called Olive Bliss.

Feminist Writer

I’m definitely a feminist writer. I think femininity, daring, compassion, and super clear, attracting communication are making a big difference now.

Not only crying on each others’ shoulders. Also standing on each others’ shoulders to reach higher and higher and higher in life!

In The Heroines, my role is a writer’s role. I design the conscious communication bits and pieces and connect to all the other womxn in our varying teams who create impactful projects and businesses.

I think femininity, daring, compassion, and super clear communication are making a big difference

Nomads

Mike and I do have some favorite places to be. We do not travel just for tourism. At this moment, we are in Greece, in the Peloponnese for our regenerative project Olive Bliss. We build a showcase with chi=life energy food forestry, tiny forestry, and resource forestry and involve lots of young people with inspiration and education.

With my great-grandmother being Indonesian, and Mike falling in love with this country already 10 years ago, we spent three months on the Asian islands in 2019–2020. And we hope to go back someday. Additionally, I really hope I can once visit the Amazon. I so admire the Mayan culture! I would really love to experience the rainforests and learn from indigenous masters and elders.

All other cultures we explore online. We only want to travel when really necessary. Our Planet is precious. And explorations can be done virtually these days. Zoom is patient and I need calm surroundings for our intense way of living. I need some roots…

Our home sand is The Netherlands. We live near the German and Belgian border on the little bit of higher ground our country owns. Most of our country is below sea level and we have many rivers coming from Germany, Belgium, and France. We are the water workers. We live with water.

Where we live, it’s called the Maasduinen. A rural area of river dunes, little lakes, forests, and towns. It still feels like home when we land there. My mum and Mike’s two daughters and three grandsons are living close.

Well, I say Mike’s (grand)children, but they feel like mine too. We share.

The complete Netherlands is like one big city. We have only 17 million inhabitants. That’s the whole country. Small. But the country is an influential world player at the same time. A completely tangled paradox, my home country.

All other cultures we explore online. We only want to travel when really necessary. Our Planet is precious

The Future

The future is always just fiction. It can never be known to anyone for sure. But we do make it happen every day, all of us together. Some parts of the future have elements we don’t like. We get defensive. Other parts we really enjoy.

And I just love it all! The dark bits and the light bits. After a lot of reflection with myself, I now feel comfortable in the dark and in the light. And I use the two as springboards. Trampolines. Bouncing and bouncing between the seeming opposites in the triangles. Somersaulting! Feeling, hearing, smelling, tasting, and looking curiously in all directions.

And what about my channeling, you ask?

Well, it’s not so special. It just happens when I wake up in the morning, when I cook our meals, or when I talk to someone. When I walk in our Dutch woods. Float on the waves. Or feel my chi on the Greek mountains.

Puzzle pieces seem to click in my head and I just see a little more than I saw before. I’m a connector of dots and the more I leave my fear out of the equation, the clearer I can see.

I have rewilded my soul to become a river. And flow between the mountain of the past to the sea of the future. Untangling the chaos of the forest.

It helps me tremendously to connect to Gaia’s elements every day. Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Ether. And I know the importance of Metal. The sixth one. We can reinvent our future. Just you watch and read…

Flow Power

The best part of my life has only just started. I finally realize I can really make my chi, my life energy, work for me. And create abundance for all humans and all species.

But then again, I’m convinced consciousness is descending strongly now on our Planet. So, I might have caught a wave that has never been there before. We are going through a tunnel of magnetic waves, the astronomers say. Can that be it? Can that be consciousness? I wonder…

There’s lots of serendipity now in my life. My research is much easier. I have become a better observer. And a deeper listener. Perhaps because my journey is clear now, I easily find what I need without searching. And I can write quickly. In the flow.

It’s how I build my writing career and all of our projects right now.

My research is much easier. I became a better observer. And a deeper listener. And I write in the flow

My Fiction

I started out on Medium in 2019, because I just love to write. I found my poetry voice here and I have many poetry friends. My short stories are published on Vocal+ where they might hopefully someday be discovered and win awards...

I love magical realism as an art style. And I use it to craft my short stories with a suspenseful tension bow. My first short story ever was published in Cosmopolitan when I was 26. And who knows, what might happen in this third phase of my life.

After the book full of practical nature-based solutions, Abundanism, will be published next year, I might just concentrate on fiction.

The future of humanity will be an adventurous rollercoaster. We might just need a little distraction. And learn through fiction how to use our human superpowers, our chi, our life energy, and create concrete nature-based solutions. There’s is still a lot for the next generations to discover.

After all, my role is just being the grandma with messy hair and dirty feet.

After the book full of practical nature-based solutions, Abundanism, will be published next year, I might just concentrate on fiction

And after this river of words about me, I’m very curious to know who you are now. Tell me. Let’s talk…

You can visit me on our website Abundanism, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Soundcloud. My fiction can be found on Vocal+ and serious stuff about world shifts here on Medium or on Bizcatalyst360.

You can find me somewhere on our beautiful planet, with my hands in the soil and my eyes focused on the stars. Abundanism and Linktree. Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words.

© Désirée Driesenaar, 2021