Cabin view A recent podcast from Cortex with Steph Ango had a section about “team principles”/manifesto that got me thinking about (my) personal principles. A while back I wrote a manual of me, which I try to keep up to date-ish. I’ve written before about what I look for when I travel. There’s overlap with both the “manual of me” and my travel interests but I wanted to write a little more about my principles (with this being my blog then surely it’s okay for it to be about me, right?). My old work had a business consultant work with the team for over a year to come up with one word principles for the company, but in the end all that really came out of it was that a business should put up their prices 10% every year… so really just the principle of capitalism. Lots of people have principles driven by religion. I’m not religious; having grown up in a small Scottish town as part of a Scottish Episcopal church when I finally left religion behind in my late-teenage years it was because some of the things around me felt very cult-adjacent. So in general I avoid. I have friends who are Quakers and it was interesting to learn that many of the things I believe overlap strongly with the principles of Quakerism: Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship. (Although some of their sub-tasks certainly aren’t for me). 

The past 36 hours I’ve spent travelling to the #cabin and being at the cabin, mainly to do some summer maintenance. I’ve strimmed grass and waist-high thistles, I’ve fitted a light into the shed, I’ve removed 3 wasp’s nests, I’ve assessed some tree branches that need to come down from over the road, I’ve discovered another somewhat scary wiring situation from the original cabin built, I’ve video called Ruth to show her the trees she planted… I’ve also chatted to neighbours, traded sweets and labour for a snifter of petrol, cooked, done a hillwalk, read a lot of an amazing book (Borderlands by Lewis Baston), video-called to my parents, arranged upcoming social things over the next week, done some summer holiday admin tasks, removed a tick (hopefully that’s that particular count remains at one) and drank a dram of whisky. On reflection, I think that mix of stuff embodies some of my personal principles, so here goes for three things that I hold dear to how I act in everything I do:

  • Canny. I try to be a lot of the Scots definition of “canny” - careful, cautious, steady, friendly. I try to live with the concept of enough, to be simple and considered in my purchasing, to be amiable, consistent and composed in my dealings with everyone I meet, to be mindful of, and minimal in, my impact on others. That involves trying to be constructive and trying to mediate. I’m generally fairly stoic when it comes to things, accepting certain inevitabilities but fighting back where it’s needed and possible. I also fully acknowledge that I’m a fallible, crappy human too.

  • Caring. I care greatly for our planet, my family, my friends and my community. I have a strong sense of justice and a desire to work on things that I believe in. I think capitalism, big tech and social media are destroying us. I think about what other people think. I try to turn up on time and I try to be consistently dependable. I maintain things. Being caring also comes with not shying away from the graft. Part of being caring is to maintain myself by being healthy so that I’m up for the task and that I can care for others, not always an easy task. Caring for others means that I need to be able to be relied on, often being able to be self-sufficient, and being flexible to work with what’s available, to evolve expectations to what we have now.

  • Creative. I love art and the creation of new things. Especially when it is fun. My things are writing, games, lamps, sheds, diy, guitar, street art photography, rescuing things from trash, but I love hearing about the interests of others too - tall bikes, printing presses, looms, basket weaving, whatever. Generally my hobbies are at the lo-fi/punk end of creativity but in ways that allow me to cover a breadth rather than a depth. Having never done mechanics I worked on an woodchipper engine this month, cleaning points, replacing fuel hose and spark plug, updating wiring - all of that was my mind learning, problem solving and being “creative” on a novel task. Making lamps, designing, cutting wood, wiring, testing ideas - I love all that. To me it’s about being open to ideas, learning, and being interested.

What principles do you live by?