Here at Fossoway Stables, our whole operation is run with 3 core values in mind - HARMONY, NURTURE and SUSTAINABILITY. We agreed upon these concepts as a family when we started out on this big adventure and we use them, now more than ever, to guide our practice, develop our understanding and build our ethos.
In this series of blog posts "Our Core Values" we share with you why these concepts are so important to us, what we've done so far to honour them, how we plan to continue to live with them as our guides and practical ways in which you can embed them in your lives too.
In this article, we're looking at HARMONY.
Why Harmony?
In a world marked by division, conflict, and chaos, the concept of living in harmony offers a beacon of hope and possibility. Living in harmony encompasses more than just coexistence—it is about fostering balance, empathy, and connection in our relationships with others, ourselves, and the natural world within which we live and operate.
This notion of harmony became a really important vision for us building a new life and business here at Fossoway Stables. It meant ...
Being respectful of and not exploiting the landscape and wildlife who called these 77 acres home, well before we did.
Building an environment and space where everyone who shared it was aligned in their values and vision for the future.
Creating a structure within which we could navigate disagreements peacefully and respectfully.
Embracing diversity and celebrating the richness of all our differences. Using all our unique talents and skills to build a team where individuals can shine and together we're stronger.
Cultivating a culture of empathy and compassion to foster understanding, bridge divides, build meaningful connections and adopt a pay it forward approach.
Prioritising self-care by nourishing our bodies and minds and learning to be reflective and self-aware to avoid burnout and instead find peace in the chaos of life.
What we've done so far ...
Other than always trying to live "harmony" in our personal lives by being compassionate, and practising self-care, sharing our story and vision with others through this blog and our social media channels, being philanthropic through the Acorn Charitable Trust, modelling what harmony means to us in our behaviour as individuals and as a business, and making decisions through its' lens, we've not really done anything practical to promote harmony at Fossoway Stables and we understand that this is an area we really need to focus on more in the months and years to follow.
How we plan to promote more harmony going forward ...
Documenting and sharing our journey and how we embody and implement all our core values is an important way for us hold ourselves accountable as well as educate (and hopefully entertain!) our community and with this in mind, we plan to up-level our communication on social media as well as launch our new YouTube series "Inside Fossoway Stables".
Learning from and celebrating the unique experiences and learnings of others is another really great place to start and we can do this within our core team here at Fossoway Stables and our wider community. We've long talked about producing our podcast "Friends of Fossoway", sharing the stories of the wonderful people we know through our work here at Fossoway Stables and through Acorn Charitable Trust. In doing this we recognise and legitimise our differences while also taking comfort in the things that connect us and we're excited to finally start this project later this year.
Looking a little closer to home, we're embarking upon a 'Harmony Audit' - assessing what's working and what's not in our existing operation for ourselves as a family, our team and our clients and customers. In collecting this data, we hope to expose areas in which we can improve then get creative in how to do that.
Linking in with one of our other core values, Sustainability, we will continue to invest in and prioritise those goals and aims in order to maintain a harmonious relationship with our immediate and wider environment. (You can read more about our sustainability goals here.
Living in harmony is not about erasing differences or avoiding conflict, but about embracing them with open hearts and minds. It is about recognising our interconnectedness and working together to create a world where all beings can thrive in balance and mutual respect. It's a lofty goal perhaps, and tricky when you rely on others to want, be capable of and act in ways that do the same in order to achieve it, but we believe it's one worth aspiring to.
By embracing diversity, cultivating empathy, nurturing connection with nature, and finding inner peace, we can each play a part in fostering harmony in our communities and beyond. We absolutely believe that together we can create a world where harmony exists, and all beings live in peace and unity but for now, we're focussed on bringing that to our little corner of Perthshire here at Fossoway Stables.
Karen Anderson
Fossoway Stables
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