Ben Preston is an Ulsterman from Northern Ireland who currently lives and works across Australia and New Zealand as a regenerative engineer and designer. Regenerative designers think about what is it to make a space that comes to life and invites people in. One that invites people to name their biggest hopes, dreams, and fears, connect around them, and in the process, take care of and support each other. As a facilitator, I'm often thinking about those things purely in the context of how two people might talk or interact with each other. But Ben is thinking about it through the lens of what is it to build a space that allows for that.
I was introduced to Ben through another wonderful guest, Jeff Hull. He said Ben is working with deep ideas about what it is to be in community in ways that allow for our highest and best to come through. That’s where our conversation starts: locating ourselves in the world, and the places where we and our ancestors came from. I follow Ben on this journey to embracing his longing for connection in a way that allowed him to be true to himself, but also allowed him to begin to walk with and talk across boundaries of identity, ethnicity, and culture.
Ben lives at the heart of this beautiful paradox that we can be uniquely anchored in where we come from and who we are in a way that actually allows us to connect with others who are uniquely where they come from and who they are. Rather than seeing those borders as divisions or sources of conflict, we can see them as the spaces where worlds meet, and where new possibilities emerge.
Show Notes:
Ben-Preston.com
linkedin.com/in/ben-preston-he-him-74437952
Listen to Episode #55 with Jeff Hull: mindfulcreative.coach/the-wonder-dome/2021/5/19/55-jeff-hull
Connect with Andy:
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#81 The Space Where Worlds Meet (with Ben Preston)