A diagnosis can scramble your sense of who you are, especially when you’ve built a life around clarity, competence, and being the person with the answers. When Jonathan Dawson tells us he has Parkinson’s disease, he also tells us what happens next: the awkward pauses, the uncertainty on stage, and the surprising power of simply naming the truth at the start of a talk.
We go wider too, because Jonathan’s work has always been about the big picture. He has spent years in international development in Africa, helped shape the ecovillage movement, and led a master’s programme in economics at Schumacher College. His view of ecological economics lands as a challenge and an invitation: treat economics as moral philosophy, stop assuming endless growth equals wellbeing, and ask instead how we live well on a shared planet in a way that is equitable and kind.
Then we come back to the personal losses that don’t tidy themselves away. Jonathan speaks about living in intentional community, the permission to grieve openly, and the slow realisation that old wounds still have a voice. He shares the ongoing heartbreak of being separated from his children, and the deep “rupture” of boarding school trauma, alongside the inner practices that help him keep his humanity intact.
If you care about resilience, chronic illness, grief, chosen family, sustainable living, or a more human kind of economics, you’ll find something here to hold on to. Subscribe, share this conversation with someone who needs it, and leave us a review with the line that stayed with you most.
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