CURRENT GOAL:

Eliminate our discontent, Reclaim our time, Live in the moment, Pursue our passions, Discover our missions, Experience real freedom, Create more, consume less, Focus on our health, Grow as individuals and as a community, Contribute beyond ourselves, Rid ourselves of excess stuff, Discover purpose in our lives

I'm born and raised near Paris, from Chinese/Malaysian and French/Algerian parents. Like a lot of people my age i wondered what to do after graduating. so i left school to explore the world in search for more meaning and purpose in my life. I went through very hard times and really amazing ones.

I was looking for a way to simplify my life because i knew that the way i was living wasn't sustainable, i wasn't thriving (neither was most people around me too).
i knew the impact i had on the world was immensely bigger than what met the eye . What could i do about it ?

For me who worked in childcare (literally with the future generation of people who will populate this land), how could i justify my unsustainable and wasteful lifestyle?

About 1 year ago a major turning point for my family and I happened! My parents wanted to buy a house in the suburbs of Sydney, but my younger brother and i put our veto. That's when we found the Rising Sun permaculture Farm, our very own paradise, for us to share with how many friends and family.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COME AS STRANGERS , LEAVE AS FRIENDS !

Here at the Rising Sun Farm we live by incorporating permaculture principles into our lives, we’ve finally been able to find lasting happiness and now we want to share it with you.

Permaculture search for happiness not through things, but through life itself; thus, it’s up to you to determine what is necessary and what is superfluous in your life.

Interests

• arts
• tattoos
• diy
• music festivals
• organic food
• yoga
• traveling
• music
• drums
• permaculture
• organic gardening
• jamming
• sustainable development
• sustainable living
• drumming
• carpentry
• rainbow

Music, Movies, and Books

The principles of self realisation, philosophy, harmonious living, sustainability, the healing powers of compassion, love, gratitude and spirituality are a few of the subject i love to discuss and ponder on.

Activism, FNB (Food Not Bombs), Philosophy, DIY, Permaculture, Learning Languages, Carpentry, Bicycle Maintenance, Canoeing, Swimming, Spirituality, Gardening, Cooking, Traveling, Music, Science, Art, Crafts, Poetry, Biking, Dancing, Studying, Rewilding, Street Medic, Farming, Movies, Climbing, Good Vibes, Libraries, Cooperation, Fermentation, Tinkering, Painting Murals, Anti-Racism, Museums, Medicinal Herbs

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

At the beginning of the year I Hosted a couch surfer named Paul, he stayed at the farm for a while and invited me on his travel, so there Iwas leaving with my farm and family with someone I barely knew Well that stranger later became a brother.

We hitch hiked, camped, couch surfed, partied in the craziest settings with the craziest people, road tripped up and down the east coast 1.5 times with no money no car, jumped off a 25 meter cliff, surfed sand dunes naked, lived in the wilderness for a months, stayed in a Hare Krishna ashram, i got hand poke tattoos, Jams around the fire, sunset and sunrise on the beach ...

One of the most memorable part was staying in a really sick warehouse in Melbourne called Crunchy town.
The Famous Den of the less fazmous but non the less important Sam Manson AKA Star Child, the sickest raddest couch surfin' host in Australia. The experience was off the chart awesome, seriously guys even if you don't come to this farm , i highly recommend you change itinerary to include this place. This Urban community houses short and long term couch surfers about 20 at any time, who party, live, play, chill, all week. I made a family there !

Teach, Learn, Share

As a basic definition, permaculture is a holistic design system for creating sustainable human settlements and food production systems. It is a movement concerned with sustainable, environmentally sound land use and the building of stable communities, through the harmonious interrelationship of humans, plants, animals and the Earth.

By this very definition, this system necessitates that our conduct is focussed on the good of the planet, nature and the people. It cannot work otherwise.
Learning every day more and more lessons, at the same time shedding everything unnecessary. I am today every thing that remains, the sum and result of those experiences have shaped the person i am today.

Affirm life: Everyday we are faced with a fundamental choice about how we approach life. Choose positivism. If we do not begin each day by saying ‘yes’ to life – even in the face of adversity – then all else is lost. Attitude matters.

Take a second look: Dissatisfaction with our material or financial situations can sometimes be the result of failing to look properly at our lives, rather than the result of any genuine ‘lack.’ Take a second look. When we understand that genuine wealth does not depend on having the latest consumer products, we might discover that we are much richer than we sometimes think we are.

Do not confuse ‘standard of living’ with ‘quality of life’: There comes a point when pursuing a higher ‘standard of living,’ in terms of material wealth, adds absolutely nothing to ‘quality of life,’ in terms of overall wellbeing. Pursuing material wealth can even detract from quality of life if we aren’t careful. If you focus on ‘quality of life’ you will discover it doesn’t depend on being materially wealthy. So step out of the rat race. Seek true abundance – sustainable abundance – in the Rising Sun Farm. ‘There is no wealth but life.’

Ask yourself: ‘How much is enough?’ Consumer society is defined by the ethos that ‘more is always better.’ Rising Sun Farm is defined by the ethos that ‘Just enough is plenty.’ As Henry Thoreau once wrote: ‘Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only.’ Don’t waste life on superfluities. Know how much is enough.

Overcome status anxiety: Many people today work jobs they don’t like, to buy things they don’t need, so that they can impress people they don’t like. But at the end of life these people will deeply regret spending their lives trying to impress other people. Be humble and seek to impress yourself only. Let other people worry about chasing status. This perspective is extremely liberating.

The ‘Deathbed’ thought-experiment: If you were lying on your deathbed, reflecting on your life, how would you want to have lived? How important will material possessions seem to you on your deathbed? You might agree that ultimately it’s not the possessions that will matter. It’s the people and the experiences. So live life for the people and the experiences, not the stuff. Privilege ‘being’ over ‘having’.

Be Grateful: Be grateful for what we have. Do not always demand more. Let us embrace sufficiency, moderation, and frugality. Less really can be more.

Live Deliberately: Escaping the mindset of consumer culture takes effort. Re-read these points slowly everyday until they take root in personal experience.

What I Can Share with Hosts

If you're passing through for a night or two, contact us, we'd love to host you! We would also like to invite you to house dinner, and might be interested in hosting your band in our great room (with house members approval), so feel free to message us about either of these as well.

If you'll be in the Rising Sun Farm for several days to a few months and would like to become a member of this fine community we are building, call me. The house is currently looking for members for summer and fall 2017. Email or call to find out to find out about current openings. william_lai@hotmail.fr / 0466964175

More than working hands we need people with experience or feel like building a permanent future off the grid in harmony with nature, the land and the people. We are my family and I, full of good will to make it a Sustainable safe haven community to inspire; but we lack the experience in eco-building, permaculture, business planning (airBnB,helpix,etc),...
It could really make a difference in making this place fully sustainable and harmonious.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Croatia, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Nepal, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, France