Laura Hartley

03/06/2026

David Foster Wallace tells a great story of two young fish swimming along, until in the opposite direction comes an older fish who smiles and nods and says “Morning Boys, how’s the water?”

The two young fish smile politely (or they do in my retelling), and continue swimming until eventually one of them turns to the other and says, “What the hell is water?”.

Most of us have heard some version of this analogy.

The water we’re swimming in isn’t always easy to see, but it’s deeply influential. Our “collective water” is shaped by stories - beliefs, ideologies, narratives, values, mindsets. Ways of seeing and understanding the world and our relationship to it.

In bringing light to the stories - the ways they consciously and unconsciously live within us - we gain the capacity for deeper change.

To not just push against them or tweak them, but to fundamentally uproot, nurture or replant them.

One of my favourite ways to do this is through questions - good questions often have more value than their answers in my opinion, always opening up space for something new to arise. They can become a practice, something to return to.

These cards are something I’m so excited to play with in some upcoming events - including the supper club at Treo House this month over .

And so I want to share one question I love in this pack: what if you job wasn’t to save or fix the world - but to love it? Would anything be different in your work or actions?

Want to join? https://www.treohouse.com/event-details/scintilla-salon-the-stories-that-shape-us

21/07/2025

We have three great events coming up, each one offering the skills, wisdom, and community to help you meet this moment and remake the world.

Whether you're looking to build bridges across difference or explore the spiritual dimensions of the crises we face, these workshops are designed to support you on your changemaker journey.

Here’s what’s coming up:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻, 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟯 - 9am London // 6pm Sydney: 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴. The Scintilla Salons are live, monthly gatherings for people who are working toward a more just, regenerative world. They’re designed to get to know other changemakers, and offer a space for conversation, reflection, and community-building.

July's theme is 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀, 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆?

Sign Up: https://www.scintillacentre.com/workshops-events/scintilla-salon-july

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀, 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟯, 10am Pacific // 6pm London:
The world is alive and it is always communicating with us. Beneath the environmental, political, and mental health crises we see around us lies a deeper rupture: a crisis in consciousness. We’ve forgotten who we truly are - and what we’re capable of creating.

But here’s the good news: consciousness can evolve. And so can we.

Join this free workshop with Anna Gatmon how to shift from disconnection to deep soul-alignment using the Expansive Living Method™.

Sign Up: https://www.scintillacentre.com/workshops-events/spiritual-tools-for-trying-times

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟲, 10am Pacific // 6pm London. How do we speak across divides and find common ground? How do we bring more healing, honesty, and integrity into the spaces where decisions are made?

Join us for a 90-minute online workshop where educator and changemaker Marianne Cerilli introduces The Politics of Unity - a framework of 40 guiding principles for making politics more trauma-informed, health-informed, and rooted in our shared humanity.

Sign Up: https://www.scintillacentre.com/workshops-events/the-politics-of-unity

16/07/2025

The world is alive and it is always communicating with us.

Join us on Wednesday, July 23 for an introduction to the Expansive Living Method™, with Anna Gatmon

Beneath the environmental, political, and mental health crises we see around us lies a deeper rupture: a crisis in consciousness. We’ve forgotten who we truly are - and what we’re capable of creating.

But here’s the good news: consciousness can evolve. And so can we.
Spiritual Tools for Trying Times is a free live workshop with where you’ll discover how to shift from disconnection to deep soul-alignment using the Expansive Living Method™. If you’ve been feeling stuck, isolated, or longing for more - this is your invitation to remember who you truly are and reclaim your connection to life, purpose, and possibility.

Sign Up: https://www.scintillacentre.com/workshops-events/spiritual-tools-for-trying-times

09/07/2025

I always have such fun on the Shifting with Marlee podcast - this was my third time as a guest.

Marlee welcomes back Laura Hartley, writer, activist, leadership coach and founder of the Scintilla Centre, for a conversation around how to remake the world! Laura and Marlee discuss how to make change, how to be an effective changemaker, and how...

18/06/2025

Wanting to connect with likeminded changemakers?

The Scintilla Salons are live, monthly gatherings for people who are working toward a more just, regenerative world. They’re designed to *get to know* other changemakers, and offer a participatory space for conversation, reflection, and community-building.

Each month we explore a central theme, and this month we'll be celebrating and centering our conversations around climate imagination and solutions.

You’ll be invited to small group conversations, share what’s alive for you, and leave with fresh perspective and meaningful connections.

The Salons are open to everyone, so join us Tuesday, June 24 - you can learn more and register here:
https://www.scintillacentre.com/workshops-events/the-scintilla-salon-june

07/05/2025

Wanting to *do something* in this time? Deepen your skills as a changemaker? Meet likeminded impact makers? Join Acts of Beauty & Defiance - an 8 week container where you'll walk away with:

🌎 A tangible prototype: a real, live act of beauty that targets leverage points in systems you care about
🌎 A deeper understanding of how systems operate, leverage points for change, and how imagination can become a tool for deeper change and regeneration.
🌎 A renewed sense of where your voice and vision hold power, even in complex or constrained environments.
🌎 A community of fellow changemakers offering reflection, insight and cross-pollination.

Learn more at scintillacentre.com

01/04/2025

What if your creativity could help reshape the world?

Join us for an interactive online workshop where we’ll explore how dance can be a force for transformation.

Facilitated by Emily Running (Dance at the Intersection) & yours truly, this is for dancers, dreamers, changemakers & creatives—no physical movement required, just your imagination and passion.

🔹 Channel your creativity to uncover your most meaningful contribution in this time.
🔹Identify skills that you can develop, practice, and share through dance to help seed a more just, vibrant world.
🔹Weave dance into changemaking, envisioning a community project or discovering how movement can deepen your skills and purpose in your work.

📅 Tuesday, April 8 | 10am PT | 1pm ET | 6pm UK | 7pm CET
🔗 Sign up: link in bio or www.scintillacentre.com/workshops-events/reshapingtheworld-dance

05/03/2025

We are living in an age of profound, interconnected crises—climate collapse, misinformation, systemic unraveling, and social fragmentation. The gravity of it all can feel overwhelming.

But what if - instead of being trapped in urgency or reaction - we leaned into imagination, creativity, and collective courage?

Join me on March 19 for the workshop Acts of Beauty & Defiance: Collective Imagination in an Age of Metacrisis.

Through guided exercises, collective imagination and deep conversation we'll be exploring:

✨ The power of beauty and defiance as forces of transformation
🔥 How to discern the fires we are called to tend in an era of collapse and renewal
🎭 Creative, courageous ways to turn vision into action—not as isolated heroes, but as entangled co-weavers of a different future

This isn’t your typical online workshop. This is a living space for 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐-𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈—where imagination is not an escape, but an act of resistance.

Sign up at https://www.scintillacentre.com/workshops-events/acts-of-beauty-defiance-collective-imagination-in-an-age-of-metacrisis

12/02/2025

We live in an age of both collapse and possibility, with crises colliding and intersecting across the foundations of our shared world. With news headline after news headline, we can start to wonder what we should be doing, where we should be acting or whether we're really doing enough.

(𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 - 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨...)

Our work in this time however cannot lie in reacting to every emergency, nor can our response be to fall into despair or apathy.

Instead we need to practice discernment: to map the crises we're navigating, to consider the roles we can play, the callings we hear, and in doing so, to compost our grief and rage into sustained and wise action.

If you're questioning where you're most meaningful work and impact lay right now, come join me on Feb 26 for the free workshop Rise: Finding What's Yours To Do In This Time.

Link in bio or below:
https://www.scintillacentre.com/workshops-events/rise-finding-whats-yours-to-do-this-time