Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir
on InnSæi and the Icelandic Art of Living Aligned with our Intuition
InnSæi
The sea within. To see within. To see from the inside out. The Icelandic word for “intuition”. The way you accompany yourself through life, knowing what your compass is and navigating like the Polynesian way finders by relying on the stars.
Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir believes we all have this amazing power to light up, but also to dim our inner brightness: “We have a choice to be lit up and follow this light as we go through life. When you’re sensing the moments where you have that sparkle in your eye, it is the most beautiful sign of how alive you are!” A visionary and sensitive artist at heart, Hrund is committed to bringing InnSæi into the world as a poetic reframing of our potential, a way to broaden our intelligence by finding a balance between the intuitive and rational, creative and analytical: “Intuition is the source for the compassionate and sustainable stewardship we now need. Navigating the dynamic inner sea cannot be put into boxes or silos, because it ceases to flow.”
We need to know ourselves well enough to be able to genuinely live in a regenerative way. And that’s what Hrund did. She is an Icelandic author, speaker, filmmaker and sustainability leader who brings together ideas and people to inspire creative solutions. After an imaginary conversation with Kofi Annan, she decided to quit her job at the United Nations to honour the ideas that came to her and turn them into reality.
Those ideas wanted to take the form of a documentary film, InnSæi: The Sea Within, that became known worldwide on Netflix as a soul-searching global journey to uncover the art of connecting within in today’s world of disconnection. World-renowned scientists, artists, spiritual leaders like Marti Spiegelman, Marina Abramovic, Malidoma Patrice Somé, and even children answer the same question: What is intuition?
One of Hrund’s favourite words is “constellation”. She builds regenerative networks that create space for everyone to speak openly, ask silly questions, be genuine and free to open their mind. A regenerative space thrives on encouragement, allowing you to be and feel appreciated for who you are, not for what you do or study: “When people feel respected, they trust that their exploration will have value and matter in a bigger context.”
“InnSæi - Heal, revive and reset with the Icelandic art of intuition”, her new book, is a blend of ancient wisdom, science, philosophy and practical tools, but also a love letter to the beauty that exists within us: “Both the planet and the human race are now asking for a different, more humane and eco-centric compass to navigate our ways into flourishing futures.”
Read Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir’s answers for Inspirators, do whatever sparks your spirit, and allow the world to come to you!
Thank you, Hrund, for being an Intuitive Artist!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir
Company / Institution: Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir
Title: Writer, Advisor, Keynote Speaker, Author, Film Maker
Website: www.hrundgunnsteinsdottir.com; https://hrundgunnsteinsdottir.substack.com
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrund-gunnsteinsdóttir-43b3b32a/
Country of origin: Iceland
Country you currently live in: Iceland and Germany
Your personal definition of Regeneration: Regeneration is when the circulation system of our soul, mind, body and planet Earth is thriving. We’re not burning our candle on both ends, but rather safeguarding our own boundaries and the boundaries of planet Earth. We continuously ‘shed old skin’ to create new connections and beginnings because we realise life is motion.
Main business challenge you face: I am transitioning from a full-time job leading Festa – Centre for Sustainability in Iceland, to bringing InnSæi (Icelandic for intuition; the sea within) out into the world. I am in the process of moving countries and selling or giving away about 90% of everything I own. It feels fantastic and frightening at the same time.
Main driver that keeps you going: A deep sense of curiosity, purpose and meaning. For this, I focus on staying aligned with my InnSæi.
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: Curiosity, the ability to see the big picture, and courage.
The trait you most value in others: Kindness, brave leadership, humour and good listening skills.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: Outdoor activities like walking, skiing, hiking, running and cycling, being out in nature always regenerate me – even the storms in Iceland! Witnessing sincerity in expression and beauty in any type or form brings me great joy.
The Inspirators who determined you to take the regenerative path: It was the challenging life experiences that taught me how to embody a regenerative path in life and work. I have been and continue to be inspired by many people, mentors, other people’s experiences throughout the centuries and words of wisdom.
A hint or starting point for companies or professionals that are taking the first steps in the regeneration journey: Start with yourself and your team. Learn to align with InnSæi, understand and embody its meaning. Train yourself to constantly make connections between the micro and macro.
Most used and abused clichés in sustainability that bother you:
"The younger generation will solve this".
"Nothing we do matters since country x or z aren’t doing enough".
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope: If you are angry, allow the anger to fuel your energy towards constructive (not destructive) activity and explorations. If you feel hopeless, don’t shake it off, understand where that feeling is coming from and find ways you can turn what you discover into ‘fertile soil’, literally or metaphorically.
Change starts within ourselves, so don’t be afraid to be different, honour and love yourself. "Turn towards the sun": the words we say or think to ourselves can energize or break us. Make sure you speak of support, kindness and love to yourself so that you can be that for others.
Find people, traditions and projects that give you hope. Speak in support of them, find ways to collaborate with them or work in a similar spirit. Your ‘tribe’ of like-minded people will help you energize and find realistic hope; what we pay attention to grows.
In spite of everything, make sure you notice beauty, wonder and kindness around you; it will energize you and open your mind to possibilities. Align with and harness your InnSæi and remember that how you show up in the world makes a difference, no matter how small or big.
Books that had a great impact on you:
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Snorri the Seal by Frithjof Sælen
The Matter With Things and the Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Salka Valka by Halldor Laxness
From Eve to Dawn by Marilyn French
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Must-reads for any regenerative professional: Read beyond the mainstream sustainability literature, and seek out old wisdom as much as renaissance permaculture.
The Nature of Nature by Enric Sala
Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet by Johann Rockström and Owen Gaffney
Doughnut Economics by Kate Rayworth
Value(s) by Mark Carney
Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity by Sandrine Dixson-Decléve, Owen Gaffney, Jayati Ghosh, Jorgen Randers, Johan Rockström, Per Espen Stoknes
The Tree of Meaning by Robert Bringhurst
Movies or Documentaries you would watch all over again:
Fantastic Funghi
Breaking Boundaries
Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth
A Life on Our Planet, David Attenborough
Blogs / Websites / Podcasts you visit frequently: The New Constellations podcast, Outrage + Optimism, Intelligence Squared, The How To Academy, Chasing Consciousness podcasts, The Marginalian newsletter, Monocle’s Meet the Writers and ESG on a Sunday.
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing: My running playlist makes me super happy! It has heavy metal, soul, rap rock, indie rock and pop music, from Marilyn Manson and Skálmöld to Soul II Soul and Black Eyed Peas. When I am not running, I like to listen to piano or jazz with Adhd, Víkingur or Gudmundur Ingolfsson and musicians like Lana Del Rey, Angus & Julia Stone and the Cranberries.
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you: Ski-touring the ‘Haute Route’ between France and Switzerland, and on Iceland’s highest glacier from where I was probably lucky to return alive. Kosovo after the war. Machu Picchu and the Amazon rainforest in Peru. Mexico City and the Teotihuacan and the public artwork by Diego Rivera conveying the people’s history through visual imagery. Sailing between small islands in the Pacific Ocean with National Geographic scientists and explorers.
Global Regenerative Voices you recommend us to follow: Don’t look for ‘the one voice’. Listen widely and notice signals and patterns that can help us see both the big picture and the concrete steps towards more regenerative ways of being. While doing this, connect with the natural world; go outside, feel it, sense it and learn to hear what it is telling you. Notice with all your body and being, not just a small part of your brain.
Trends in Regeneration we should keep an eye on: Support the trends towards regeneration by pulling them out of the shadows. The transition to regenerative sustainability is a radical shift from today’s world.
People change systems, systems don’t change by themselves. Look out for interesting people and things happening on the periphery, both in content and strategy. They are likely to be the ones leading emerging changes in the world precisely because they are not in the mainstream of high-level sustainability discourse. Then share the voices that have an impact on you with a broader audience.
My friend and renaissance thinker, Gemma Mortensen introduced me to the Berkana Two Loop Model, which shows a dominant system that is working well for some but is in decline. And an emergent system, which is gaining influence. This is a system in which we have a beautiful opportunity to imagine and create and this is where we often find the ‘pioneers’ – the entrepreneurs, explorers, change-makers and thinkers who are so immersed in their work that they have little time or resources to share it with a massively broad audience. When the dominant system reaches its peak, alternatives arise.
These are the times we live in, right? We are going through the second Renaissance in 500 years, according to Ian Goldin. Today there are pockets of possibilities, we’re looking out for the ‘pioneers’ and in doing so, the Berkana Two Loop model’s strategy is to name the pioneers, connect them together, nourish them with time, encouragement and resources and lastly, illuminate their work, or stories of change.
I recently listened to an inspiring Leading from Being podcast interview with Melanie Goodchild whom I had not heard about before. She spoke about word bundles, that help us reframe our thinking, and knowledge keepers. The knowledge keepers that come to mind for me as I write this are Wangari Maathai, Marilyn French, Margaret Atwood, Iain McGilchrist, Joanna Macy and Malidoma Patrice Somé. Lastly, I recently came across the online journal about regeneration through social transformation, called The Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, at www.jabsc.org.
Best places for business networking (online or offline): I am all over the place when it comes to this. I meet many people in a single week online or in person and I like to keep a balance between random conversations and planned ones.
I like to find myself in the muddy waters of diverse perspectives and then I take time for myself to sense-make and connect different dots. I do that a lot through writing, journaling, advising and connecting with like-minded people. I guess my “best place” is when I am aligned with my InnSæi (Icelandic for intuition; the sea within) as I do this. It helps me discern information and wayfind in a generous and regenerative way.
Events we should attend: Whatever sparks your spirit – just make sure you are present while you are there, open to voices and willing to allow ‘the world to come to you’. Sometimes we might be overly focused on having a very clear agenda, having set goals we want to reach when we attend events. We sure are trained to think like this in business! We live in times that are characterized by a lot of uncertainty and huge transitions that we don’t know how will unfold.
My advice is to train yourself to balance this with an open mind, be receptive, curious and present as you engage with others, new events and environments. When we do this, we are more creative, nicer to be around, we make better decisions and are better prepared for the unexpected.
Associations, business clubs, tribes you belong to – and why: I am a Yale World Fellow, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Cultural Leader, member of Exedra, an association of women leaders in Iceland and belong to a few smaller and informal groups of like-minded people and friends from all over the world. To me, life is about relationships and I learn so much from the people I have met through these circles of colleagues and friends. When people and ideas connect, stuff happens. The more conscious and aware we are of how this happens, the better.
Sustainable Development or Regeneration courses, trainings, or certifications that really teach us how to have an impact:
There are many to choose from right now. Take time to find what synchronizes with your inner spark and passion and the skillset you want to harness. Think about what energizes you, and connects you to interesting people, ideas and beautiful futures. Just make sure you are doing this while you are learning, don’t postpone expressing your views or the impact you want to have in the world. The time is now. As Nelson Mandela once said, “The time is always ripe to do right”.
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future in 2030: We have the scientific knowledge, tools, financial resources and technology to know what are the right things to do. We know this and have known this for decades, but it hasn’t translated into the radical systems and behavioural change, or leadership we need to see in the world. We’re not as rational as we’d like to think. I believe in the human spirit if we harness it the right way.
The only way out of our mess is “in”. - The change we need to see in the world starts within ourselves. The fact that more and more people around the world have started to look and connect within themselves, and are becoming spiritual, mindful and grounded makes me feel more optimistic. When we are connected within, we can better connect with people and the world around us.
Reasons to feel pessimistic about our future in 2030: We have developed systems and ranking of social success that is defined by how well we serve certain political or financial interests, that often care little about regenerative sustainability. When our ability to pay our mortgage, belong to the group we want to belong to, get re-elected as politicians or be promoted as business leaders depends on maintaining systems that don’t support a sustainable future then that is a problem. This worries me. This is where the real disruption needs to take place, and it takes a lot of courage and collective support.
Regenerative Leadership qualities much needed today: Courage, deep thinking, deep listening and love for people and the planet. The ability and ambition to make decisions and invest with longer-term thinking than most politicians, managers and investors do today.
The Inspirator you are endorsing for a future edition of the newsletter is: Gemma Mortensen, an award-winning social entrepreneur and thinker interested in transformative, systems change; the co-founder of the New Constellations, co-Founder and Vice-Chair of More In Common and a Trustee of Bite Back 2030.
The quote that inspires you:
"We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right." (Nelson Mandela)
Your own quote that will inspire us:
"These superpowers are threatened by our modern over-emphasis on rational thinking, algorithms, the way we are constantly bombarded with information, distraction and insecurities, and the increasing levels of burnout, anxiety and stress. Our greatest hope for a bright tomorrow lies in shifting the centre of gravity by reconnecting within, to other beings and the natural world."
(from my book on InnSæi, coming out in March 2024 with Bonnier Books UK, available for pre-order on Amazon.
