What is a Good Life? #159 - Cultivating Interconnected Harmony with Cindy Forde

Jan 27, 2026

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How do we live in harmony with each other and the natural world?

Cindy Forde is a thought leader and acclaimed author with over 25 years dedicated to systems change. In 2023, she won the Change Champion Award alongside leaders such as David Attenborough and Malala Yusafzai for her children's book 'Bright New World,' which was adopted by the Australian National Curriculum. She founded Planetari, pioneering Earth-led education, earning a Climate Positive Award at UN COP28. Previously MD of Blue Marine Foundation and CEO of Cambridge Science Centre, she is an Associate Fellow of University of Cambridge Homerton College where she is currently co-founding the Centre for Systemic Change. She is a trained yoga teacher and sound healing practitioner.

In this profound conversation, we explore the role of spiritual practice in sustaining changemakers, the paradox of living in systems misaligned with our values, and why "cosmic time" might offer a more realistic perspective on transformation than human urgency. Cindy shares why we need the courage to build entirely new models rather than fixing broken systems, and how current education systems crush the natural interconnectedness that children understand.

For more of Cindy's work:
Website: https://cindyforde.world/
Planetari: https://planetari.world/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindy-forde-10668911/

For more from Mark McCartney:
Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/
Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney

00:00 - The Guiding Question of Harmony
05:45 - Growing Up Between Two Worlds
12:30 - Discovering Spiritual Practice
18:45 - Inner and Outer Coherence
25:15 - The Corporate Paradox
30:00 - Understanding Cosmic Time
35:30 - Urgency and Thinking Differently
40:30 - Single Issues to Systems
44:00 - Courage to Call Out
47:30 - Crushing Natural Interconnectedness
50:00 - What Is a Good Life