I married my second husband in 2017 in beautiful St.Lucia. We were deeply in love and felt that our dreams had been answered by each others appearance in our lives. The champagne flowed and the gleam in our eyes when they met, made us sure that ours was a powerful union. Three years later the pandemic was announced and after a few months of head scratching, it dawned upon me that Andrew and I lived in different worlds and the future didn’t look good for us staying together. Loving each other as we did, we needed to respect and honour each other’s reality, even though we didn’t share it! It felt like ‘mission impossible’, and several times we lived apart until 1.5 years later, we agreed to sell our house and live in different towns. Having my own space felt healthy and right. Andrew also felt that way, although he sometimes felt alone. Then began our visits to each other’s places, continuing our marriage and exploring our relationship with a feeling of vulnerability, curiosity and raw courage. Video calls and telegram messages have been a golden thread for us, between trips. We attended a couple of weddings together this summer and apart from a very fun date experience and meeting lots of interesting folks, I was fascinated by the vows – but what were our wedding vows? I must have lost them! Could it be time for some new vows for us? What might they be?One very promising development for us, has been our willingness to openly express our thoughts and ideas – even though they might trigger the other. In some conversations, we explore disparate notions of respect, responsibility and boundaries in a way that feels razor sharp and risky. Is it possible to fully come together again? I ask myself this question a lot.The world I live in is still vastly different than Andrew’s, but it doesn’t even seem to matter most of the time. I’ve taken care of my needs and invest in a caring community for myself, which is my greatest joy. I’ll soon be hosting a regular gathering once the house renovations are done, to provide a space for friends and neighbours to come together and engage in the new economy, by building trust and care among us. My wish is that Andrew and I will one day align in a more practical way, and we will live closer to each other. But for now, I’m enjoying the freedom I have to explore the purity of my own self, without the stress of sharing the same space with someone who is easily triggered by me. I’m definitely not the woman he married, and still I know that our love is all that’s really real.I hope my story will give encouragement to others who are navigating a partnership with one who seems to live in a different world. Sending hug to all readers!
SunBeings is undergoing changes in the background… check back soon!
Carina Ramm
Carina was the original founder of SunBeings who approached Kate to do the design for the platform. In the 3.5 years of working together, a friendship blossomed, and creative ideas arose between the two of them that has helped build what SunBeings has the potential to grow into.
Since December 2025, Carina has left to move onto engaging with the world in other ways, but we cannot forget the legacy she has left behind – SunBeings wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for her!
Her dedication, passion and knowledge was very admirable. She managed to research and write summaries for nearly 500 ethical businesses! She brought further to light how we can live with less dependency on money and banking systems, how we can use gift economies, a new donation model, what real ethics aligned with nature is, the true histories of this planet and more.
Carina has lived for many years without a bank account or phone, engaged very minimally with financial systems, travelled to many parts of the world, and lived in deep trust and communion with herself and nature to receive what it is she needs. She has contributed many posts onto the blog inspiring others with her experiences and findings.
You won’t be forgotten Carina! We hope to continue what you have started.
Owen Hanner
Owen is Kate’s partner and a grounded presence behind SunBeings. Both highly creative and logical, with a gift for words, an eye for beauty, and an artistic soul. With his keen eye and a good overview of what’s in alignment, Owen gives feedback, helps with writing and streamlines the content.
He is a gifted musician who can play many instruments, often capturing those who happen to come across his live, dynamic improvisations, and the magic that happens when he gets together with other musicians. A treat for the ears and those who are willing to dream – which fulfils his sense of purpose as his music contains messages of his dream of the new world. Owen’s music has often been his key to opening doors in his life… including in bringing Kate to him. He has had his music included in some of the SunBeings videos.
As a video editor, he is excellent at creating dreamy worlds bursting with freedom, colour and natures dance through his videos he attaches with his music.
Highly creative at whatever he applies himself to, he leans towards creating complex layers to his creative projects with a high attention to detail, that reveals more subtleties when one looks deeper. It reflects his feeling and sensitivity for the intricacies in life.
Owen has a deep sense of love and beauty and lives in deep communion with it. With that, Kate and Owen share an adventurous life together that has provided a driving spark behind SunBeings. They have dived deep into exploring what following nature and a new earth looks like… this can be both a painful and joyful process, and one of deep growth, that helps to ignite this platform. Thank you to Owen for the flame and loving support!
Kate Priestley
Kate is an original co-founder and the current coordinator of SunBeings providing much of the foundation and is the designer. Bouncing around with creative ideas, listening to others’ ideas, she has a way to ground them into the physical.
She is a passionate multi-disciplinary creative, and she treats this platform as a creative outlet, to make a space where people can commune and share themselves. Kate loves to nurture others’ gifts and help bring them out into the world. She likes to share the good and the innovative and has a natural passion for community.
An adventurous and playful spirit who likes to push the usual boundaries of the known. Through answering nature’s calls, she has found life to reward her in ways often very unexpected. Discomforts and challenges are often met, but they provide doorways into her own understanding of herself and life – they become something else in her eyes. As a storyteller, she is enthusiastic about sharing her experiences with others in case it may benefit another.
She also is a painter, illustrator and photographer. Her works are often highly expressive with an explosion of colour and play.
Kate has long been interested in projects that bring about change or have a positive impact on the world. Since a young age, she has liked to combine art and social engagement. Now all her interests come together in running SunBeings, and growing its community platform for all of us.
Nixi “No fixed thing” Cole
Coordinator, Coach, Creative and Champion of whole hearted projects and creatives. Nixi offers her gifts as a writer, editor, group holder, artist and art curator. She also loves being in a garden and growing things.
Nixi has a passion and strength for recognising and nurturing gifts in people, places and projects. She is empathic, intuitive, enthusiastic and dynamic in nature, naturally uplifting and energising in many of her offerings. Making connections across the physical and non-physical and encouraging our full and true expression.
Wonderful at coaching, mentoring and holding a safe space, she is gifted in seeing and expanding possibilities with a great sense of joy, play and creativity that pushes on our usual boundaries of imagination.
She has been helping behind the scenes at SunBeings for a little while supporting Kate and Owen and the wider field of the platform and its potentials, coming up with fun ideas, gently questioning, feeling and finding possibilities.
She loves playing with words, pens and fabric and hopes some of this will find its way on to SunBeings offerings too.
Nixi has a free and bright spirit, with extremely sensitive sensors for all subtleties of life. She is connected to the vastness of the universe and yet deeply grounded and anchored in nature. She moves fluidly between energetic, emotional and practical levels, integrating it all with humility and humour.
Nixi is full of magic, joy and love, while also not scared to sense and feel what’s uncomfortable, painful, or unfamiliar. Her curious and listening nature have carried her to many places and experiences and she has been nomadic for over two years.
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