On cultivating healthy systems
Hello friends,
It’s been a while since my last post so I thought I’d share an update. There have been many ideas dancing about in my head over the last few months but it’s been difficult to translate them into presentable written/illustrated form. Every time I try to record an idea, it splits into new lines of inquiry that take me down deeper rabbit holes. In lieu of a nicely packaged blog post, I’m just going to offer a stream of consciousness of what’s been on my mind lately. Hopefully this flushes out the gutters and some clearer thinking will come out of it.
Things that I believe to be true:
The health of a sub-system affects the health of the larger system that it is part of. Healthy intrapersonal systems enable healthy interpersonal systems - communities, organizations, countries, and global society.
A healthy system is strong, thriving, and resilient. This is enabled by the success factors of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity amongst its parts.
Love = deeply connecting with self and others
Compassion = caring for the wellbeing of self and others
Joy = alignment and expression of one’s authentic self
Equanimity = clarity of view and acceptance
I’ve found creative, introspective, somatic, and spiritual practices to be helpful for cultivating success factors at the intrapersonal level (eg. meditation, therapy, yoga, art, writing, music, being in nature).
At higher levels of system, the fundamental success factors are the same, but things get exponentially more complex as we need to consider many interconnected parts. The difference lies in how these success factors are operationalized (eg. within an organization system, what institutional processes and structures can be implemented to enable greater connection, wellbeing, authentic expression, and clarity of view amongst employees and departments?)
Differentiation occurs when each part of a system leans into its unique authentic self. Integration is the weaving of these diverse parts into a tapestry. A system needs a balance of both integration and differentiation to be healthy. Our modern western ways of being favours differentiation. Over-differentiation leads to degenerative siloing. A great challenge of our time is to recognize the dangers of over-siloed systems and to consciously create ways to enable complementary integration.
In order for a system to change, it must first be able to see itself, then understand itself, then remove the barriers that are preventing it from becoming the better self it yearns to be.
Things that I am curious about:
What does a healthy intrapersonal system look like?
What does a healthy system of family and friends look like?
What does a healthy organizational system look like?
What does a healthy city system look like?
What does a healthy global system look like?
What is my role in each of these systems?
What is within my power to change?
What is the time horizon that I care about? The health of systems within my lifetime? The next 100 years? The next 1000 years?
The relevance of “global systems” awareness
I can no longer consider “global system” issues as faraway things that only diplomats and academics should think about. In the past year, climate change, the pandemic, and rising US-China tensions have all directly impacted the wellbeing of myself and those that I care about. It’s a wake-up call to be more aware and proactive about preventing things from getting worse.
Things that I am exploring:
Knowing that all systems are connected, I wish to more deeply understand the root causes of major challenges at each level of system and what the leverage points for change are. I recognize that I am only one human being with limited resources. I can’t solve for everything, but I can be strategic about how I spend my energy for maximum impact (or at least minimum harm). I may not end up making a significant difference, but as a creative problem-solver, I find the process of learning and trying to be fulfilling in itself.
Cultivating a healthy intrapersonal system
Learning about Jungian psychology - archetypal phenomenon, the collective unconscious.
Learning about Ancient Chinese philosophy and spirituality (Taoism, Confucianism, I-Ching).
Learning about how different cultures describe polarities and balance them (yin-yang, divine feminine / divine masculine).
I recently had a delightful conversation with Julie Claire on her Creative at the Wheel podcast where she helped me reflect on my path back to my authentic creative self (will share the link when it’s out).
Cultivating a healthy system of family and friends
Started a conversation with my parents about how to best support them as they age
Thinking about what modern rituals and structures for community health and resilience might look like. Brainstorming how to design these with friends and put them into practice.
Cultivating healthy organizational systems
Starting an agile enterprise coaching certification program in May which I’m very excited about - gaining new awareness, skills, and tools to better support the transformation of organizations to become more responsive to change.
Cultivating a healthy city system
Thinking about whether it’s possible to live a sustainable downtown lifestyle.
Thinking about how to help keep the soul of my city alive as real estate becomes increasingly expensive and arts/local businesses struggle.
Cultivating a healthy global system
I recently completed an edx.org course on US-China relations to develop a deeper and more expansive understanding of historical context, current dynamics, and where things are likely to head. Highly recommended! Here’s the link to my course notes.
Having conversations with other Asian-Canadian women to make sense of our bi-cultural experiences and piece together the many truths of our collective story.
Formed a study group to learn transition design - gathering new frameworks and tools to identify leverage points for change within complex systems.
Reading work by Charles Eisenstein around the need for society to move from the “story of separation” to the “story of interbeing”.
Learning about alternative economic models.
Finding joy in coaching
On the side, I’m enjoying coaching a few incredible entrepreneurs around designing products, services, and organizational systems. I like the focus on capacity-building, helping them uncover their deeper goals and challenges, and meeting them where they are. I’m looking forward to more practice around listening, asking helpful questions, and being in service. The things that they are building are already (or soon will be) making a major positive impact in the lives of many and I am honoured to play a small part in the journey.
That’s it for my stream of consciousness. Congratulations to anyone who was able to follow along this far. If you have any recommended resources based on my list of exploration topics, I’d love to hear them.
I’ll see you in the next post!
On healing in the darkness