Personal development is an indirect work, not a set of behaviours to be enabled on command *
In my opinion, Carol Sanford's latest book "Indirect work" touches an important, yet elusive topic.
It's simple enough to say we - as humans - need a change of paradigm, a cultural shift towards a regenerative approach, abandoning the mechanistic, polarized and fragmented view of the world in order to see it as alive and undivided.
But it's not so easy to grasp how to achieve this change or how to help others to make it happen, both individually and collectively, .
The truth is that personal transformation is invisible and non linear.
It requires reflection (or wakefulness or consciousness, as you prefer), self-evaluation and self-management, as well as critical thinking and unconventional thinking.
In her book, Carol thinks it's essential to be able to "move up levels of significance", to unlock "exponential powers of understanding", recognising that the transformation of the self is the very first step to transform the groups/ communities/wholes we belong to.
There are different natures of knowing and some are of higher quality than others
Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.
A.Einstein
How we engage with information (or experience) is at least as important as the information itself, in order to learn, to understand and to be affected by something new, evolving our essence in a value-generating way for a collective purpose.
How? We can start paying attention to these aspects:
The importance of reflection to access our potential and to generate "better quality thoughts", remembering that we are self-determined rather than pre-determined.
This post gives an example, telling about how we can change our past, acting on our future.The role each of us plays and could play within larger contexts - or system(s): family, circle of friends, neighbours, colleagues and company, the municipality, virtual communities, the Country we live in, the places we love and go to... We are embedded, intertwined with other humans, with living creatures and with nature.
The power of multidimensional frameworks in a two-force world: if we can "step out of a polarized dynamic and view the situation from a different level or scale of the system, then unlimited potential could be opened up". As Carol writes, "don't put an artificial ceiling to your potential".
The value of bringing order to our thoughts trough the infrastructures that support them, composing and connecting them. It's the difference between just striving for a goal and having a map or a plan to follow; to practise some activity or meditation randomly and to ritualize it in order to generate an impact. Generating spatial, conceptual and time patterns is essential for internalization.
The culture we're grown with is another invisible power, a living entity that needs to be worked indirectly to be changed, otherwise it will reinforce the paradigm it derives from.
To whom is given a status easier and more often?
What are the totems that have been chosen and that we look at, as examples and reminders of qualities and of our history?
Which taboo or limit has been fixed?
What are the recurring, intentional events that reconnect us to the "sacred"? The rituals we accept to follow?
Working on these elements, questioning and updating them, allows us to change our culture, the culture of our company, of our group of friends...
I've been working on my personal shift towards a regenerative approach in a more conscious way for a few months, even if I've started at least one year earlier due to more personal life paths.
About me
What happened to me (till now) during this ongoing journey?
I lost the motivation to design functional items to earn my living and to express my creativity, even if they are handcrafted and as sustainable as possible. I need to work for a much wider and deep purpose and to collaborate with other people.
I started studying again, as much as possible: reading books, listening to podcasts, attending online courses and conferences about futures, urban planning, neuroscience, system thinking, design speculation and so on.
I started writing some posts in order to move from "analysed ideas" to "deep understanding", to reflect on complex subjects and to try to find my personal way to contribute to the global discussion. I have chosen to (usually!) write in Italian because I think we need localized content to be accessible to our local communities, even if English is by far the most widely used language in Western Countries.
To help myself thinking out of the box and processing information, I began to regularly use AI image generators, by submitting to them the concepts that inspire me and on which I write. Imaging is a powerful means.
I began to look for a job that would let me be part of something bigger and more impactful than just myself, but at the same time meaningful to me.
Below some of my experiments with AI: the first set dedicated to narratives, the second to the relation between humans and nature.
Obviously it's not the final output that is important, but the process of reflecting, synthesising, receiving (almost always) an unexpected feedback thorough an image from the AI and then practising to accept a different vision, working on it: indirect work!
On Narratives
On relations humans-nature
What I think after these months, is that we all need inspiration, we can't imagine on our own a completely different future but we all should contribute in drawing it.
Rational considerations, strategies and detailed diagrams are essential to act, but before acting we have to understand what we can and what we want to achieve and we have to know there are different perspectives and ways to get through.
We have to change the approach, especially abandoning the polarization and competition perspective, that is quite rare in nature, compared to nuances and cooperation.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast
Inspiration and imagination are not enough, but they are necessary.
And as it is necessary to accept, assess and face the huge challenges we can't postpone anymore about unsustainable living habits and climate change, I think it is crucial as well to see an alternative to disaster.
We need to be "both pragmatic and utopian", as some design fiction does.
Solarpunk is a literary and art movement which imagines what the future could look like if the human species were actually to succeed in solving the major challenges... Solarpunk is a recognition that the modern world is oversaturated with despair and helplessness, and in that context hope can be a radical act (...)
We have to actually have some idea, or multiple ideas, of what it is we are trying to build, not just in terms of wishing for a more just world in a broad sense, but also in terms of visualizing the textures, colors, smells, sounds and emotions of this future world we need and want.
Personal development is - obviously - personal, but it often starts meeting someone else - virtually or physically - that opens a door beyond which we find something that relates to our deepest aspirations, desires and concerns.
Then, it is up to each of us to build a path from there. And that "someone else" could be us.
To deepen in:
Regeneration Rising by RSA (podcast and webinars)
Interview with Tyson Yunkaporta (Sand Talk book author) - video
Beyond Systems Thinking (online course)
Indirect Work: A Regenerative Change Theory for Businesses, Communities, Institutions and Humans - book
Carol Sanford on Medium
Change Your Future to Rewrite the Past
Culture eats strategy for breakfast
www.midjourney.com
The Imagination Economy
What if We Cancel the Apocalypse?
Self-Organizing Around Production Chains. Regenerative Economics, Beyond Efficiency and Growth
* questo post è in inglese, è un test, poi si vedrà.
"Lo sviluppo personale è un lavoro indiretto, non un insieme di comportamenti attivabili a comando".