Transition Systems - a New Type of Thinking

How do we begin to think about transitioning from an economy built on the assumption of endless growth and consumption of limited resources to an economy with zero growth or even negative growth?

If we really let this concept of limits to growth (peak oil, peak debt, climate change) in, feel it and the ramifications thereof fully, I think we will begin to find that this could be the source of great change and opportunity to live more fulfilling lives.

We have the opportunity to mindfully increase our quality of life as opposed to mindlessly ravaging our planet for natural resources as well as our sense of community and belonging as has been the case since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

Changing the very fabric of our economic systems will however require a 're-wiring' process - a process where we change our patterns of thinking and behaving to be more in alignment with resilient communities and systems of the future.

This doesn't have to spell doom and gloom however. On the contrary, I think transitioning to resilient communities and systems will free up time to craft unique skills, develop hobbies, form communities on the basis of giving and sharing as well as build micro businesses that serve the needs of community and environment alike.

But for such a transition to work there has to be a fundamental shift in consciousness, from scarcity-based thinking to abundance-type thinking. There has to be a shift away from competition towards cooperation, and working together for the good of the whole. 

Scarcity-type thinking is built on the narcissist impulse - it's all about I, me, and mine. It therefore cannot see itself as part of a greater whole, such as part of a social or environmental network of holarchies. Its focus is instead on reaping as much benefit or profit in as shorter space of time as possible with little regard for the environment or society.

As we dissolve old scarcity forms of thinking, systems and structures, we have to provide a new battery pack for a holistic system that can connect the dots and take on multiple perspectives in order to live abundantly. 

Key to this is working closely with one’s own state of consciousness as well as one’s own personal growth and psychological development. For example, being able to psychologically relax in the face of surmounting pressure, tension, anxiety, challenge and crisis will become increasingly relevant.

While working on mastering our states of consciousness, we can simultaneously integrate and apply our unique skills and talents to create new resilient systems aligned with where we need to go. We all having something unique to offer; whether it's in finance, politics, ecology, the environment, psychology, sociology or business, how can we cooperate to best use our expertise?

But key to this transition will be taking responsibility, not only for our thoughts and actions, but for our fellow communities and the environment too. In order for us to take on broader perspectives and connect the dots we will require a heightened sense of psychological maturity. Can we open ourselves up to this new type of thinking, or will we continue to resist it at its core, to the detriment of humanity? 

Cutting to The Heart of the Abundant Mindset

One of the key assumptions of limitation is to try to 'get' - get understanding, get money, get enlightenment, get the house... Limitation is therefore defined by good or bad, right or wrong, deserved or undeserved.

Why is the idea of trying to 'get' something limited? How do you feel when your motive is driven by this need to get? It's restrictive, reactive and confining. A mindset built on limitation creates feelings of anxiety, overwhelm, anger, depression, stress or misunderstanding. 

As we dissolve limitation, we're left with space - space in which to use and craft our talents. Because there's simply no sense of limit, this mindset is very fluid, flowing, soft, yet focused. 

There's a zen koan that cuts to the heart of the expansive mindset: "be still as a mountain, flow like a great river." 

Because the expansive mindset transforms resistance, it's non reactive and non judgmental. Instead it asks; "how can I participate wholeheartedly from the perspective that best utilizes my natural gifts and skills to make a difference?"

Integral Leadership: A Focus on Cooperation not Competition

From a young age, growing up in war torn South Sudan, Akon knew there was a better life than the one he had come to know.

He learnt to see the Waring factions in his country objectively. By learning about the different tribes and religious groups in his country, Akon began to see his country more from the perspective of a whole, rather than as isolated, segregated parts. Although he was still relatively young, he viewed himself as a leader.

He began to form groups of communities that came together to discuss each-others issues in an open and transparent way.

Akon knew that if he could help people feel like they were heard and listen to and understood, then regardless of their religion or tribal denomination, they would be able to work for the good of each-other, and therefore the good of the whole.

What were the motives underlying Akon's thinking, beliefs and actions? First and foremost, he wanted to make a difference. He had grown up and seen how colonialism had exploited the country's natural resources, especially oil, mainly for the benefit of large corporations and high ranking officials.

However, Akon felt that by studying energy and mining, he would be able to work as a leader to disperse South Sudan's immense mineral wealth for the good of the greater population. Not only that, but he knew that natural resources were starting to run out globally, so he would have to think of innovative ways to help the South Sudanese adjust to declining economic growth.

Core to this would be aligning the people's thinking in terms of cooperation rather than competition. To build this sort of cooperation among such diverse communities of varying religious and tribal backgrounds, Akon felt that rather than trying to get everyone to conform to a certain way of thinking, he had to work towards making space for different ideologies to coexist.

The only way he could do this was by integrating people's views, beliefs and ideologies into the way the country operated and developed. Key to this he knew, would be communication. More specifically, non violent communication. Akon would therefore spend much of his time mediating this process of non violent communication. He would spend hours working to create spaces and forums for communities to express their feelings, their thoughts, and their wants openly and transparently.

This would be a fundamental first step in becoming the type of leader that the South Sudanese looked up to, respected and valued. Akon would go on to use the fundamentals of integral leadership to bring diverse communities together through cooperation, not competition.

Giving Our Gifts

Why is it that we get rewarded for suppressing our gifts, first through grades, then through money?

Peter has a gift for music. He can play the saxophone, the fluit and the bass. He has a particular love for jazz music and he spends hours and hours listening to John Coltrane. In his spare time he practices furiously!

But throughout his schooling there was an expectation for him to do physics and computer programming. His parents wanted him to follow this route so he could get into an ivy league university, thereby securing future 'stability.'

Deep down Peter felt there was something undeniably wrong with this scenario. He felt as if he was burying his natural talents under the need to meet certain expectations. He knew he was passionate about music, yet if he followed the path of computer programming, he would only get to explore his passion and refine his musical skills on weekends.

This limited ideology had permeated the very depths of his consciousness, making him feel numb and empty to his core. How long has this line of logic and thinking been permeating human consciousness I wonder? Is this particular logic, one define by limitation built into the very systems that we have created?

Why instead of exploring and nurturing our gifts do we feel the need to adhere to a system that creates an illusion of control, through artificial scarcity. This notion of artificial scarcity means that we end repressing our gifts and passions to be part of a system that is defined by limitation.

And because scarcity has been built into our very consciousness, our thoughts, our beliefs and our ideologies have been shaped by a sense of limit. Underlying this sense of limit lies the need to control. We think that if we can just get control of everything then everything will be perfect. And we spend most of our lives trying to implement the illusion of control.

Only by really digging into and questioning our ideologies, beliefs and patterns of thinking are we able to see if these assumptions or beliefs are built on and defined by limit. Or, do they stem from our deep inner selves, where our unique gifts lie? Do we pick up the saxophone so that we may play and showcase our gifts, or do we limit ourselves to some other ideology that, although may provide an illusion of control, serves to reinforce limitation?

4 Personal Development Insights

How often do we encounter a negative belief or emotion that bubbles to the surface of our consciousness, without ever doing something about it?

Only really since I've been coaching people, have I realized that this is something we do often. And it ends up causing a lot of pain or discomfort when we either try avoid or resist the problem.

Here are 4 steps to transform negative emotions or limiting beliefs that may be getting in the way of your personal growth.

1. Awareness: Everything starts with awareness. You can't transform that which you're not aware of. However with increased awareness, you can begin to objectively observe any limiting or negative patterns of thought or behavior. 
2. Reflection: reflecting on negative beliefs or emotions that don't serve you is a great way of breaking them down to more manageable parts. Reflection means that you're digging into and questioning all those modes of thought and behavior that may be limiting you in any way.
3. Illumination: through the reflection process you can then highlight or illuminate any problem areas. Once you've illuminated these areas you can then work at dissolving them for more useful patterns of thinking and behaving aligned with both your vision and your goals.
4. Motivation: Following on from illumination you must now be motivated to take relevant action to build new neural networks in your brain through new behaviors that will take you to where you want to go (your north star). This is important otherwise you can easily slip back into those old limiting patterns of thought and behavior again.

You can repeat this process on a weekly basis and use it as a tool through an ongoing process of learning and development. Notice what's working and what's not working so you're able to reflect, illuminate and motivate yourself to transform that which is not serving you. Good luck!

Mindset: the key to Creativity & Innovation in a Psychological World

If we take a moment to step back and reflect on the amount of information we process on a daily basis, I think it's safe to say more and more of what we do is shaped by knowledge.

With such a vast expanse of information available at our fingertips, it's becoming more important to understand how we interpret such information and how this affects our mindset, and therefore our sense of well being.

Mindset is the totality of your beliefs, assumptions, attitude, premise, values and world-view. All these concepts shape your mindset and impact your behavior which impacts your relationships as well as your successes or failures.

In an increasingly complex world where stress is the number one cause of disease and illness in society, our ability to master mindset, to be able to stay relax and focus, is now more relevant than ever before.

Other than our state of consciousness, mindset mastery paves the way for creativity, innovation and productivity. We do this by initiating change that involves challenging the assumptions we've taken as reality.

For example, say I have been brought up in a strictly Christian home. My assumptions and ideologies have been shaped around Christian values. I perceive any religion outside of Christianity as something that is wrong. One day I meet someone who I befriend. We get along well, we share the same interests; sport, philosophy and investing in emerging markets. But then one day I learn that my new friend is Islamic. Suddenly my perception shifts and my world-view is shaken. This forces me to really question my deep-seated assumptions or beliefs. In this instance, does my view of Christianity being something that is fundamentally right, while all other religions as fundamentally wrong, serve me?

We're undergoing some radical shifts that are forcing us to examine our assumptions about the way the world works. The systems that we use and their flawed lines of logic seem to be more stark with every passing day. Resources are becoming increasingly scarce and therefore more expensive, financial systems are built on and driven by debt and global warming is emerging as a threat to civilization. How will we think about these realities and how will they shape our world-views, values, and assumptions moving forward?

Old systems, patterns of thinking and ways of doing things are no longer serving our needs. It's time for us to recognize that everything we do comes from a certain set of assumptions. And those assumptions shape our environments - both internal and external. Never do we take action without a premise. Whether you watch TV, spend time at work, or go to gym - all comes from a premise.

The only way that we can get a grip on mindset so we can shape and build new systems, is to begin to really question things. Where do my assumptions come from and do they serve me, my community or my environment? This allows for a certain vulnerability and flexibility to open up to the learning process which ultimately serves our personal and systemic development.

The Future: Increasingly Complex & Specialized

I think it's safe to make the assumption that as we evolve and as science and technology evolves with us, things are getting more and more complex. Not only this, but we are able to do things faster and faster too.


What does this mean for civilization? It means 2 things:

1. That if we don't keep up with such rapid rates of change, we'll end up getting left behind and our ideas and philosophies will become stagnant.
2. The propensity to psychologically contract in the face of such rapid change becomes ever more real. Quickening systems and ways of thinking and doing things results in increased stress levels. And stress is the number one cause of illness and disease in modern day society. 

So how then do we manage to keep up with such rapid change and increasing complexity?

1. We have to spend time mastering mindset. Ultimately, if we're not relaxed and focus at the same time, moment to moment, we're going to find such fast-paced change overwhelming. Mindset mastery also requires that we constantly work at challenging or questioning our own limited beliefs or assumptions. This will help us to be more flexible and vulnerable, thereby assisting us to open up to change through creativity, innovation and productivity.
2. Become more specialized in your chosen field. This means spending hours and hours developing unique and valuable skills that will enable you to move through challenges with a sense of ease and purpose. It also means being more available to the learning process. If you think you know it all, you're lost. This is why I believe the return of apprenticeships will play such a vital role in the future as traditional structures and ways of learning break down.

Once again, mindset mastery and skills specialization cannot be viewed in isolation, as one separate from the other. We have to work at these concepts simultaneously. 

I would say it's also useful to stretch yourself with these ideas, constantly push the boundaries of what you're capable of doing. This way, you'll have a benchmark against which to measure your state of consciousness and your skills when the heat in the kitchen notches up a few levels.

Scarcity or Abundance?

In my previous post I wrote about re-wiring for new, more relevant systems in the realm of mindset. In this post I would like to explore how our mindset has shaped the systems that we have in place today, and how we can begin to re-frame this mindset to enable us to build systems for the future.

The predominant mindset in place since the start of the industrial revolution has been one of scarcity. What is a scarcity mindset? A scarcity mindset is driven by the assumption of never enough. It therefore seeks to maximize profit at any given turn regardless of consequence. If it sees an opportunity for reward, then it will work to fulfill a logic or line of thinking to maximize that reward.

This particular ideology has shaped the economy since the start of the 1800's. The age of the 'ascent of humanity' has been driven by a vampire-like thirst for economic growth with faster machines, new chemical manufacturing processes, and the transition from wood and other bio-fuels to coal and oil as a means to satisfy this insatiable thirst for growth.

The scarcity mindset which has driven the need for endless growth is built on the logic of 'to get.' This logic of 'to get' has been built on the premise of satisfying shareholder value. And because of this perceived scarcity, resources have been exploited, debt has increased and climate change is now a very real phenomenon.

Rich countries or organizations have continued to get rich at the expense of other countries whose resources have been ravaged and whose politicians are the sole benefactors of such industry. However, this has taken us to a significant point in our evolution. We are now starting to feel the effects of this limited mindset.

A series of crisis moments (with ever shortening time spans between each one) are causing people to question some of these assumptions. The internet has opened up information channels and people's knowledge of such vast inequalities and environmental dangers is becoming more widespread. However, we tend to think of these crisis moments in isolation as opposed to connecting them to the greater whole.

Through this process of awakening, we have the opportunity to change the way we think, to shift our mindsets from scarcity to abundance. An abundant mindset takes the focus away from endless growth for solely my own benefit and asks how can we all work together for the good of the whole.

Our systems are teetering on the edge of collapse and the warning signs are there for all to see; the financial crisis of 2008, peak debt, peak oil and of course climate change. I think it's time we started to heed these warnings so we can begin to work for a better future.

Sure, we need to work at changing our own mindsets first and foremost, but a part of this will be coming together to see how we can co-create the kinds of systems that will result in sustaining our own existence as well as the planet we live on. What mindset assumptions are driving your behavior? Are these assumptions reinforcing limit or abundance?

'Re-wiring' for Development

There's a dual process to creating new systems.

Firstly, we have to dissolve the old. Secondly, we have to create the new. But it's a simultaneous process. Take mindset for example. On the one hand we have behavior or thinking processes that are limited. They no longer serve us. 

It's important to create awareness around such limiting patterns of thought and behavior. Becoming aware of what no longer serves us is the preliminary first step to using an expansive mindset. At the same time we have to work at creating new neural networks aligned with where we want to go. 

Research on neural plasticity has shown that it is possible to re-wire our brains. But if we don't consciously take action to build new, more relevant neural networks we can easily slip back into those old patterns that are not serving our development. 

We struggle to realize that these old patterns have been built up through years and years of conditioning. Not only that, they've been passed on from generation to generation too. 

Our brains have been hard-wired to drive automatic perceptions. Building new neural networks requires very conscious and deliberate focus and work as well as positive affirmation of these new networks through thought, feeling and action. 

As the psychiatrist Jeffery Schwartz noted, "not only do mental states matter to the physical activity of the brain, but they can contribute to the final perception even more powerfully than the stimulus itself."

2 Buzz Words for 2013

Two new buzzwords for 2013. Both are fundamentally linked. Psychology and marketing.

 

If you're wanting your business to stand out, to become more unique, more creative and more dynamic, you're going to have to link your message with the way people think.

Who are you talking to? Who's in your tribe? What are they into? Do they identify with your message? If they do, are you initiating conversations with them? Are you gaining deeper insight into their dreams and aspirations? 

The new economy is moving rapidly towards connection. Nay, it's being shaped minute by minute and day by day by connection. Who do you want to work with in this new economy? Knowing this, do you know the ins and outs of their thinking? 

Traditional forms of marketing have focused on pitching an idea to a customer, to a company, to an organisation. We're now shifting away from this and moving towards cooperation as vehicle to drive creation of ideas and systems. 

But for this, it's essential we not only understand how we think and why we do what we do, but also how the people in our tribe think. What drives their belief systems and ideologies, and how do we connect with them on this level? 

Deep thinking...

and contemplation is often uncomfortable. It's the type of thinking that requires that we stay with problems for longer and with greater focus. But it can produce significant results. 

We live in a world of fast food, fast connection, fast business, fast money, fast cars and fast sex. 

Increasingly, we want easy solutions or quick fixers for our problems. But as quickly as we've solved one issue, another arises. Working for one of the big banks in the city of London 5 years ago, nothing epitomized more this type of thinking, than what was required of me back then. 

I worked in trade support and it was my responsibility to confirm and settle trades. Essentially I was taught to always cover my back. As long as I followed protocol then everything would be okay. This required me to think fast from one step to the next as I covered my bases through each trade cycle.

Deep contemplation though is a lot more difficult because we're required to grapple with numerous ways to arrive at the best solution to our problem. Albert Einstein worked this way as he struggled to prove his theory of relativity. After years of thinking about this one problem, one day he stopped thinking about relativity. In that moment the solution became clear to him. 

He never would have got there had he not spent years digging into his idea of relativity. In a time when things are moving faster and faster, where things are getting increasingly complex, we've come to believe that the solution to our problem is right here, right now. 

If we're looking for better quality products, services or ways of life with built-in signs of craftsmanship or mastery, then we need to spend time contemplating our ideas. Talk about them, refine them, rework them and then refine them some more. Unless of course you want more fast ......