Sustainability is a Four Letter Word Interview with Martin Melaver
Makenna Goodman
Transition Towns
Six Transitions Conversations that Matter
Shaktari Belew
Receiving the Gift of Change
Crystal Arnold
Homegrown Grains
The Key to Food Security
Gene Logsdon
The Winter Harvest
Eliot Coleman
Solve Health Care and Climate Change by Changing our Food System
Amy Goodman
Doctors Warn:
Avoid Genetically Modified Food
Jeffry Smith
Wilderness Rites for Elders
Jody Woodruff
Cosmic Calendar
Salina Rain
Receiving the Gift of Change
By Crystal Arnold
My recent exploration into the essential elements of resilience with evolutionary strategist Shiloh Boss revealed an inspiring perspective on these times of transition—people across the country are studying and organizing around resilience and discovering how to cultivate it both on a personal level as well in their communities. A graduate of Naropa University, with degrees in Somatic and Transpersonal Psychology, Shiloh has integrated extensive study and training in organizational development and systems theory into her work. With a focus on the healthy psychology of systems, her efforts bring the personal and collective learning process into teams and community through dialogue, strategic visioning and planning, graphic recording, contemplative practices, group endeavor, and organizational development. She has found that through adaptability and curiosity it is possible to choose to receive the gift of change and move gracefully with the power of transformation, learning to:
• Embrace change and become flexible.
• Get curious, ask questions, explore the drivers.
• Map our assets, discovering the capacities which are available.
• Share our vulnerability and our gifts.
• Consider scenarios, adapt our lives, imagine many pathways.
• Cultivate curiosity and humor. Laugh and learn.
Crystal Arnold: What is resilience?
Shiloh Boss: Resilience is flexibility, being able to adapt, being able to respond to an impact, change, or threat. Resilience has much to do with how we experience change and how exactly do we move with the force of it? Specifically, resilience is adjusting in an empowered way that maintains continuity in essential life actions. For example, imagine a blow to someone’s personal life, a health crisis, losing a job, or a major relationship changing. The ability to effectively respond has a lot to do with being able to accept and embrace change. When one stays curious and continues learning, this cultivates an ability to gather information that then creates options and pathways. When enacted, these pathways become the road of resilience. Keep your eyes open and be willing to do things differently than before, including finding alternative routes and methods, this makes you a resilient system.
Resilience does not imply going back to what was—some rigid form to bounce back to is an illusion. If our choice of response determines resilience, how can we wisely navigate these times to evolve into a new form?
Those are living-systems principles, to be consistently generating and regenerating at the next level of intelligence, interconnectivity, and order. We learn from what was before, and take the best of what worked. We’re always going forward in a new way at a new level of life; that’s how systems grow and mature. For example, we did certain things when we were younger, and at a point we say, “That strategy does not work any more.” The elements that instigate and shape our next level of development are what some call evolutionary drivers. Drivers for our evolution and innovation are internal and external. Notice where the tension is; this is often where there is a driver. Internal drivers include feelings, wants, and needs. External drivers could be losing a job or changes in government.
Personal resilience has been studied in psychology extensively, and now social resilience is becoming important. So how does an awareness of changing conditions allow us to more effectively respond?
The more we are attuned to and monitoring the conditions of a system the better we are positioned to recognize the drivers and create options that respond with a creative solution. One of the trickiest things I see is embracing change. Humans and communities tend to face a lot of pain before they change. The upside is that through experiencing challenges we discover what really matters. It’s often the simple elements of life, our health, our connections to family and community. Yet at each level of growth and development, values or the specific qualities of values can often change. Worth, value, and resiliency have a common thread of “What makes us feel alive?” When tapped into our core worth and core strength, we know the value of what matters. We discover what it will take to achieve this, and we assess what we’re willing to contribute to make it a reality.
Could you speak about asset mapping? What is the importance of looking at what resources and gifts we have here, and how we can create resilience with them?
I consider asset mapping a key to resiliency. When we know our assets—individually, at home, in our neighborhood or city—we have the building blocks for response. New options and possible pathways are revealed. When we know our resources and assets, we automatically feel more empowered. We have more neurological support when we know, “Wow, I’m full of resources and gifts to give,” and recognize the talent in everyone.
Asset mapping is also about sharing vulnerability. It allows us to see what we have as well as what we really need. Strength is created from this knowing. Being honest and authentic about these weaknesses at every level, from tangible assets to emotional vulnerability, relieves a burden from the individual and opens a door of opportunity to connect us with others that may fill that void. Sharing needs activates the intelligence of the whole, activates an awareness of the individual and the tenderness of the underbelly of our experience instead of attachment to the outer shell of what appears to be. Mapping assets reveals where people need support as well as what support they have to give.
Currency exchange systems like OurNexChange (ournexchange. com) will map what goods and services people are offering, as well as make visible people’s “wants.” This reflection on our community of exchange is important.
Yes, when we have the capacity to reflect on any living system, large or small, we can ask ourselves what are we connected with and is that challenged? And, if so, by what? What are the drivers here? What are their qualities of stability and vitality? Are they adaptable and flexible so if threatened they could change? When we know what matters and take inventory of our capacity at different levels, then we see our territory of stewardship—the zone where resilient responses are called for. Then we can map our own gifts and level of resilience, as well as our connection with a larger sense of self, found through others. There are some folks whose domain of belonging is a larger context than their family. They feel a certain stewardship of this valley or the place they live. These people are often those whom are able to take on more complex systems. In these times of astounding change in nearly all systems we have to be aware beyond that separate self, because some of these challenges are bigger than my little life.
As a woman of the emerging generation, how do you see the feminine wisdom coming back into our organizational and economic social structures?
Navigating complexity has a lot to do with relationships, and the archetypal feminine wisdom is about sensitivity to the intricacies of relationship. The feminine wisdom has a great capacity for distributing wealth, care, and wis-dom for all children, getting needs met not for one but for many. In caring for our relations and distributing wealth through exchanging gifts and being more nurturing, there’s inherently more emotional intelligence present. This is a significant contribution to resiliency. We’re learning to nourish each other and our opportunities together while being resilient and adaptive. The command and control model of the “good ole boys,” an elite group of men making hierarchical decisions, has served a few and damaged many. There’s a pressing need to do this differently. This feminine wisdom honors and cares for needs with a natural peripheral vision. Giving is the natural response, nourishing and ensuring that the relationships amongst all parts are healthy, all mouths are fed, and all are listened to.
Native American Talkelma Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim says people are making the “eighteen-inch journey” from the head to the heart. Our supreme intellect, this mechanistic mode of being, has gotten us into a mess. Here’s an example of where we need a new pathway. Where we take the wisdom of experience and apply it to the next level of our development along the road of the eighteen-inch journey. We are now coming into the center of the heart and cultivating healthy relationships. We are able to empathize while sharing wealth and intelligence. That feminine wisdom doesn’t only live in women, it’s a certain orientation and quality of consideration to be brought forth in anyone.
How does that awareness of the interconnectedness of all life contribute to resilience?
By knowing our resources and options, we feel capable and empowered. This opportunity is embedded in exploring the problem, its drivers, and is accessed when we widen the lens and get curious and resourceful to connect the dots.
What’s remarkable these days is that there are so many factors driving change. It’s unprecedented. Our world has become undeniably intertwined as well as undeniably challenged by drivers that affect every one of us. The economic crisis, peak oil, and global climate change to name a few, these drivers are components that connect with others such as global consciousness raising, the practices of corporate social responsibility and emotional intelligence in the work place. All of these components and more coalesce into what people call a whole systems shift—where all interconnected variables are in a profound state of change that is beyond measure.
Great thinkers and systemologists have been studying this for years and have derived formulas and strategies that support our society bridging from the decline of the old to the incline of the new. The Tipping Point Network, a global allegiance of futurists and strategic thinkers, has identified four components to supporting the whole systems shift happening:
Greening the big systems. Transforming old industries driven by fossil fuels and destructive patterns of exploitation into more efficient and healthy systems. Here we focus on how to gently hospice the systems whose effectiveness is on the decline to preserve the intelligence and infrastructures that will benefit any of the efforts ahead of us.
Connecting the grassroots initiatives. Emotional intelligence is found in interconnectivity. Working in isolation creates limited energy. But if we tap into the interconnectedness and the potential created in relationship this synergy optimizes our capacities. These grassroots initiatives are the key elements that provide the innovative solutions given the systems in decline.
Empowering leadership everywhere. The servant leader sources from a place of humble connection to all things. What can I do to cultivate the leader in me? This empowers everyone, although there is still a gradation of position. The field does become flatter and is connected horizontally as well as vertically.
Telling the new myth. Through story, we familiarize ourselves and make sense of this massive transformation happening. How do we deal with change or do we integrate something shocking? Scientifically, we create a story out of it. We can co-create a new story with a positive future, the myth that this is a hero’s journey that leads us from the darkest night into the brightest light.
An aspect of leadership is the innate ability to call forth others to realize and offer their gifts. The recognition of the value within each person increases the wealth of the community. We access these unique gifts through relationships, creating our quality of life together through giving. Leadership in everyone is crucial in these times. This is humbling, leadership is not some special star that you wear, and it is in everyone! Each person is needed for this undetermined path of change. We want a vast array of skills and a cornucopia of potentials. Given that, everyone has the ability to become a leader, because we have our unique gifts to bring. Just admitting that we need each other is a huge step upward!
Yes, I was recently speaking with an influential elder at a Transition Town meeting. We were talking about the psychology of change and how might we help the community adapt. I said, “One of the biggest things we need to recognize is that we really need each other. I need all of you to play your unique part and to be ready to put all hands on deck.” He said, “It’s astounding that you so easily said that, for it is so hard for me to admit that I actually need others! I think it’s one of the biggest boundaries we have against putting up a generative response. We baby boomers grew up in a world that told us, ‘You have to do it on your own’ and ‘If you need help you’re no good.’”
Their generation created the nuclear family with the corporate ladder; you had to do it on your own and strive. There was a sense of failure if you actually needed one another. Though he had the realization that he needed to open up in that way, it was hard for him to do. This is truly a humbling yet empowering step!
We create resilience by recognizing our own vulner-abilities and then being courageous enough to share that with others. This is why Tej Steiner’s Heart Circle model (heartcircle.com) is brilliant, because it allows people to let their vulnerable parts show. Heart Circles are small groups of people who are getting present, real, creative, and connected through speaking to “How do I feel?” and “What do I want?” People want to feel safe, when there’s an underlying feeling in our world of feeling unsafe. People create the illusion of feeling “okay,” maybe through self-medicating. How can we bring that into the light together with compassionate awareness? Why is recognizing our diversity a key part of resilience?
When we have a diversity of resources, we have a diversity of options and a greater capacity for sustained resilience. The more diverse a person’s toolbox or community is, the more options we have that could create enduring resilience.
What wisdom is here collectively, what do we choose to focus on now given that things will continue to fundamentally change? Through specialization we can be more diverse within our “village,” but we need the thread of connection to express our gifts. Contributing something beautiful that brings joy, knowing others are playing their roles, supports us in a network of trust. Which of your gifts do you most appreciate?
I appreciate my curiosity. I ask questions about why things are the way they are, and I imagine if they were different. There is amazing value in our ability to be curious. One of my gifts is creating environments for curiosity, dialogue, and discovery and asking about what matters while telling a new story. I work in strategic vision, guiding groups to pull things apart, problem solve, and look for potential solutions.
I value the simple things in life too—good water, fresh food, bright and brilliant friends that are really genuine with one another. I value time alone to develop myself, whether being in my body or deeply studying these things that I am on a path of mastery in. In these changing times, I appreciate the opportunities to have conversations that matter, then we can explore “How are we being affected?” “Are we really being effective?” “How might we organize our life and govern the world around us to really navigate and uphold those things that matter and embrace those things that challenge.” That is meaningful to me.
How do we embrace our challenges? That’s not something ingrained in our culture. We want to fight them, make them go away, deny they exist!
Get curious and get real! Folks that are uptight and struggle with change could loosen up with curiosity, get more fresh air, stand on your head, go out and wiggle and dance, be absurd for a moment! Spend some genuine time with someone from another generation or who doesn’t live like you. With a beginner’s mind and a curious orientation, anything can elicit wonder and fascination. This helps to tap into the source of this journey, where we are empowered and aware of the timelessness and the awesomeness of being alive right now! And really cultivate the curiosity—if you brush your teeth or drive to work a different way, you soften your brain to get used to change. With a sense of humor and curiosity, ask “Why we do things this way?” Unravel those balls and see what’s in that thread that we’ve been weaving for so long.
Continuity is an important element of resilience; it aims to avoid a complete breakdown in the field that compromises people’s ability to function and have their basic needs met. Imagine a snapping of the rubber band instead of stretching. What you were speaking to is that flexibility builds continuity, that as we re-weave a story the under-lying mythic level of human experience remains. Explore with joy and curiosity being human in a body, right now—together, awake, and aware. It’s that underlying essence that we can choose to align with, identify ourselves as, the eternal “I am.” Living from this awareness allows the rest to flow gracefully.
The paradox here is that if we can be curious enough to see what needs to change, what has changed? And what’s remained the same? That’s when we jump into the core—the essence, as you say, of what really matters and is valuable. What are the threads that are always going to be there? That’s life, the vital component.
With that awareness of the ever-present core vital source, we’re not gripping or grasping it, because it’s our nature. We’re able to softly surrender into that, releasing everything to consciously experience the flow and flowering of life.
In psychology, where the concept of resilience comes from, a couple of elements create an individual’s ability to be resilient. Neurological support, or information, is one key piece. Humor and playfulness is also a contributing factor to resilience in any system. Doing it with a spirit of celebration or play creates buoyancy and flexibility, this way there is a sense of constantly being able to evolve the story and still identify with the common element. A playfulness of language and identification creates a softness of mind and a vital curiosity.
Given the changes that are happening, grounding the idea of resilience in the personal is crucial, and enables us to apply it to the whole, to our larger social systems like the economy. We uncovered key ways that people might experiment with becoming more resilient, such as cultivating curiosity and playfulness through change. Notice how resilient children are—they keep getting up, growing, adapting—and children are in fact designed by nature to do this. As we become more child-like with eternal fascination, we can come together in meaningful ways, weaving beautiful threads of connection and value.
That’s right. We are all in fact designed by nature to grow and adapt, our whole life. Here we can see the awesome vitality of being curious, being a learner, and that orientation can be a huge shift from knowing the right answers in modern education. Shifting into “not knowing” is part of the process of truly learning, eternally made new. That is a massive shift. I’m tapped into an eager playfulness with innocence, like children. This quality makes it easier to drop into the interconnectedness and wonder what’s necessary for resilience, to open up and have those conversations, or ask for some assistance in assimilating the latest breaking news or to borrow a ladder. We’re having fun and realizing something new here. This sense of coming back to the core of life’s inherent qualities and our undying nature is timeless and totally fresh and renewable in each moment.
Crystal Arnold earned a BS in international economics from Southern Oregon University and has completed the Conscious Bookkeeping course. She is creator of Money Metamorphosis, offering workshops, telecourses and financial coaching for individuals and couples. She is dedicated to creating a resilient local economy and a complementary currency. Contact her at crystalconsults@gmail.com, or (541) 227-3577, and sign up for her blog at http://moneymetamorphosis.us. You can contact Shiloh Boss at livingsytemstech@gmail.com or visit her websites www.shilohboss.com and www.livingsystemstech.com (each will have more content shortly).
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Shiloh Boss |
