We all shift

Everyone reading this will have shifted their thinking-patterns.

We do this as children and you will almost certainly have done it a few times as an adult. It is known as adult development and is quite different from learning maths or words in another language.

Think of it as shifting to a new level of making sense of the world around you. This level is one where you can reflect on things that were previously obscure.

“See further through the clouds” illustrates this visually. Climb a mountain, through the clouds and see what is above here>

As we shift what is above is hidden

Level changes are often not easy.

Extending the mountain metaphor:

Being in the clouds, on the way up a mountain, surrounded by light mist, I am able to see the rock and climb-line ahead of me.

However, where I am ultimately going and what that landscape above me looks like is hidden to me. I know there’s a mountain peak up there, I’ve seen it on my map, but that’s different from directly experiencing the view.

Nevertheless, a map of where I am going, what route up the mountain to take, definitely helps. Similarly, a map of adult development helps too.

“A developmental journey: power, perspectives and passion” is one such map here>

Some things hold us back a bit

But wait, there’s more to uncover 🙂

While we have shifted levels, many of us are “tethered” to some of the parts of our older thinking patterns.

We are a little trapped by some of these. For instance, one of my developmental tethers is that I tend to see patterns in everything! And, I forget that others don’t see these so clearly and/or see them in different ways .

A good example is Walt Whitman’s poetry which I was reading through the Julian Alps (the pictures from these Alps illustrate this post). Later adult developmental levels are characterized by increasing capabilities to ‘get’ other perspectives.

A shift say from valuing modern-day thinking, thinking that places humans as superior to all other sentient species and the earth, to include the importance of all these pieces is underway.

Importantly, this is a shift in a non-naive fashion. It is not about simplistic understanding or ignoring scientific inquiry. Yet tethers tend to be sticky, tend to make us think it is either-or, either we are part of the world around us or superior to it. 

Can we be both? For me, Walt’s “A song of the rolling earth” speaks to these shifts. See if it does for you here>

Does it matter?

Does it matter? I think so.

We can better support ourselves and others to hold ever-expanding circles of compassion, care and identity with these models.

This goes beyond ourselves. Working with others, Barrett Brown: Communicating sustainability is an outstanding example of transforming global tea and cocoa trade here>

That is important particularly as local and global stresses accelerate. And, besides which, it’s a lovely excuse to share some breathtaking mountains, forest, people and poetry 🙂

See the resources section for more and contact details if you want to explore your own thinking-patterns and tethers here>