All of us are experiencing that the world is going through a churn right now, triggered by an invisible enemy, coronavirus. However if we can use this opportunity for ‘the reset and renewal’, we can tremendously transform our relationships with self, others, and Mother Nature for a better future.
This phase also offers a great lesson in systems thinking and systems leadership. Systems thinking is a field of studying interconnectedness and interdependencies of various systems, human-made or natural.
Let’s take a simple example. The virus has impacted everyone irrespective of race, nationality, wealth, or skin color. It’s almost like humanity is being pushed against a wall, and the virus is asking us to take a stand – presencing or absencing!
Otto Scharmer and his colleagues have studied the science of systemic change especially social systems for more than two decades and presented to us “Theory U”.
Theory U argues that the journey of change from point A to point B is not linear but it appears like a ‘U’ shape if you wish for a transformation, not just a transition.
What might block, delay, or deviate our journey is called “absencing” which means not seeing, not feeling, and not acting by closing off the mind, heart, and will!
What enables the transformation is “presencing” where we choose to ‘see, feel, and act’ with an open mind, open heart, and open will!
The following post from Otto Scharmer is a master class in sensing what’s going on currently in the world at a systemic level and how can we collapse our inner walls to come closer to self, closer to others, and closer to nature.
An investment of 15 to 20 minutes of your time in his article will potentially transport you to a different level of consciousness and self-awareness.
Happy reading!