I specialize in the energetic health of systems. I’m thinking about systems all the time, whether it is the system of a client’s energetic structure, the system of my family, the system of the book I am writing, the system of the whole brain, the system of humanity as a whole, or the system of this universe, etc. I am constantly aware of the presence of systems and the various parts of the system that play their role in keeping the system alive. We are part of many systems, and the very fact that we exist is due to the system of our own bodies.
I write about systems frequently or here or here. My unofficial definition of a system is “a cooperation between parts, under an agreed upon intention, to make a Whole”. But I want to say more about the amazing intelligence of a system to keep itself alive.
I was asked to take a look at an organization to take the pulse of that system. This organization would like to expand, but there have been hiccups, and the organization seems to be lagging behind the desire of the leaders who are driving the expansion. My background in education, whole brain perspective, energetic work, systems theory, and shamanism lends itself to being able to identify where the imbalances are that are preventing any system from moving in the direction that is desired.
What I found was that there were limitations in this system that were preventing the organization from expanding. Why would a system be resistant to expanding? Because the expansion threatens the health of the existing system.
Like any system, the system of an organization is sensitive to the factors that are keeping the system in balance. Balance is required for the long term health of any system. All factors that keep the system healthy need to be operating in synergy and harmony, each aspect of the system needs to be doing its job, or else the system is affected negatively.
Systems are amazingly resilient, in that they will devise a way to continue to exist even if there is a breakdown in some part of the system. For example, if a kidney stops working, the system of the body make lots of noise about the problem, but will shift to accommodate the change in the system with the proper adjustments. In an organization, if a person does not do their job, the system will make adjustments to accommodate by putting the workload on other persons in the organization. Or else the organization will fail.
This is true of all systems…balance will be held together until it cannot be held together any longer. So, it behooves us to take a look at the systems we are part of to see where things are off-balance so that we can keep those systems healthy, and even expand them if we choose.
The innate intelligence of a system is so brilliant that it will not allow the system to expand if it would compromise the survival of the system. If the system perceives that an expansion would threaten its health, it will not expand.
I find this a lot in clients; when they have an intention to grow in their business or to be successful in some larger context of their life, but they self-sabotage and cannot move forward, they get so frustrated and wonder why. It really is simple…the system of their own psyche is keeping them safe because it perceives a threat to the system’s survival. The expansion would be too much given the current condition of the system. The only way to overcome this is to balance the system so it can get the green light to move forward. Until we correct the imbalances that are creating instability in the system, we cannot expand. We cannot override the innate survival mechanisms that are in place to keep a system alive, unless we choose to destroy the system entirely.
It was the same in this organization. The factors that were preventing the system from moving forward needed to be dealt with, namely the termination of one very dysfunctional employee and the addressing of projections and beliefs of the leaders of the organization. As these factors are dealt with, the system responds (again the inherent intelligence of the system, which is very real and very much alive) feels the change and immediately shifts, rebalances and re-stabilizes. If the system perceives that it can move forward into an expansion, then it will do so easily because it can accommodate the expansion without compromising the health of the system.
It is fascinating to me how very intelligent the basic structures of the universe are…that the organic unfolding of creation is innately hardwired to ensure survival! And that we have the opportunity to engage with that intelligence if we so choose!
