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WELCOME! I invite you to join me on a learning discovery!

My desire to share some of what’s bubbling up for me during this time was spurred over a year ago, in Spring of 2020, when I noticed repeatedly how reputable physicians and health scientists raising concerns about our current state of affairs were censored, silenced, and even smeared. These professionals offered a different narrative from mainstream media and our public health agencies, and they posed many urgent questions for public consideration. See also my short article on censorship in Sonoma Peace Press (p. 9) that was published in the June/July 2020 issue. As a student and teacher of systems thinking, I consider transparency and open information flow to be vital conditions for any living system to learn, evolve, and thrive. Transparency is also essential for meaningful feedback and mutual accountability, which are qualities that inform a system’s capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to self-organize into something new. This is what makes life so beautiful!

I love life, and I have loved learning about health all my life, ever since I was a little girl concocting herbal healing potions for my grandmother. So, I invite you to explore with me some of the connections I am noticing right now and some of the questions that are arising for me at this time, as a curious student of life!

I am also writing as a child of parents and grandparents who grew up during a very dark period of history, before, during, and in the aftermath of a totalitarian regime that was fueled by fear, propaganda, public lies, and socially engineered shaming strategies. All these overt and covert tactics contributed to the public passively enduring, buying into, and therefore also enabling an abusive system — leading to unimaginable atrocities and perpetuating intergenerational trauma that continues to this day. My cellular memory has been recognizing some very similar patterns in the current context, and as I examine what’s old and what’s current in my own embodied trauma response, I intend to offer some questions about what we all might learn from history here.

As a concerned mom and as an educator, I wish the very best for all future generations. I want life to be able to thrive! I want our children and grandchildren to be able to enjoy life in good health! During my own inquiries as a student and teacher of systems thinking, I have learned that the health of the planet and human health are inextricably intertwined and that our wellbeing is influenced by social and economic determinants, as well. Over the last twelve months, I have listened to probably hundreds of hours of medical talks to help me make meaning of this complex public health situation we are finding ourselves in. As I was absorbing more and more information, I have come to deeply respect dozens of health scientists, health advocates, and concerned citizens who have contributed to my learning journey, and I greatly admire their courage to speak out in a climate that has been openly hostile to so many of them.

One of the Habits of the Systems Thinker is to consider short-term, long-term, and unintended consequences of our actions. From a systems perspective, there is no such thing as a passive observer. We are all co-creating our lives all the time, no matter how empowered or disempowered we may feel! This also means that we all have a role in influencing our world, to make a difference, even if the structural inequalities permeating our lives just seem too daunting to break through. In future posts, I intend to offer more detailed reflections on how the Habits of the Systems Thinker may guide us in discerning some possible leverage points for change during this complex time. Today, I am reminded of the words of systems elder and activist Joanna Macy: “The synergies, the emergent properties…that is my substitute for hope. With every step you take, something happens, with every relationship, with every person you trust & you come clean to, something happens.” (Joanna Macy: The Five Gifts of Uncertainty, Bioneers, 2009).

I am not sure what will emerge out of this blog. I am offering this exploration as one step I am taking on this collective discovery toward planetary healing and co-creation of new possibilities together!

With a deep bow to Life,

Babsi

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I am a student and teacher of systems thinking, and I love being on this co-creative learning journey of the School of Life!