It is what it is….

So much of what we think is packaged.  Free running thought is sometimes enjoyable, sometimes frustrating; all in all, it is what it is: “unbridled”. 

While the rippling enthusiasm of a young colt bounding and kicking, sprinting and zig zagging in a summer-lush field is sport to watch, it is only what it is… unbridled.  The colt’s purpose, though it has no knowledge of this, is to develop muscle and reactions that will serve in a contest for a mate or in a flight for survival.  The colt’s joyful actions are taken in service of an — though unconscious — anticipated need for reaction.

We are like that.  We have body, mind, and spirit too.  All of which from time to time have enthusiastic flexing, movement, and joy.  No real reason at the time, but reason enough in design.  The mind needs to be quick, as well the body in times of need.  In times of reaction.  The spirit is sometimes assuaged as well.  It has to have depth and stolid consistency to deal with times of hardship, and to have the resiliancy to withstand the tests then flourish once again in times of joy. 

Packaged thought is disconnected yet necessary.  I have to do this NOW. Whatever that is — groceries, pick up the kids, go skating… whatever it is, that is what it is at the time.  The art of living comes in drawing connections, or is it in managing connections, between one time an the next.  The art of living is in connecting, relating, pulling the experience of the past into the fore when needed, laterally drawing like experiences together when needed…. connecting the packages.  Bridling the unbridled for the purpose of being free.

The discipline of living free.  A paradox.  An oxymoron.  Discipline — free.  Juxtaposed… or not.  Freedom does have a ‘price’ we might have heard.  It does have a cost in action, for sure.  But energy is abounding, so where to put our energy except into actions that free us?  There’s no other reasonable answer.  Put energy into bondage?! Not a good answer.  The packages of thought, the boundaries of the moment are put to service in the well led life.  They are moments to be consumed, as they are because they are what they are.  There is not another moment to supplant the one you are in, so live it and be it and do what it is that moment demands, or wants, or requests, or needs.  That package is the present.  The one you open only now, and now, and now again.  The precious ‘present’ that we are given to live and connect and to find freedom within.

Unbridled, bridled.  It is what it is.

A daily task and a simple list

A Daily Task

In the paradigm of Inner Management, after beliefs are formed thought and feeling are the dynamic duo.  This is why the action of building images with deeply associated feelings is so important.  Using this knowledge you have a small task to complete daily: from now on, if you feel bad, notice.  Check your thoughts.  Let negative go, detach from it, and let good flourish.  If you feel good, notice.  Check your thoughts or your deep state of awareness.  Let feeling good prosper as your natural expression, as the good states of being provide nourishment to the body, the minds and to life-force.  Feel the power of the minds, as every thought has a response in the body, and every feeling has an associated thought.  Align and reinforce good thought with good feeling.  Remember this too: the higher the vibrating frequency of any given thing in our universe, the closer it is to the vibration of light.  Light vanquishes all darkness, as you know.  The thoughts and feelings you want, the one’s that feel best, are of the best quality and are also closer in vibration to light.  Love and gratitude are the strongest and most positive of feelings and thought.  Feel them often as they never wear or fade – except through lack of use.

A Simple List

It is time now to make a short list of the positive emotions and feelings you enjoy most as well as the simplest, most natural and direct routes you have of achieving them through choice and action.  This is a simple list, not an elaborate one.  Using Action Tool #4, list and develop ways of tuning in to positive emotions and feeling – as much as possible without the use of ego.  List simple activities you have done in the past and can do now that bring you towards the expression of light and towards harmony.  Make this list uncomplicated, short and sweet.  Ask, what are the simplest activities you can enjoy that bring forth positive emotions?  How about talking to a positive friend, enjoying a sit in the sun, gardening, writing, a silent cup of tea, running, cooking a healthy meal…; do any of these resonate with you? Write out a short list of simple and wholesome activities that bring forth in you the natural positive emotions and feelings you enjoy most.  Undertake one or more of these activities every day, if only for a few moments.  Bring this quality of being to your life, as you deserve and were intended for the full and natural expression of life – and a quality life has an authentic simplicity at the core.  There is so much joy around us when we are able to find it.  Find yours in the simple things on your simple list; then share your joy with others.

“Why Use Systems Thinking In the Classroom?”

“Why Use Systems Thinking In the Classroom?”

“FREE REPORT”

My name is D. Ross Leadbetter M.Ed.  I’ve been studying systems thinking in education for 17 years.  I am still at it.  Enough about me, let’s answer the question.

World renowned systems thinker, Peter Senge, said in his book Schools That Learn that through the use of systems thinking we can actively develop an awareness of complexity, interdependence, change, and leverage.  Those are good things for all of us to develop!

Consider this quote from Einstein:

“You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it.

You must learn to see the world anew.”

Enough said? Of course we all know that we have to think differently in our emerging world; thereby, as educators, we must teach children to think differently – to see the world anew.

But HOW does systems thinking do this?

Consider this quote from Sir Ken Robinson Ph.D. in his book The Element: “If you have never learned to think creatively and to explore your true capacity, what will you do then?  More specifically, what will our children do if we continue to prepare them for life using the old models of education?”

We HAVE to change how we teach, and systems thinking ADDS to what you already do; it unleashes the interactive and creative power of you and your students.

Systems thinking IS creative and visual, and interactive, and contemporary…. definitely, creative and contemporary.

Again, from Sir Ken, same book:  “The human brain is intensely interactive.  You use multiple parts of it in every task you perform.  It is in fact in the dynamic use of the brain – finding new connections between things – that true breakthroughs occur.”

I LOVE THAT QUOTE.  The Human Brain IS Intensely Interactive, and connections DO create breakthroughs!

Systems thinking is a language; it’s a pattern language; a visual language.  It is broadly concerned with exploring interactions, interdependencies, and connections, especially over time.

Systems thinking is intensely interactive because you CREATE and REFINE your thought on paper or on a board, alone or with others!  It engages, involves, and draws in every type of thinker.  It the ultimate tool in your teaching toolbox. REALLY.

Imagine a group of people milling around an emerging diagram – a diagram that everyone helps create, and that doesn’t have to be pretty to be good.  Imagine the powerful conversation and debate as patterns and connections emerge.

Ask, “why does building more roads cause greater road congestion?”  And then get out of the way.

Or, ask “how does spraying to kill one pest quite often cause EVEN GREATER damage to a crop?”  Again, back away from the board….

That’s of course once you have taught the tools.

Now, systems thinking is a circular language and it is diagram-based.  It helps us look for and find causes and effects, relationships, and interdependence… it’s about as real as reality really is! (whew) “We must learn to see anew.”

We finally have a method for teaching concepts

JUST LIKE THINGS HAPPEN IN THE REAL WORLD.

Do YOU want to create GREAT THINKERS? You’ll be surprised at WHICH students are the BEST and most natural systems thinkers.  I WAS.  And I loved it!  Talk about a leveling tool!

Systems thinking as an approach, can create great thinkers for you… for all of us.

Consider Marzano’s discovery: …superior findings (are) reported for visual and dramatic instruction over verbal instruction in terms of percentage of information recalled by students one year after the completion of the unit.

Or, another great quote by Mr. Marzano:  “What is needed…is a comprehensive approach that allows for student construction of meaning while interacting with content, the teacher, and other students.”  (*****YES!*****)

Systems thinking:

• Helps us explore, understand, and share our mental models;
• Examines the patterns and structures that govern our world;
• Is creative, engaging, interesting, graphic, discussion oriented… because,

“People Gather Around Diagrams”

• An approach based on a visual language, thus allowing us to easily present and clarify complex issues by summing up the key elements involved.
• Is focused upon concision, clarity, presentation, and dialogue.
• Translates communication – stories, relationships, key aspects, causes, interdependence and more – into black and white diagrams that are easily understood
• Adds precision to communication.
• Decreases ambiguity.
• Allows us to poke and prod, inquire and examine WITHOUT ruffling feathers.
• Creates a collective view, so then a collective understanding.
• Discussions are not confrontational; they are about building the best representation of the problem or initiative and being able to consider it from differing angles: focusing on diagrams diffuses defensiveness.
• Looks at the whole, not a reduction of parts.

In seconds you can slam a Behavior Over Time Graph up on the board and have groups map out the “POWER” of (1) the Romans, (2) Christianity, (3) the Vikings, (4) the Frankish Kingdoms over a period of 1000 years.  I’ve done it!  It is absolutely engaging! Kids LOVE it.

How about having students use Causal Loop Diagrams to show how drug use affects drug dependency in a circular and reinforcing – vicious cycle.  Again, you step out of the picture as ‘giver’ of information and simply facilitate, illuminate and expand upon the very creative and engaging thoughts of your students!

LET their Minds Free!  Students are amazingly creative and thoughtful, and finally you have a tool that you can use in ALL your classes:

• Relate climate change and dinosaur mortality over time.
• Track a hypothetical virus as it becomes an epidemic.
• Predict the outcomes of ‘sustainable fishing or harvesting’ practices.
• Look BEHIND events to see the patterns and the structures that are creating behavior.
• Lock ideas into diagrams.
• Keep conversations focused.
• See the relationships between problems and solutions.
• Understand complexity.
• Create a visual record.

And, there’s so much more at EVERY level of education, K to Adult

Daily, we use the power of metaphor, story, diagrams, graphic organizers, and models.  Kick it up a level!  With a few systems thinking tools and a comprehensive, tried and true approach, you can ACTIVELY ENGAGE EVERY STUDENT!

See student become completely absorbed whey they solve riddles or search for answers using systems thinking tools.

Inference, cause and effect, circular thinking, prediction, relationships, unintended consequences… THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT YOUR STUDENTS TO BE ABLE TO DO.  Moreover, you want them to WANT to do this!  This is it…

It is here.

Systems thinking in Education: www.edu.systemsandsynergy.com

Ross Leadbetter M.Ed

Join us!

Our powerful bodies

Section #28

I have said for many years that the human body has proven to be BOTH the most frail and the strongest of things on this earth.  Its terribly amazing how diseases can ravage, yet wonderfully amazing how resilient, versatile, and stoic our bodies can be.  They need help, however, from the minds and our life force. That’s what this section is about…. Read the rest of this entry »

Counterclockwise

Scientific American often has great articles about the human mind.  The one that I will reference today is again, quite satisfying.  You can read it here. 

From the article:  “Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility
by Ellen J. Langer. Random House, 2009
When she was in her 20s, Harvard University psychologist Ellen J. Langer fainted occasionally, and doctors said she might have epilepsy. She decided to take the matter into her own hands, mentally “catching” herself sooner and sooner when she felt faint, until the fainting disappeared. That empowering experience set the tone for her remarkable 30-year career, much of which she has spent figuring out how to help people take almost miraculous control over their lives.”

It goes on to explain how test subjects lost weight, gained weight, appeared more youthful, became healthier all as a result of their perspectives in particular situations.  An example is given of cleaning staff in some Boston hotels who were told that the work they did every day definitely satisfied the government guidelines for a healthy lifestyle.  Guess what?!  They started to become more healthy.  Then there are the elderly gentlemenwho were ‘taken back in time’ by having them live like they did when they were younger… they became more youthful and healthy — they also gained weight, which was a desirable outcome.

AMAZING.

Piercing the Ego Consciousness

Section 25 — The Synergy in Life System

You really really have to read and digest this bit….  It is exceptionally powerful information.  Understanding ths construction of ego signals the beginning of a new path.

Piercing the Ego Consciousness

In each of our heads there is an ongoing stream of thought and even a voice that rambles on through nearly every moment of our existence.  In doing so, it is creating a resonance, yet most people are wholly unaware of and not in control of the thoughts and so not in control of the frequency; most people are not at all in touch with their resonance, it just happens haphazardly because the stream of thoughts go on without direction.  To a great extent this stream of thinking and the emotions associated with it is compulsive, reactive, repetitive, and involuntary – not at all under control – in fact, they are controlling you.  Read the rest of this entry »

On reading and writing

There are many people who have a great deal to say.  With the advent of blogs, this desire to communicate has increased exponentially.  The large university I attended for two of my degrees had 30 000 people go to class each day!  In that university there were six major libraries filled with books.  Levels and levels, and floor upon floor of books.  Simply mind blowing — and that was only ONE university.  How many more sites around the world house books?!  Add to this, the blog… and well, people REALLY want to communicate.  For some it is a life purpose. 

On the subject of communication, I have a few well-chosen words to add.  If people are going to go through with the work of reading, the writing had better make the grade.  Here’s what I think: Read the rest of this entry »

Energy Flows… so what do you do about it?

Energy, by its nature, flows.  Moving from one state to another, one place to another etc.  So if energy is always present and moving, what does that mean to you?

Individually, it is all about how you cultivate and use your energy.  Just like a garden.  Furrow the fields, tend to the plants, demonstrate care, provide effort to the well being, and you will likely yield positive results.  A person is just like a garden.  You don’t get a positive yeild in a garden without thought, direction, and effort.  As a person, you must be your own tender of energy.  You must use the power of thought, direction, and effort, and you can yield your own positive results.

What about groups?   Groups have energy, and you can try to stop it, forceably redirect it, or find a way to help steer, or influence to the positive, the inevitable flow of energy.  Energy flows in groups and exists.  And because energy does not like to be stifled, many groups who feel stifled tend to find negative outlets for their energy — yeilding poor, or negative results.  Groups need to have collective thoughts such as mission or vision, as well as the direction of purpose, and they need to have avenues to exert effort — to work. 

Energy flows.  You can try and stop it or your can find ways of cultivating it to the positive.

Have a look at these Aikido videos.  Or, find out a little more about this fascinating martial art that focuses on the flow of energy.  Aikido.com is a nice place to start.  A discipline to be respected, Aikido, has a great deal to teach.

The highs and the lows of life…

“Life is a gift when you know how to create and enjoy the highs

and survive and build strength from the lows.”

This quote is from the “about DRL” section of this site.  I didn’t really remember writing it until a good friend mentioned something about it hanging on many office walls in her hospital. 

At this, I twisted my head and said, “what is hanging on many office walls in your hospital?” 

“Your quote!” she said. 

“What quote?!” I remarked ever more intrigued.  Well,  you get the idea. Eventually she got out her Blackberry and brought up my page and read it back to me.  “Wow,” I said.  “That’s pretty good!”

I smile even now.  What I wrote was and is true and I am very honored that Heidi has it on her wall and others have taken to making photocopies and putting it on their walls….  Absolutely fantastic. 

What is very interesting to me is that I forgot that I wrote this little line, and even more so, that people would be inspired by my words.  Thank you!  Thank you; thank you.

Its amazing what effects we have, every day.

The Grameen bank and You

The Synergy in Life System — Section 20

Ever heard of the Grameen Bank?  No collateral, No legal instrument, No group guarantee or joint-liability.  And… unlike many banks right now, this one is doing FANTASTICLY well!

If there was ever a story worth telling it is of the Grameen Bank and Professor Yunus.  He is a pioneer or magnificent magnanimity.  Below is the 20th excerpt from my book The Synergy in Life System.  Please read about this Nobel prize winning professor and how he helps others.  It has a bearing in your life too.

Helping Others

Some will say that they cannot or should not have affluence because there are so many poor and unfortunate people in the world who have nothing other than misery in their lives.  As you likely are deeply concerned about the plight of poor and unfortunate people, you should spend some of your time helping them.  You can help them best, however, not by giving them some form of material things that will keep them in their place, but through giving them the power of hope and by developing pictures of affluence in their minds, and by helping them to realize their deserved expression of life.  Read the rest of this entry »

What is Systems and Synergy.

There are always good questions and comments regarding Systems and Synergy.  Orlando recently checked in with a nice comment.  In my daily life, people keep asking me questions like: ”So, just what is this systems and synergy you write about.”  I always try to explain with… well, too many words. Then I realized just the other day that to have a practiced, concise answer to this good question is not slick or glib.  I realized that a precise and concise answer is important and necessary.  Here is the answer: Read the rest of this entry »