With Dr Mette Miriam Boell, 5 Dec 2024
summary
Mette Boell introduced the Centre for Systems Awareness and the Compassionate Systems Framework, focussed mainly on Compassionate Systems education.
Key Learning Points
- Systemic Compassion: Compassion is viewed as a “systemic property of mind,” where individuals learn to appreciate the systemic forces influencing their own and others’ actions. See Compassionate Systems Framework
- Interdependence: A core realization is that we are in a continual cause-and-effect relationship with the systems around us—local, organizational, and societal. See Spheres of Systems Change
- Inner Work for Outer Change: Real systems change requires a shift in “showing up,” thinking, and feeling, rather than just changing external structures. See Fostering Hope for our Future Lecture
- Empathy vs. Compassion: Empathy is the innate capacity to sense emotions, while compassion adds the cognitive understanding of systemic forces and the active intention to alleviate suffering.
Key Action Points
- Grounding Practices: Initiate sessions with grounding exercises, such as quiet breathing, to help participants reflect on their own state before connecting with others.
- Reflective Journaling: Use journals to give language to current mindsets and to extend the quiet space created during grounding.
- Systems Mapping: Utilize tools to identify and link factors relevant to a problem, helping to visualize how one change can have widespread, often unexpected, impacts.
- Applying Framework Tools: Use specific models like the Iceberg Model (to see underlying structures) and the Ladder of Inference (to reflect on decision-making processes). [1, 2]
Key References
- Peter Senge: The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.
- Anthony Damasio: The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotions in the Making of Consciousness.
- Riane Eisler & Douglas Fry: Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives, and Future.
- The Center for Systems Awareness: Founded by Peter Senge and Mette Boëll, this center is the primary source for Compassionate Systems methodology.
- What is Compassionate Education by Jacob Martin
Knowledge Base Categories: 1) Inner Work 2) Weaving Methods
