Shifts in Thinking continued

Today, in talking with a couple of clients, I know that we are at the beginning of transformation in thinking differently in the West. This either/or thinking has reached its own "Peter Principle." One could only think like this and survive in a simplistic world. The complexity, ambiguities and the uncertainties we face today require greater understanding of paradox, strategic agility and other skills that are not taught in most American schools. In Asia, this is common place as evidenced by yin/yang analogies. Everything is both/and not either/or.

What caused this simplistic view? Is it simply because we are a young country? Is it because we are economically driven as a culture which makes us think in black and white and quantitative terms? Or was it that we started out in survival mode through revolution and our natural tendency for flight or fight has remained even though the external environment has changed. What embedded systems prevail in America that makes this shift in thinking so radical when in other parts of the world, it is so common place?

Shifts in Thinking

Before you can change your external worldview, you have to change your thinking. So many people have an either/or mentality rather than a both/and. I noticed this way back in 1990 when I attended a workshop, lead by Harrison Owen, entitled "Creativity and Business." Most of the people there were either from business or were from the arts. I was one of the only people who had experienced both. As a dancer and as a business person, I did not see any conflict. Most people had trouble embracing the two. They still do and yet the Chinese have always embraced the yin and yang. This both/and thinking is very ancient but in the West we have compartmentalized everything. I think this has come in part from our illusion that we can control things. It is a very mechanistic point of view. It is very provincial and unworldly. I feel so grateful my parents were total opposites in that I saw many possibilities from birth which I incorporated into my worldview from an early age.

Ulla and Clara at Tivoli Gardens watching bear and clown in Medieval stage show 

Friends Around the World

It's wonderful to have friends around the world. We just came back from Denmark where we stayed with someone named Peter who was an exchange student 16 years ago in America. He is all grown up with one baby, one on the way, a wonderful wife and stepdaughter. Meeting Peter when he was 16 was a critical time in his adolescence. Things were forming or were already formed that shaped the person he is today.

Today, a couple weeks after we have come back from Denmark, Peter is here in America. He is staying with us now and having "deja vu" experiences of being 16 and in America. He was always interested in politics and ended up being a spin doctor for the Deputy Prime Minister in Denmark. He is here during the presidential debates and adds a European perspective to our election.

All of this dialogue enhances my worldview which can never be America centric. I have traveled and seen and worked overseas.