Contracted Brains

For organizations, these times of pandemic+climate crisis can be super challenging: adjusting to work at home, supply chain snafus, or escalating costs. In response to these changes, it can be easy or feel natural to panic and make decisions quickly in order to feel like we are doing something, anything. But what would happen if we allowed ourselves to sit in the unknown and get past our fear? Can we wonder into what might come? Can we be curious about what path could open? What would happen if we zoomed out from the immediate decisions and conflicts to assess the broader flows so we can be strategic from a place of groundedness. Fear of change is often a killer of curiosity.

Our brains contract when we are feeling fearful, so we don’t have our best resources to bring to challenges. Fear is often reasonable, and we find it worth it to sit and befriend fear a bit to find out what concerns it has as part of risk assessment. Then, after we face our fear, then we can turn our attention to being curious about possibilities. Mindblowing, I know. Or at least mind-expanding.