Whilst I am in the midst of family bereavement at the moment, I have also managed to embrace an exciting and invigorating week that has reawakened in me the joy of creating. Creating insight expressed in writing. Creating new and different ways of looking at things, of putting them together and making them useful. Creating and producing something that is uniquely me.

If you have ever created anything yourself, you will know how it feels. The buzz, the insight, the pure joy of opening up a whole new world that previously went unseen. I talk in Creating the Conditions for Change© about the systems practitioner as the invisible catalyst. Invisible to the outside world, maybe, but visible, large as life, inside of you. In your heart and in your mind.

I have explored the head, the heart, consciousness and how we learn. I have undertaken exercises in reframing – particularly reframing the word ‘jealousy’ to ‘following and admiring’. If you ever thought someone was acting out of jealousy towards you, reframe it to them admiring and following you or wanting to be you and you see their actions very differently as you call your power back to you.

Reframing is a particular skill for a systems practitioner. It is part of our practice of boundary critique and it can shift situations significantly and open up new and unexpected avenues for development, change, improvement and/ or a new direction.

I have met with academics and talked about reflexivity, metaphor and storytelling. I have discussed bridging the gap between theory and practice.  

I have moved Creating the Conditions for Change© on again and we are starting to head in some unusual directions. I was asked what I like best about what I do. There are many things, of course, but I like the insight and stimulation from creating something different and new. Of putting new information together in different ways.

The creators will always be at the forefront. It does not feel comfortable sometimes, as I talk about in the book ‘Crossing the Bridge’. The journey of a systems practitioner can be a lonely one. We are mavericks, square pegs in round holes, ‘different’. We will, however, always have the joy of creating.