‘When you spend years responding to problems, you can sometimes overlook the fact that you could be preventing them.’
-from ‘Upstream’ by Dan Heath.
What’s your take on the above phrase in the context of :
Health-Diseases
Relationships – Disconnected
Professionally – Disengaged.
Wholeness – Disillusioned.
I have reflected, experimented, learned about how we are always in relationship to the system we belong to and it will invariably impact us.
So, it’s clear we need to look at the whole system but why is it so hard or rare?
The author gives clear 3 reasons:
1. Problem blindness – I don’t see any problem
2. Lack of ownership – It’s not mine to fix.
3. Scarcity of time, money, or mental bandwidth – I cant deal with it right now.
What’s possible with Upstream thinking?
1. Pioneering new ways of working together – catalyze systems
2. Find reliable ways to measure success – review priorities
3. Be aware of unintended side effects – open to evolve
What matters to me personally in this?
‘Democratising holistic wellbeing’
We use the phrase ‘Enlighten’ meaning to expand our perspective and choose to evolve because we are designed for it.
‘It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society’ – Jiddu Krishnamurti