Better holding environments as a growth imperative.

There is never just an individual.

The word refers only to that side of the person who is differentiated from something.

Something like relationships perhaps? Or maybe environments?

My take is that relationships are environments in which individuals are embedded in - and at most levels these days, they pretty much suck. And that's why the world also has a lot of challenges right now.

I think it's imperative to our collective development that we have stronger holding environments.

I think we can do quite much better in parenting, family life, schools, local communities, and global collaborations. I think we're ready for something more than personal development and interpersonal development. I wish for more group-development: groups learning how to support individual and group's development with, without and through being embedded in them.

I think it starts at the level of parenting and ends at the level of global coordination.

I'm greatly inspired by Robert Kegan's work around holding environment's role in human development. He talks about how "good" environments hold us (we are fused), let go of us (we differentiate), and stick around (we reintegrate back into).

I'm starting to come to terms that this is something that has my name on it. It's my life's work to create these kind of environments. This is why I'm so into parenting (the first holding environment), and community building (the art of holding holding environments). It's why I'm currently creating an alternative to a school. And building a village.

And I think Kegan is really on to something when he writes:

“Your own sense of wholeness or lack of it is a large part a function of how your own current embeddedness culture is holding you.”

I'd love to dive deeper into more conversations about how we can make better environments.