Nature’s secret of Resilience and Renewal
If you watch how nature deals with adversity, continually renewing itself, you can’t help but learn.
- Bernie Siegel
The Adaptive Cycle is a model that makes learning of natural patterns of change in ecosystems and eco-social systems possible. Its theory describes the periodic, rhythmic dance between order and chaos, stability and transformation as a fundamental pattern of self-organization in all complex living systems. Why we love this model is because it shows us that crises and breakdowns are very much part of life, it keep things current, growing and evolving.
Take a forest fire for instance, it literally proves the possibility of rising up from the ashes. When a forest canopy gets too dense and thick, sunlight cannot reach the ground for new plants and species to thrive. A forest fire is then nature’s way of clearing the old so that new possibilities can flourish. To name a few, it enables the possibility for new plant life, it returns nutrients to its soil and improves wildlife habitat.
Life Before Covid-19
Long before the pandemic, there was no shortage of science-backed advice on the need to change the way we work and live in order to maintain healthier lives with more meaning. Now, the crisis has made the consequences of us ignoring this brutally clear: It has underlined the urgency of building a future where our physical health and mental resilience are at the forefront. The solution? Adapt. This will be the key determinant of how successfully we navigate the times that lie before us.
Understanding the Adaptive Cycle: A key to a resilient mindset
What we love about the adaptive cycle is that it really shows us that crises and breakdown are very much part of the way we evolve. The adaptive cycle consists of 4 main stages: growth or exploitation’ (r); ‘conservation’ (K) of established patterns and resource distribution; ‘collapse or release’ (Ω); and reorganization (α). The adaptive cycle is often drawn like an infinity symbol that joins these four phases. In simple words, you can think of it as two main loops. The front loop is the process of new things becoming old. This is the phase where a new business grows and becomes mature, or even a new relationship which starts and gradually becomes old. The back loop is the cycle of old things renewing themself and becoming new. Here old structures breakdown, release resources and open up new opportunities. The breakdown phase can often seem sudden, unfair, and scary but this is the phase of the highest creativity where radical transformations can occur!
The journey from the Growth phase to the Conservation phase is regarded as the “fore-loop”; a lengthy and slow period in which one can accumulate resources, knowledge, experience and expand. Simply put it is the phenomenon of new things gradually becoming old and routine. With time, rigidity sets in, making the system less resilient, brittle and susceptible to change. This leads to the formation of the ‘back-loop’, which in contrast is fast-paced and relatively short. The possibility of creative change is the highest here, with an opportunity to release, reorganise and redesign: The creative breakthrough occurs after the calamity, with reference to now, during the post-crisis phase. Transformative innovations introduced at this stage have the ability to lift the system into a “New Normal”.
What New Normal do You want to Create?
Now, as we enter the release phase of the adaptive cycle, we have the opportunity to re-build our life and create a new vision for ourselves. Reflect on these questions to help you make this period a catalyst for a New You!
“Everything will start to shift when you take the brave step of looking in the mirror! You are the star of the movie! It’s your life, and it’s your career.”
Liz Ryan
Ask Yourself:
- Why do I believe what I believe? What fundamental assumptions of mine have changed through this crisis? What new understanding have I gained during this period?
- What do I want to do differently after this crisis? What rigid patterns do I want to let go of?
- What would I try now if I knew I could not fail? What new possibilities would I like to bring into my life?
- What is your relationship with change? How worthy are you to receive renewal? How openly can you experience life when it is time for it to erode? What do you tell yourself when new things come? What do you tell yourself when new things go?
- What is your real calling or passion, how do you want to contribute to the making of a new world around us?
- Do any of the following statements resonate with you?
I am starting to think about what I want from life, not just what other people expect from me!
I can tell I have been asleep where my life and career were concerned. I tuned out. Now I am tuning back in!
I don’t mind going to work. I want to go to work. I want a job that makes me look forward to going to work. I feel I deserve that!
I want to know more about my own talents. I know I can get a job when I need one, but I am tired of holding a job that just pays the bills.
I want to go further in my life. I want to expand my vision of myself.
If you answered “Yes”, You are in a stage of Re-invention! Personal reinvention is the process that any living thing goes through when the world around it has changed such that the creature has to adapt, or as the living thing (even you!) reaches a new stage in life.
