The Approach
Understanding the language of the human system.
An evolving body of work exploring whether we can become better at recognising and understanding the changes we experience in our thoughts, emotions, behaviour, energy and physical state, and use that understanding to inform how we respond.
It brings together research, lived experience and practical application to explore a simple but increasingly important question:
What if understanding ourselves is a capability we continue developing throughout life?
Rather than offering a finished framework, this work is an invitation to remain curious, to notice, make connections, question our interpretations and consider how we respond.
Author
Researcher
Speaker
Founder
Why now?
We spend much of our lives learning to understand the world around us.
We learn to read books.
Interpret data.
Solve problems.
Develop expertise.
Yet we may spend far less time learning to recognise and understand the factors affecting how we ourselves feel and function.
Changes in our energy, emotions, thoughts, behaviour and physical state can provide information about how we are doing. Our relationships, environment and experiences may also influence them.
But noticing a change is not the same as understanding what it means.
This work explores whether becoming more attentive to these changes and the contexts in which they occur, might help us understand our own functioning more clearly.
From awareness to understanding
Noticing something about ourselves does not necessarily mean we understand it.
We may need to consider what has changed, what else is happening in our lives, whether we have noticed the same pattern before and what other explanations might be possible.
Over time, this kind of attention may help us make connections between our experiences, circumstances and the way we feel and function.
Understanding ourselves isn't something we complete.
It can continue to develop as our lives, circumstances and experiences change.
Working propositions
This work isn't built around rules or rigid frameworks. Instead, it begins with a small number of working propositions that continue to evolve through research, observation and practice.
Changes in how we feel and function can provide information worth noticing.
Our energy, emotions, thoughts, behaviour and physical state can change in response to many influences, including our relationships, experiences and environment.
Awareness may create greater opportunity for intentional response.
Noticing what is happening can give us an opportunity to consider whether and how we want to respond.
How we understand ourselves may influence how we interpret and respond to our experiences.
The explanations we make about what we feel, think and do can influence the choices we consider and the way we respond.
Our understanding of ourselves can continue to change.
New experiences, changing circumstances and reflection may alter how we understand our own patterns, needs and responses.
The Process
Observe
Notice changes in how you feel, think, behave or function.
Respond
Choose your next action with greater awareness and intention
Interpret
Consider what you have noticed within the context of your own life.
Reflect
Notice what changes and begin the process again
An evolving body of work
This body of work continues to develop through writing, research, speaking and practical application.
Some ideas will deepen.
Some may change.
Others may be challenged.
That is part of the process.
Rather than presenting a finished philosophy, this work is an invitation to explore better questions and contribute to an ongoing conversation about what it means to understand ourselves in a more human way.
continue the conversation
Whether you've arrived here through a book, an article, a workshop or simple curiosity, I'd love to continue the conversation.
Many of the ideas explored here are still emerging and continue to be shaped through dialogue, research and lived experience.