Thinking Systems Blog

The Well Differentiated Company

September 25, 2023Uncategorized

Organizations often have a personality that reflects what the leadership decides is important. But just like with individuals, what a company says it'll do and what it actually does can be very different. That difference has a lot to do with the leve

Managing Climate Anxiety

September 17, 2023Uncategorized

How would a Bowen theory perspective help one handle climate anxiety? Does a systems perspective have something special to offer? I believe it does. While climate anxiety provides a timely context, I believe a systems perspective can help with any an

Origins of Emotional Programming.

August 22, 2023Uncategorized

The previous post discussed the calming cycle theory by Welch and Ludwig. Welch's study demonstrated that an adaptive emotional connection could be regained in premature infants and mothers. They could measure this based on an automatic calming effec

Calming Cycle Theory and Emotional Programming

August 15, 2023Uncategorized

New research has found important linkages between mothers at the autonomic nervous system level. This is part of our nervous system that is outside of our awareness. The linkage process starts in the womb and continues after birth. This process affec

The three body problem

July 26, 2023Uncategorized

How does a Bowen theory perspective inform the "terror of threes?" Three major nuclear powers instead of two. Apparently, this is a big problem. Why? According to physics, "the three-body problem" is almost impossible to solve. Thus the title of the

un-intelligence

July 16, 2023emotional system

How does intelligence get stupid? How is it that politicians can get involved with affairs, misuse funds, and promote false information? Many politicians have degrees from prestigious universities, so they clearly are NOT unintelligent or uneducated.

Perceptions Matter

April 23, 2023Anxiety, emotional system

perception of social threats activate social genonmic networks

Perceptions matter - just ask your genes! A newer field of study in biology is called social genomics. It is the study of how and when different genes are activated based on social interactions. On one level, it is very obvious that relationships aff

Expectations and Emotional Demands

April 16, 2023Define self

Emotional demands and expectations go together For most organisms, including humans, the developmental trajectory involves an individual becoming more and more capable and responsible for taking care of their own needs. Maturation is associated with

Humans Dogs and Emotional Systems

March 30, 2023emotional system

What can Parents Learn from Obedience Training? Humans domesticated dogs around 15,000 years ago. More recently, we have trained dogs to recognize the emotional state of individuals with PTSD in order to help those individuals cope with aspects of PT

Wise Selfishness: a Systems Perspective

March 26, 2023Define self

Can one be selfishly wise? Dr. Kerr has a phrase that is familiar to those in the Bowen community: "How does one be for self without being selfish and be for others without being selfless? " Most of us do not see selfishness as good behaviour. On the