Finding YOUR Next Stepping Stone!

"Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm." —Abraham Lincoln

As many of you know, HSD Institute is moving through a time of transition. At the end of 2024, Glenda and I will step back, and the Institute, as we have known it, will transform into HSD Global. Over the past several months, people from across the HSD Network have stepped into a shared inquiry about what’s next for the global HSD community. As decisions are finalized and details are checked off of lists at that scale, we also face large changes in the political and policy in our own country, and in many countries around the globe. Then there are just the personal physical and sociological challenges of getting older.

In so many ways, I stand at an interesting point of change, looking at turbulence and uncertainty at multiple scales in my life. It may seem a bit ironic to bring it up at this time--given that HSD is all about responding to complex change. I have talked with hundreds of people about this in the 25 years since I learned about HSD. I have relied on the HSD to help me make sense of many changes in the last few years. But somehow it has never seemed so valuable or critically important as it does today.

HSD has taught me many concepts about the complexities of change in a human system, and I am trying to employ those concepts in this time of uncertainty and change. At this point it seems that three of those ideas are most central and offer me way to find my next stepping stone as I map my way forward. 

Stand in Inquiry as a way of life, not as a check list. When the world changes as quickly as it does, it’s impossible to carry the answers around in a pocket. It’s not even possible to carry a set of “pre-formulated” questions around in a pocket. What we need is a way to remember to stand in inquiry when we need to ask rather than tell. It is about a level of self-awareness—at that moment when I’m feeling stuck—that enables me to:

• Turn judgment into curiosity
• Turn disagreement into shared exploration
• Turn defensiveness into self-reflection
• Turn assumptions into questions

​This is my goal, generally, but often I get so stuck into my own stuff that I can’t find my way out!

Time is not a Line. Western science and society have depended on the linear nature of time. Past, present, future; before and after; actions and consequences all rely on a conception of time as a line on which we walk. The experience of time can be quite different, when we reflect on life, consider collective trauma, or participate in cultural rituals. HSD describes time as a “manifold”—a liminal space where we stand at any and every decision point. At that point, all our past and its knowledge, experience, fears, and coping skills fan out behind us. From that same point, all that we dream, hope, and imagine fans out before us, laying out all the options and opportunities. In that moment that’s all that informs our next step. In that moment I use Adaptive Action to consider what’s happening around me and what is important to me, as I choose my next step.

I make better choices when I can remember to challenge myself to be in inquiry and to step away from past choices to look for one that is fit for function in this moment, to move toward the future I want.

Adaptive Action is the only way through. None of us can predict what’s next. Nor can we control the emergent patterns around us. So the simplicity of these three questions (What? So What? Now What?) has become my lifeline.

• See the patterns and people around you (What?)
• Use HSD tools and perspectives to make sense of patterns and understand your relationships in a way that informs actions (So What?)
• Take action to shift something (Now What?)
• Look at what shifted and begin your next cycle (Next What?)

I know this, and yet I still sometimes forget and skip a step or don’t do it as deeply as I need to.

We are all living and making choices in a swirl of change right now. Some of those are life changing. Some are life threatening. Some force us to consider losing much of what we have relied on and believed in throughout our lives. Regardless of the scale of decision making and action, these three tools continue to anchor me in my personal swirl of change.

As I move through the final weeks of 2024 and step into the new and clearly different world that I will face in 2025, I will need, more than ever to stand in Inquiry as I consider the importance, meaning, and impact of my own decisions. I will work to remember to focus in individual moments of decision making on bringing my best knowledge and intentions to see and make sense my world in that moment. And I will move forward in “next wise actions” that have been informed by what I believe to be fit for function in that moment.

This is what I believe is my best personal path. It’s what I believe will help each of us find the best individual and shared pathways to contributing to this transformation into HSD Global. It’s what I believe will inform each of us in our work to build a world of peace and freedom that works for us all. I love that so many people are in this path-building as we work to live the HSD Vision:

People everywhere thrive because we
see patterns clearly,
seek to understand, and
act with courage to
turn turbulence and uncertainty into
possibility for all.

I look forward to continuing on this path with you all. Be in touch!

Royce