Healthy Boundaries Make Healthy Systems

Every system, whether a cell, a person, a river, or a galaxy, has boundaries. The health of the system is determined by how the boundaries are regulated. This is the principle of Openness. For instance, a fish bowl is a closed system. If you don’t change the water and feed the fish, what is sure…

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Wholeness Impacts Everyone

In the last post I defined a system as a bunch of interconnected parts, often with a goal or purpose. I also noted that the idea of interconnection is the key to everything. In systems thinking, this interconnection is called wholeness. Have you ever been mesmerized by the soft swaying of a wind chime? If…

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So What is a System?

How many times a day do you hear the word “system”? If you work in healthcare, quite a bit! The examples are seemingly endless—computer systems, payments systems, clinical systems, the overarching “healthcare system” along with the implicit influence of family systems, and, of course, the reason we exist—preventive and acute care for our body systems. …

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