Equalizing flow for success

DYNAMIC SYSTEMS THEORY and SUCCESSFUL WRITING GROUPS

DYNAMIC SYSTEMS THEORY: A graphic representation of a complex system found in the text, Thinking in systems, by Donella H. Meadows has me considering the flow of my creative writing group and how that flow has effected our emergent writing careers.  Meadows used a bathtub to demonstrate, on a simple level, the workings of a complex system. The water in the tub, is the system. Turning the faucet and adding water is “input” and pulling the plug is creating “output”.  Now, if you were to simply pull the plug the water would, of course, empty completely which is not a very self-sustaining system. On the other hand, if you were to never pull the plug two things are going to happen. If you, at the same time, don’t turn off the taps the water will overflow creating a very messy output. If you do turn off the taps and keep the plug in, then you will stop both input and output. The water in the tub will eventually cool, probably turn a little scummy, and over time grow some pretty nasty mold.

THE FORMULA FOR A SUCCESSFUL WRITING GROUP: Luckily, according to Meadows, there is a solution that will avoid both flood and stagnation.

Guides and Signposts

I followed an old maxim last night, the one where you sleep on a conflict with the hopes that you will wake up the next day with your problem resolved. In the spirit of my new research project, I also followed C. Otto’s advice to look for the highest possible future. At least, I closed my eyes before sleep and asked my highest self to manifest my best possible future thesis for me while I slept. I had a great sleep last night, and I did wake up with a feeling of resolution that I was able to review with a critical friend this morning.

Daily Oracle – Colette Baron Reid

Now What?

Emerging Thesis

While it seems like a relatively easy task to pick an idea, research it, and write a Masters’ thesis, I am finding that the process is much more involved than I had initially thought. First, true to my topic of emergence, I am trying to forget learned habits about planning a project to the nth degree so that I can allow my subject to reveal itself. To do this, I am giving myself permission to play with the idea by doodling, writing autoethnographic stories, and researching. So far, pretty normal.

However, blogging and talking about my idea and the process is contrary to my usual habits of hoarding the magnificence to myself until the project is complete. While I am attempting to free things up in true design process / emergent style, I am also finding myself stymied by the expectations of the Masters’ program that I am in. Choosing a path (research, self study or project) is a little bit like standing in front of the candy counter when I was a kid with only a dime to spend . It’s enough to pay for one tasty treat but not enough for all three. Perhaps I need to explore what these three things really are to come up with the answer of what I want to do: