Regenerative is not something you do, it is something you become. Everyone we have met wants to work on something that positively contributes to some good in the world, some higher purpose beyond just meeting their own individual needs. We believe that this is an innate quality of human nature. Of course circumstances in one’s life can shift this need and turn it inward but we are all born with this quality of caring for something bigger than just ourselves. Doing this work in the world requires that we work with others in community or in organizations. This ultimately requires that you work on yourself. We generally don’t become something different without working on ourselves. One of the foundational regenerative frameworks we use is called Three Lines of Work. While this framework can work at different scales, it is often used at the scale presented in the image below. Essentially, in order to achieve the effect on a whole living system you seek, you must learn to work with others, and in order to effectively work with others, you must be working on your own transformation.

Building regenerative capacity begins with working on ourselves as unique individuals. It calls upon each of us to observe carefully, think ecologically, design systemically, engage gratefully, and act humbly. To do so, we need to evolve our own capacity, and the capacity of our communities, to serve the larger whole systems within which we are nested, concentrating nodal efforts where they will have the greatest systemic impact for the least effort. Regenerative design is not a list of ingredients or prescriptive practices. A Regenerative approach is guided by a set of organizing principles that builds our capacity to shift the current paradigm into a new one, grounded in ecological systems thinking. It is based on a perspicacious worldview that understands how humans can play an essential role in enhancing the capacity of Life to evolve in a way that benefits all beings in Earth. Hence, we can use our own development for healing the wounds we have caused. This session will engage the participants in the active practice of the application of regenerative design principles to themselves and their work in the world.

7group partners John Boecker and Marcus Sheffer will be facilitating a discussion titled “Regenerative is what you become”  at GreenCon on June 5th at Penn State Harrisburg in Middletown, PA. This session will tell the story of our own personal and professional development, and provide you with insights into how you can become regenerative. We’d love to see you there.

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