· 6 min read
Note on language - Language and the words we use frame the way we think, feel and view the world. Words such as 'leadership' and 'power' are used to make the unexplored realm of regeneration and living systems more accessible to some readers. Understanding living systems and becoming a regenerative steward is a constant journey of moving away from business-as-usual and towards regenerative capacities, the same applies to the language we use. Slowly and collectively we can adapt the language we use in organizations to be less mechanistic and more aligned with living systems.
What if we intentionally created spaces for unlearning, remembering, and grounding our innate ability to live in harmony with life on Earth? What if we approached our roles—whether as CEOs, policymakers, or researchers—with a mindset that stewards life and fosters regeneration? This journey is not just about acquiring new skills; it's about rethinking how we conduct business and how we relate to the world around us.
By intentionally creating and holding space for remembering, reconnecting and grounding ourselves in the web of life, our innate capacity to align with life will re-emerge.. Expecting quick fixes to the complex challenges we face, without doing the deep work of unlearning, relating, and aligning, is both unrealistic and unwise.
“The times are urgent; let us slow down. The idea of slowing down is not about getting answers, it is about questioning our questions." - Bayo Akomolafe, A Slower Urgency
The act of slowing down
Our obsession with speed and control often blinds us to the need for slowness and reflection. What if slowing down helps us recognize that life must be nurtured, not controlled? Sometimes in dancing with life, the best move is ‘Stop’. Just stop. In an age dominated by speed and distraction, the act of slowing down can be transformative. By embracing slowness, we can better understand the interconnectedness of life and make decisions that align with the natural rhythms of the world.
“In an age of speed, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.”
- Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness
A Cyclical Journey of Arriving
This journey is a constant process of arriving—an ongoing process of interbeing, remembering, and aligning with life. It is not a race to a finish line but a lifelong journey of growth, questioning anf discovery..
Cyclical journey of arriving
The seasons of the cyclical journey of arriving can be nourished and held intentionally. We can create and hold spaces for ourselves and others to play, question and imagine. We can (Un)learn and deepen our living systems understanding from past societies, Indigenous communities and wisdom keepers. We can support each other in aligning our decision-making compass. Season by season we can, together, align our being, efforts, work, mind and heart with all living systems. Imagine a world where we constantly arrive at becoming regenerative stewards. This is not a journey with a clear end , but.a continuous process of alignment and growth.
The playful approach to regeneration
If ‘progress’ has been the hallmark of the past, play is the symbol of the future we are entering. Play is not frivolous; it is essential for creativity and connection.. True play—the kind as old as time—is unrestricted. It has no objective, no outcome, no timeline; it is simply play for play’s sake.Just as in play, there is no need to control or predict. In regenerative entrepreneurship, the goal is not to dictate the future but to remain attuned to the flow of relationships and the systems in which we are embedded.
By surrendering to the uncertainty and unpredictability of life, we become open to its rich lessons and potential for transformation. This is how the conditions for regeneration emerge—not through rigid planning but through continuous engagement, openness, and trust in the process of becoming.
“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.”
Ursula K. Le Guin
How to HoldSpace for Regeneration
The crises we face; climate collapse, inequality, ongoing colonization, and ecological degradation, are symptoms of deeper systemic disconnection. Instead of asking, "How do we fix this?" we might ask:
- How do we move beyond the idea of "isms"?
- How do we recognize the relationships behind the "things"?
- How do we embrace uncertainty as a source of wisdom?
Generational conditioning has led many of us to prioritize outcomes over relationships, optimization over flourishing, and profit over life. Regeneration is not a formula, it is a practice of reconnection, reciprocity, and cooperation. It is an honouring of living systems.
The Five Realms of Space Holding
To nurture our capacity for regeneration, we must align with five interwoven realms: place, community, ancestral wisdom, embodiment, and methodology. Where these realms intersect, we cultivate our ability to steward life on Earth.
Realms of space-holding
Place
- Who are you sharing place with?
- Whose voices are dominant in place, and who is unrecognized??
- How can slowness help us ground in place?
- How does place shape our culture, history, and connection?
Community
- Whose stories are dominant, and whose voices are missing?
- How can we create intentional spaces for interbeing?
- What if we acknowledged our journeys as deeply collective?
Ancestral
- How does deep time shape our decisions?
- Do the dreams or lives of your ancestors influence your life?
- How can we reclaim and rewrite ancestral stories?
Embodiment
- How can we reclaim play as adults?
- What if we embraced life as our decision compass?
- What forms of movement or expression connect you to your essence?
- How can we honour non-verbal forms of communication?
Liminal Methodology
- What methodologies are we mistaking for universal truths?
- How can we navigate complexity beyond words?
- When should methodologies be questioned or evolved?
- How do dominant paradigms shape our decision-making?
Your Role in This Journey
This is an invitation to find, enter, create, nourish, and hold spaces where we can move through the seasons of our cyclical journey together, at our own pace. Spaces for play, grief, essence, questions, doubts, and dreams. Spaces to remember how to simply be.
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.
