In another article, I mentioned humanity as a system. And we—as individual human beings—are members of this system, interconnected energetically at a deeper level.
Now I’ll focus on the individual as a system (a subsystem of humanity). I call it the individual human system.
First, an experience I’ve been through recently
Last February, I injured my knee ligaments when I fell at ski right before going home. The injuries seemed similar to what I experienced 20 years ago, so I had an idea of how to help them heal.
The first week I was confined to bed, with knee pain every time I moved. Massaging the injured area several times daily helped, and the pain intensity decreased in time. The second week, I walked slowly inside the home dragging my feet, exercised and danced while sitting (within the range that didn’t cause more pain). I felt courageous the third week and went outside; even walking a few meters was tiring. However, the natural walking movements were helpful, besides the indoor exercises that kept the muscles active during the recovery process. Sitting for longer than a half hour was painful at the beginning, but it got better in time.
My mind was a bit foggy for the first two weeks, my energy being directed more toward the physical recovery than to my brain. I was happy when my focus came back, right in time for the webinars I had committed to deliver. Yet, not much energy was left for other work-related tasks.
During these weeks, a part of me felt guilty for not being active during the National Introverts Week (21-27 Match). I felt pressured to write my biweekly newsletter, to post on social media…
Another part of me was calm, assuring me that feeling guilty and putting more pressure on myself would only make things worse—adding extra burden to what I was already dealing with. The world won’t stop if I’m not active for a while. Instead, taking care of myself would help speed up the recovery so I can be productive when my individual human system is fully functional again.
From a system perspective
• The system components can influence each other.
In this article, I talked about our inner team (those voices in our head), which relates to our mental capacity. This seems to be the most emphasized and used human capacity in today’s world—which makes us often forget that the individual human system has more (interconnected) components.
In the experience described above, I highlight two components of the individual human system—the physical and the mental—and how one affected the other. This video mentions also about how the mental can influence the physical component (either positively or negatively), and the third component (see below).
• The individual human system has also a spiritual component.
When I say spiritual in this context, I’m not referring to the religious and spiritual knowledge we learned about and were exposed to from an early age (which comes from the outside world).
I define the spiritual component of the individual human system as the connection we have (via our intuition) with that wiser part that inspires us—which is beyond the physical and mental. By mental I mean the brain activity that processes what we already know, experience or had experienced.
The spiritual component is about those Aha moments that we can’t predict, no matter how much we know; those sudden ideas we get that—once implemented—prove to be exactly what we needed or become inventions that help humanity advance; those thoughts and urges that helps us overcome challenges by taking actions that initially seemed unreasonable; those creative moments that artists know how to harness, although we all have this capacity.
It’s quite easy to overlook this third component in a world that keeps demanding our attention with ever-expanding information and news—making some of us believe that answers can come only from outside us.
However, it takes a conscious effort to detach from the external factors, so we have access to the spiritual component within us (which is always available, even when our mind gets foggy). It helps to develop mindfulness and a meditation practice before difficult situations occur; it gets easier to detach. This is a useful skill to rely on when things get hard.
How did this spiritual component show up in my recent experience? I could’ve easily gotten caught in the pain, pity myself, worry about how it could affect my work and income if I’m not able to focus on my business, what others could say about my silence during this time, the scary news about conflict areas in the world… However, my years of meditation practice taught my mind to stay calm even in difficult situations, and how to detach from the pressure related to challenges and the external world. Which helped me to distance from the guilt, pity, and fears… and reconnect with the spiritual component that guided me how to deal with this situation, so my individual human system gets back to harmony faster.
• In summary, all three components of our individual human system are important and interconnected. No matter which one gets affected first, not all are affected at once. We still have time to enrol those that are better to help the first one… if we keep the entire system in mind and avoid putting labels regarding the affected part (e.g. That’s it. I can’t do anything about it without external help).
An interpersonal perspective
Some people are quick to assume/ judge others based on what they believe or notice about them. However, if we consider the invisible and intangible components of the individual human system, what an outsider assumes could be very different from what happens inside that system.
Two examples:
1) Someone asked: Since you’re an introvert, why did you change from engineering to coaching—which is a profession for extroverts?
I don’t know what made her assume that coaching is a profession for extroverts. Maybe because it involves talking and social interactions, and there’s a myth that introverts avoid both?
Both introverts and extroverts can get into any profession they want. If they leverage well their respective innate strengths—which are complementary—they can become good in the chosen profession.
However, becoming good at something and getting satisfaction out of it is not the same thing. Which is exactly why I shifted from engineering (a path that didn’t bring me satisfaction, although I was good at it)… to coaching (a profession I love)!
Introverts are ok talking with people when they focus on meaningful topics, and take time to replenish their energy after such interactions. Plus, being fine observers of human behaviour introverts can be great coaches.
Both satisfaction and what someone considers meaningful are related to the (intangible) spiritual component of the individual human system—which is hard (if not impossible) to be assessed by an outsider.
Curiosity and open dialogue can help to better understand each other, instead of getting stuck in our own assumptions.
That’s why the diversity, equity, and inclusion trend will continue to grow. And I hope that understanding the innate differences between introversion and extroversion will soon become part of this trend.
2) Based on your social media activity, the webinars, the Introverts Academy you built… I thought you’re an extrovert!—someone else said.
Nope, I’m still an introvert. I always was, will be.
What others notice about me reflects only a fraction of my individual human system (the visible part). Those who consider me an extrovert based on what they see don’t know how much time I need to recharge my energy after a workshop or webinar.
And if I look energized when I speak, doesn’t mean I’m an extrovert either. That energy comes from inside when I focus on what I resonate with or I’m passionate about—not because I’m talking to people (which would energize an extrovert). I discovered the ability to get energized from inside when I shifted to doing things I love (coaching, workshops, webinars, books…), which allow me to make the impact that I want.
And so can you, if you’re an introvert. Focusing on what you really want and you’re passionate about gives you energy and motivation to develop the skills required to achieve your goals—even if those skills make others think you’re an extrovert.
Back to you now
• Do you pay attention to all the three components of your individual human system? And take all three into consideration to help your system get back to normal when a challenge or situation affects it?
• Do you catch yourself making assumptions about how other people are or aren’t? Are you open to validate these assumptions through open dialogue?
Gabriela Casineanu, MSc, MBA, ORSC
Award-Winning Author, System Coach
Founder, Introverts Academy
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