Integrative Complexity: the tool to grow

Integrative complexity was a concept I discovered when writing my book. In simple terms, it means the ability to look at an issue with openness and from a nuanced but varying point of view.

The ability to hold multiple perspectives without losing your mind.

It may shock you, but we are surprisingly incapable of having multiple views on a topic.

Nature has always rewarded us for quickly but firmly, forming an opinion.

Is it a lion? No?

Can you imagine waiting to figure out the various hues, colours, shapes and smells that indicated one over the other?

We would be dead very quickly.

So we grew to form firm opinions. Opinions that allowed us to survive.

But a lion does not attack every day. When your world is at peace, you possess the ability to even relive your experience with the lion.

Examine the nuances of what truly happened. How did you end up in that open field with tall grass and miss the scent of the lion?

In integrative complexity lies our ability to learn and grow.

So how can you cultivate this ability?

Slow down your judgments. When you find yourself having a strong reaction, pause.

Ask yourself what else could be true?

Hone the ability to imagine what others might experience.

Deliberately expose yourself to perspectives that challenge your own. Read opposing viewpoints. Understand how the constructs of the beliefs of others were created.

Write. Writing forces you to sit with your own thoughts. If you feel conflict, explore the layers.

Is it fear? Identity? Habit?

Finally practice empathy. Empathy allows us the space to see things from a lens different from ours. Imagine what it might be to be the other?

Integrative complexity is not about being indecisive.

It is about being deeper. Wiser. More human.

It’s what allows us to transcend survival and begin to build a society that is not just reactive.

One that is reflective.

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain