Finding coherence in trying times

Photo by jannerboy62

This week chaos erupted in my home country, South Africa. Theories abound over the dynamics, triggers, and reasons for the violence and destruction, but suffice to say, this is probably the worst times we’ve seen since the birth of our democracy. Everyone is trying to connect the dots, many claim to have seen it coming . I believe trying to find out who or what is to blame is the wrong question — this is deeply complex and messily tangled. Our issues are systemic, trying to find root causes will simply lead us down blind alleys. We need to see and think systemically and trans-contextually. But right now, I just don’t have the energy … all I know now is that it feels like a perfect storm.

Amid a devastating third wave of the COVID19 pandemic, with hospitals over-stretched and many businesses and industries taken to the brink by lockdown restrictions, this was the last thing we needed as a nation. Yet, there seems to be something in our society’s fabric that brings out the best in most of us when we face adversity. Communities have come together across race and class divides to protect businesses, to help feed the hungry, and clean up after the destruction.

Personally, this last week was very tough. It was as if the trauma “in the air” came and sat in my bones. I felt heavy, very tempted to “flight” but ending up in a strange freeze, vaccilating between a need to connect to a sense of hope, and wondering if that is a form of denial. I started writing this post on Antonovski’s Sense of Coherence before this happened and I now want to return to it as I have found it useful as a reflection device throughout this experience.

I have been interested in Antonovski’s work since I first came across the work it a few years ago when a friend referenced it in her Ph.D. thesis. Since the start of the pandemic, it has become one of my go-to frameworks to assist people in their sensemaking and to scaffold conversations around organisational wellbeing interventions and even new organizational structures.

Aaron Antonovski was a sociologist and anthropologist. He is seen as the “father’ of salutogenesis, or the origins of health. Antonovski saw health as relative on a continuum and his key research question is what causes health (salutogenesis) not what are the reasons for disease (pathogenesis). His answer was the Salutogenic Model of Health (SMH), with Sense of Coherence (SOC) at the core of a movement towards health. In many ways, salutogenesis is a theory of the health of human beings as complex systems.

Diagram from Benz et al.

One of the reasons I find his work so valuable is that he acknowledged the role of context/environment and in particular culture and life experiences on the development of individual SOC. He wrote extensively about how one’s life situation influences the development of the SOC, with broad-ranging attention to culture, social forces, social position, gender, ethnicity, age, genetics, and plain luck, among other factors. (Benz et al.)

More on Sense of Coherence

The Sense of Coherence (SOC) construct can be described as an orientation towards the world that perceives it, on a continuum, as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful.

When confronted with a stressor, the person (or collective) with a strong SOC will:

• be motivated to make sense of and manage or cope despite the stressor (meaningfulness);
• believe that they are able to make sense of the challenge (comprehensibility). Some interpretations of comprehensibility narrow it to predictability, i.e., .that the person experiences their context or the challenge faced as predictable and understandable. Given the complexity of our world, this is not a helpful interpretation. I prefer this definition — the ability to make sense amidst uncertainty. (Van der Merwe et al 2019)
• believe that resources to cope are available to them (manageability).

In this last week, I have experienced challenges primarily related to comprehensibility and meaningfulness. Even with all the theories emerging as security agencies and journalists connect the dots for us, I still struggle to comprehend the utterly senseless destruction I have witnessed. I cannot make sense of the unfolding catastrophe and how people can inflict harm like this on their own communities. I fully realise that part of my inability to make sense of this is due to my privilege; I have never been in utter hopelessness as the 70% unemployed young people in South Africa are. I have never had “nothing left to lose.” So in some way, this discomfort is probably a healthy one for the privileged as it forces us to confront hard questions and old narratives that no longer serve us. I had days last week when I struggled to cope and manage my internal responses to what was happening. It felt at times that the trauma of the collective came and “sat on me.” I could not function. I could not sleep. And again, I realise that this is coming from a place of profound privilege. There are thousands and thousands of people for whom this has become a struggle for survival. In some communities most of their shops and infrastructure has been destroyed. They have no food, no fuel, no access to medicine.My existential crisis is nothing compared to what they had to endure.

Most troubling has been the questions around meaning. The problems feel overwhelming; at times, feelings of helplessness threaten to become overwhelming too. What is the use of trying? Maybe I should find a way to escape — it feels like my fight, flight, and freeze responses are all activated at the same time. And then stories emerge of communities coming together across old fracture lines, leadership coming from unexpected places, and everyday people who are doing extraordinary things. And hope starts to blossom again. What must it be like for those who have no hope, who literally can see no possibility for their lives to improve? I heart-breaking to see young people, some with law and other degrees unable to find employment, and therefore with no way to lift themselves out of poverty.

Victor Frankl was right. Meaning matters. It is easier to cope with a loss of comprehensibility or manageability than a loss of meaningfulness. When all three are compromised, i.e., the sense of coherence is compromised, it can be devastating. Prof Frans Cilliers found in his research that SOC plays a key role in our ability to deal with ambiguity, uncertainty and anxiety. It enables us to show up with curiosity and an ability to reflect and learn. A key question therefore becomes what we can do to create and maintain SOC for ourselves, our families and communities. (In my next post I explore SOC in organisational contexts).

Here are a few ideas of things you can try:

1. Comprehensibility

• I have found great comfort in understanding that all problems and situations are not equal. If something is not merely complicated, but complex (see this post for more on the differences between the two), it will be fluid and unpredictable. No one can comprehend a complex situation fully, never mind a chaotic one. Complexity is messy; there will be many different perspectives and conflicting hypotheses. Knowing that you cannot fully understand (that no one can) helps us let go of the expectation and pressure we put on ourselves to know and have answers.
• Embrace provisionality and fluidity— the decisions you make today are the best ones you could make given what you know. Tomorrow you may have new information, and you may need to change tack. It creates much anxiety if we expect every decision to be the right one and we don’t permit ourselves to change our minds.
• Set information or content boundaries. Be intentional about what, and how much information you expose yourself to. Do not spend hours and hours doom-scrolling, you will likely end up more confused.
• Take a time-out. There is much benefit in an “intentional pause”… Sometimes we need to get off the dancefloor and onto the balcony. From here we can see patterns we cannot see below.
• Switch off. Make space for silence. Even something as simple not allowing conversations around the latest news stories over dinner. Our nervous systems (and our brains) need a break every now and again.

2. Manageability

• Ensure you have the capacity for the greater demands that navigating uncertainty will put on you. Create healthy habits — ensure you get enough sleep, move more, be mindful about what and how you are eating. Cultivate a breathing practice.
• Set work/life boundaries and create rituals. In the absence of a daily commute, many of us find ourselves “living at work”. Something as simple as changing clothes or taking a walk can create a punctuation point or boundary to help you transition roles.
• Practice mindfulness. Notice your external context AND your internal responses. Be curious: why am I suddenly so tense? Why am I holding my breath? We can learn and grow a lot if we can be fully present in these moments of confusion.
• Invest in your own learning. We will probably be relying more and more on technology over the coming years, it will serve all of us to keep our skills up to date. For example, I have put off learning how to use applications like Miro and Mural properly for far too long. I can help myself with the basics, but in order to really feel confident in my abilily to cope, I need to go beyond that.
• Prioritise social connections. Even if over Zoom, connect with friends and cultivate supportive relationships. Connect with your local community — much of our ability to cope resides in our extended networks. We don’t have to know everything, or have everything; sometimes, we only need to be connected to others who do.

3.Meaningfulness

• Reconnect with (and make time for) activities, people, or places replenish your soul and spirit. Spend time in nature; read poetry; spend time in the presence of Beauty, whether that be nature or art.
• Find ways to contribute to the wellbeing of others meaningfully. When we make a difference in the lives of others, it brings joy and a sense of purpose.
• Do not be afraid to share how you are feeling or ask for help. Whenever I have made myself vulnerable in conversations with others, I discovered I am not the only one with feelings of dispair and anxiety. The problem is that we tend to think we’re the only ones and therefore we stay quiet and rob ourselves and others of opportunities for authentic connection.

I end with this poem …. this week it gave me great comfort. I share it here in hope it does the same for you.

WHAT I MUST TELL MYSELF, by David Whyte

I know this house,

and this horizon,

and this world

I have made.

I know this silence

and the particular

treasures

and terrors

of the way

I try to belong

to my work,

my loved ones

and my life.

But I cannot

know

the world

to which

I am going.

I have only

this breath

and this presence

for my wings

and they carry me

in my body

whatever I do

from one hushed

moment

to another.

I know my innocence

and against all sense,

I know something

of my unknowing,

and strangely

I know

through

all this innocence

and unknowing,

what I have

accomplished,

but for all my successes

I go through life

like a blind child

who cannot see,

arms outstretched

trying to put together

a world.

And the world

works on my behalf

catching me in its arms

when I go too far.

I don’t know what

I ever could have done

to have earned such faith.

Watching the geese

go south

I find that

even in silence

and even in stillness

and even in my home

alone

without a thought

or a movement,

I am part

of a great migration

that will take me

to another place.

And though

all the things I love

may pass away and

the great family

of things and people

I have invited

around me

will see me go,

I feel them living

in me

like a great gathering

about to go with me,

to reach

a greater home.

When one thing dies

all things

die together,

and must live again

in a different way,

when one thing

is missing

everything is missing,

and must be found again

in a new whole,

and everything

wants to be complete,

everything wants

to go home

and the geese

traveling south

are like the shadow

of my breath

flying into the darkness

on great heart-beats,

to the unknown land

where I belong.

This morning

above the house

they have

found me again,

strangely full of faith,

like a blind child,

nestled in their feathers,

following a great coast

to the home

I cannot see.

…

‘What I Must Tell Myself’ : Revised. From the upcoming book, ‘Still Possible’ : Autumn 2021 — © David Whyte and Many Rivers Press 2021

Part 2: Sense of Coherence in Organisational contexts.

References & Sources

1. Handbook of Salutogenesis — Aaron Antonovski
2. Culture in salutogenesis: the scholarship of Aaron Antonovski — Benz et al
3. Sensemaking as an approach for resilience assessment in an Essential Service Organization — Van der Merwe, Biggs & Preiser 2019. Springer. Environment Systems and Decisions
4. The role of sense of coherence in group relations training. — Frans Cilliers, 2001