Being Integrated

Being Integrated

Describe one of the eight value systems you use most in your work today.
In my life right now I wear many hats. I am the Executive Director of the International College of Integrative Medicine, a Patient Advocate at the Celebration of Health Center, organizer of Mennofolk, a national folk festival network, a Reiki Master and teacher, a wife, mother, musician and friend. Because of these many roles, I will describe my value system as a person and individual, knowing that I bring the same values to each of my vocations.
In my late twenties when I started experiencing Reiki, a form of energy healing, my practitioners would often tell me that they saw a yellow light around my body, sometimes with orange overtones. One explanation for this was that my third chakra (or “Yellow”) was dominant in my thinking and emotional state, and therefore in my energy system. I believe that the Yellow value system fits my current mindset most, and this was confirmed by the instrument Profiling Value Systems which we completed for class this week. I do try to express myself to the best of my ability, which avoiding harm to others. I have strong internal principals which lead me in a quest for knowledge about any situation life gives me. I am adaptable and change easily according to information that I receive, and I value freedom highly, especially the freedom to feel and to do as I feel best.
Did you have a different value system at earlier points in your life? If so, which one?
During my important years of development, through most of my twenties, my primary value system’s color was Green. I had strong, dogmatic beliefs in the power of love to heal, and in the importance of collectivism and cooperation to save the world. In fact, these values were so important to me that I was uninterested in either a career or a job that didn’t promote this beautiful vision of peace and human one-ness. This was a set of values that matched the culture of my birth family and church.
What prompted you to change to a new value system?
Like many young people I ran into a lot of contradictions in what the world is really like. Collectivism became something with frustrating and disappointing results, and I found more energy in developing and acting on my individual inner guidance. Perhaps I became more goal oriented than process oriented. There is not a lot of freedom in a strong social management system, and a longing for freedom awakened in me. In fact, during my earlier thirties I identified with freedom as one of my highest values.
There were some exterior situations involved with my changes. I became a small business activist, associating entrepreneurial freedom with the better world I wanted. Also, I was living in a small town and participating in a close-knit church, where social collectivism was strong. Inner balance required some more individualistic thinking, as well as the necessity to accept co-existing contradictions.
Which of the six conditions for change did you experience?
Of the six conditions (potential, solutions, dissonance, insight, barriers and consolidation) needed for change, I most identify with potential, dissonance and insight in my own transition from Green to Yellow. I believe I was open to change at the time, giving me the potential for change. In fact, I desired change and development within myself. I intuited that dissonance was a condition for change, and I repetitively left my comfort zone during this time of transition, moving with my family for short term jobs in Japan, New York, and Wales, and surrounded myself with complex relationships and projects. All these things were effective growth-producing turbulence. The third condition for change that I experienced was insight. During this transition, I was practicing inner disciplines such as meditation and hypnotherapy. There were times I experienced visions, both guided and spontaneous which gave me insight to my life. These visions helped me to understand why the changes in me were happening and gave me clarity of purpose.
Describe the value systems on either side of your value system. Do you ever draw on these value systems when facing leadership or organizational challenges?
I do draw on of the colors on either side of me during challenges. In the Profiling Values System test, my highest score was Yellow, with Green as a close second, followed by Turquoise and fourthly, Orange. Green is on one side of my Yellow value system, and the Turquoise value system flanks me on the other side of the scale. I find myself drawing from Turquoise when I am influenced by the new age movement, such as in my Reiki work. As a Christian, I sometimes have strong reactions against the relativism of these values and I long for the Green influence of what I see as Christ’s message. However, I feel a stong attraction to the Turquoise way of thinking, and I can reconcile my ideas of Christ’s atonement in Turquoise.
Curiously, it was Orange impulses that helped me to transition from Green to Yellow, and still affect me as I reach toward Turquoise. I also identify with Purple, especially in religious or Reiki contexts when I am dealing with the spirit world. I recognize the layers within me, just as different chakras shine clearly in different contacts, yet the Yellow remains dominant, and I act out of it most comfortably.
Do you see yourself as open, closed or arrested? Provide evidence.
This wide use of different value systems points to an open mindset that is ready for evolution. I hope that I do have openness to change and development in my value systems. I think that I consider change inevitable. Certainly I have recently gone through a lot of turbulence in my life and come out changed by the disruptions. Due to the beta/gamma conditions of my life right now, I am also experiencing some symptoms of a closed state of transition. I have blocked off some of my openness to close friends and my spouse, and I sometimes feel the shell of fear/protection around me. Slowly, as I strive for more security and balance in my life, these conditions are subsiding. I am trying to be open-minded to new hope and meaning in my life, even as I mourn some losses of innocence.
Discuss how your value system gives you guidance when facing a difficult leadership or organizational challenge.
My Yellow value system gives me guidance during this time by allowing me to continue the flow of self-expression, which also allows continued growth and self-knowledge. My Yellow self exudes self-confidence and empowerment while allowing complexity and contradictions in myself and others. This is the key to forgiveness of the past, and a release of fear about the future. I have let go of some ideas about the nature of love, yet I have glimpses of a larger picture in which love may be greater that my original ideal.
If you were to function as a Spiral Wizard in your organization, what would you pay attention to?
I believe that it is no accident that all of the organizations I am involved with seem to match me in a Yellow set of values. I will use ICIM as a case study in being a Spiral Wizard. To transform ICIM into Turquoise would require more focus on a higher consciousness, more spirituality, less materialism and more care for the earth. Unfortunately, ICIM is dealing with a situation of political threat that is keeping us closed to change. Many of our doctors have been persecuted for their alternative medical practices; much of our energy becomes focused on defense and justification. As a Spiral Wizard, my challenge would be to help the organization transcend their political reality and focus inward.
How do you assess the health of the spiral in your organization?
Ultimately, all positions on the spiral are healthy, as long as they are open and moving in growth. Healing from experiences that close us off is a high priority. Being open to using all value systems that fit the situation is also a healthy sign that the spiral is helping us integrate our responses, our development and our current reality.

References
Taken from writings on the ideas of Clare W. Graves.