Wellness Without Walls, Creating Healthy Communities

In the beginning of evolving Wellness Without Walls, there was total chaos in my attempt to synthesize whole health into my work.  Chaos theory, fortunately, was introduced to me through the work of Tom Peters over 25 years ago.  I was creating a comprehensive residential rehab for battered women and children where recidivism was high.   What was needed was both another way to break the cycle of family violence, and heal it.

People often resist change because it is messy and chaotic.  However, here it is twenty-five plus years later and I'm creating a comprehensive approach to healthcare.  The process is the same only with more complex systems, but not more complex than when I was working to build United Methodist Churches back in the late 70's and early 80's.  Back then my brilliant McDonnell Douglas engineers would say something like, "When things aren't going well, we've had to resist the temptation to fall back to the perceived safety for our old, rigid, structures.  But we know that the growth, the creativity, the opening up, the energy improves only if we hold ourselves at the edge of chaos."  These executives were genius for certain.

This would have started my compelling call to create community from the edge and I'm still doing it today.  Why, because once we become clear about 'the call' there is a Self, capital (S) that gets in motion.  Within the motion, is a need to find meaning and there is a desire to have our life be the message of that meaning.  Living systems thrive on the stability and chaos.  Too much chaos and it can't take root and grow, too much order, it atrophies and dies.

In creating health communities we focus on LifeLong Learning, Authentic Lifestyles, Integrating the meaning of our Life as our Message.  You are invited to experiment with us on these three principles: you try on a new approach, ask questions, learn, and see what happens with who you become.  Fritjof Capra, author, physicis writes, "A Living system is a learning system."  If we are serious about creating a future worth living, we need to get serious about what we are learning.