Let’s help systems tell the truth

My brain is fascinated by systems. How different parts work together to move an entity toward better health and love.

I’ve made a living at this kind of work inside faith communities for a couple decades now. I’ve learned to read the moving parts, patterns, and emotions of a large group of people. Together, we’ve surfaced the fear that hums underneath and made space to process so the system has spaciousness to intentionally discern their next adventure. 

In many communities, I’ve watched as that process reorganizes the system around energy, possibility, and trust. When the people in a system learn the embodied practice of gently journeying into their fear, it’s beautiful to see what unfolds.

I help systems tell the truth about all that’s underneath. 

As an autistic human, I see and sense what’s underneath that people don’t want to acknowledge. 

Because I chose (and am still choosing) to venture deeply into my own fear and resistance, I’m not afraid of anything a system might name. Let’s go. 

Fear is just love trying to find it’s way home.

I keep noticing that people sense when someone isn’t afraid of what could surface. Having a companion who walks with us into the hard parts of our story is profound. I’ve had many who’ve done that with me. It’s an honor to walk with others as they tell the truth with big courage.

As I slowly ease through my transition from walking with local churches to now journeying with The Gentle Way, I’m noticing I’m taking this entire systems skillset with me. 

I get to work with high-masking late-diagnosed neurodivergent women who are seeking to understand their many internal systems at work. They’ve had to suppress big parts of themselves to not just function, but to attempt passing all the tests of our neurotypical-designed culture.

They’ve gotten quite skilled at silencing that inner whisper that things are not what they seem on the outside. 

Similar to large systems of people, an individual’s nervous system holds many similarities. There are moving parts and patterns that figured out how to protect vulnerable emotions. I get to work with their inner systems to gently listen to the fear that’s hiding underneath it all. 

The same release that happens in systems happens in individuals too. Slowly deepening trust, boundaries, and gentle truth-telling creates a kind of spaciousness that felt rare before.

We get to watch an individual’s system reorganize itself around more internal safety and trust. Then this lovely human gets more space to intentionally craft a life that shimmers in connection with their deepest knowings.

I help humans tell the truth about all that’s underneath.

Just as my complex autistic brain can see what’s inside a system, I’m able to build a trust connection with people’s fear. 

Fear wants to be heard.

Acknowledged.

Believed.

Felt.

Seen.

May it be so. 

Questions

• Where do you notice “fear humming underneath” in your own life—and how have you learned to respond to it?
• What parts of your internal system have been silenced in order to appear “okay” or successful to others?
• How might your life shift if you treated fear not as something to avoid, but as something asking to be heard?
• Who has walked with you into the hard parts of your story—and what would it look like to offer that kind of presence to yourself or someone else now?