Hello Suzanne! I’m so pleased to have stumbled across your Substack, I have been studying your theories on connection at college and I must say it is fascinating! I am so thankful that you are paving the way for us to look , as a society, into our past at the way we treated children. Societal views of children and their feelings were so perplexing that it makes me uncomfortable looking back, but in order to strive forward we must reflect on where we have been and what we have done. I will be sharing this with my fellow students!
Thank you Deborah. I'm pleased if my observations are helpful to others. I agree this series of pieces highlights uncomfortable insights. That's exactly what I wish it to do, and I'm grateful for every person willing to look. My hope is that if we can look at the uncomfortable past and see what was normalised then that it might help us to see what we normalise now. We harm our children without intending to. We can stop that. Thank you for taking the time to comment and to share my work with others. There is more to come soon. Suzanne
Thank you so very much for this. You've brilliantly expressed something that has been swirling around in my head as I continue to study the impact of individual and intergenerational trauma. One idea you might find interesting is the role of beliefs. I'm constantly in touch with people who believe the elders followed a path we all should follow. So, they are resistant to anything that appears to counter that belief. Kinda interesting how our beliefs affect us. Again, thank you. I'll be tuning in
Richard, Thank you. You've helped to make my day! I've been turning these ideas around in my head for so long. It seemed time to start getting them together and writing about them. Comments like yours inspires me to keep going. I think there is shame attached to the disloyalty of deviating from what our elders did. I think shame lies at the heart of much of the resistance. I'll be exploring that in future pieces. I look forward to future comments from you. Thank you. Suzanne
Thank you, dear Suzanne! Recently, I spoke at a conference and addressed a number of concepts. I decided to build my presentation like that, because information is interesting, but requires a lot of specific detail. If we can understand a couple of concepts, however, we can apply them to any situation where a certain mechanism is active. One of the concepts I spoke about, was 'Uncomfortable Knowledge', based on the article by Steve Rayner (2012). It deals with knowledge that is disruptive for the status quo if you apply it, but will also cause damage if you ignore it, so a Catch-22, a choice between the devil and the deep blue see. It is especially relevant for 'wicked problems' and it often requires 'clumsy solutions', as Rayner argues.
And this is a lecture by Keith Grint on wicked problems and how they are about leadership (something that squarely seems to apply to your issue, Sue; haven't watched it fully yet, but will do, as I'm working on the same matters): https://youtu.be/D59VidtUY3g
"You cannot unsee what you have seen" - very true, indeed, and although not complicated, it is a very complex fact to apply and to find ways for to be at ease with.
Thank you for this endeavour; I will make an effort to follow closely! <3
Marianne - Thank you. This is all fascinating to read and absolutely overlaps with what I am trying to tackle. Thank you for sending these. I will read closely. Happy New Year. S
I am so happy that someone is brave enough to document all the ugliness that has been done to children and yp in Scotland and look forward to leaning into this horrendous topic. My Fierce Curiosity is piqued.
Hello Suzanne! I’m so pleased to have stumbled across your Substack, I have been studying your theories on connection at college and I must say it is fascinating! I am so thankful that you are paving the way for us to look , as a society, into our past at the way we treated children. Societal views of children and their feelings were so perplexing that it makes me uncomfortable looking back, but in order to strive forward we must reflect on where we have been and what we have done. I will be sharing this with my fellow students!
Thank you Deborah. I'm pleased if my observations are helpful to others. I agree this series of pieces highlights uncomfortable insights. That's exactly what I wish it to do, and I'm grateful for every person willing to look. My hope is that if we can look at the uncomfortable past and see what was normalised then that it might help us to see what we normalise now. We harm our children without intending to. We can stop that. Thank you for taking the time to comment and to share my work with others. There is more to come soon. Suzanne
Thank you so very much for this. You've brilliantly expressed something that has been swirling around in my head as I continue to study the impact of individual and intergenerational trauma. One idea you might find interesting is the role of beliefs. I'm constantly in touch with people who believe the elders followed a path we all should follow. So, they are resistant to anything that appears to counter that belief. Kinda interesting how our beliefs affect us. Again, thank you. I'll be tuning in
Richard, Thank you. You've helped to make my day! I've been turning these ideas around in my head for so long. It seemed time to start getting them together and writing about them. Comments like yours inspires me to keep going. I think there is shame attached to the disloyalty of deviating from what our elders did. I think shame lies at the heart of much of the resistance. I'll be exploring that in future pieces. I look forward to future comments from you. Thank you. Suzanne
Thank you, dear Suzanne! Recently, I spoke at a conference and addressed a number of concepts. I decided to build my presentation like that, because information is interesting, but requires a lot of specific detail. If we can understand a couple of concepts, however, we can apply them to any situation where a certain mechanism is active. One of the concepts I spoke about, was 'Uncomfortable Knowledge', based on the article by Steve Rayner (2012). It deals with knowledge that is disruptive for the status quo if you apply it, but will also cause damage if you ignore it, so a Catch-22, a choice between the devil and the deep blue see. It is especially relevant for 'wicked problems' and it often requires 'clumsy solutions', as Rayner argues.
This is the link to Steve's article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03085147.2011.637335
This is a seemingly interesting article about wicked problems and clumsy solutions that I wanna read further myself: http://leadershipforchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Keith-Grint-Wicked-Problems-handout.pdf
And this is a lecture by Keith Grint on wicked problems and how they are about leadership (something that squarely seems to apply to your issue, Sue; haven't watched it fully yet, but will do, as I'm working on the same matters): https://youtu.be/D59VidtUY3g
"You cannot unsee what you have seen" - very true, indeed, and although not complicated, it is a very complex fact to apply and to find ways for to be at ease with.
Thank you for this endeavour; I will make an effort to follow closely! <3
Marianne - Thank you. This is all fascinating to read and absolutely overlaps with what I am trying to tackle. Thank you for sending these. I will read closely. Happy New Year. S
I am so happy that someone is brave enough to document all the ugliness that has been done to children and yp in Scotland and look forward to leaning into this horrendous topic. My Fierce Curiosity is piqued.
Scott, Thank you. Your enthusiasm inspires me. I love your willingness to use words like 'ugly', because so many people shy away from that. Suzanne