Cooperation Over Competition

Over the last year Kellee and I have noticed the recurring theme of “cooperation” in the books and conversations we have with people that otherwise would not be connected. It’s weird, right? And yet – there’s great joy in discovering our interconnectedness. It’s possible it could be frequency bias… you learn something new and suddenly see it all over the place. Call it frequency bias, a sign, or the beauty of moving through life with a lens of interpersonal neurobiology, but this sacred journey from competition and scarcity to co-creativity and cooperation alongside other humans and therapists feels meaningful.

A botanist I love emphasizes the cooperative necessity of symbiotic relationships for plant life, and thus human life, to thrive. A renowned cellular biologist recounts the discovery that cellular cooperation is what our survival depends on, not Darwinian concepts (for more on this check out our webinar on epigenetics!) of ‘survival of the fittest.’ Maybe the botanists and the biologists are lending hope to us therapists through greenery and cells.

If our cellular building blocks – and our organ systems that create our living bodies – and the plant life that sustains these bodies – all depend on cooperation – could it be true that the therapy field will thrive when we lean into the beauty of mutuality and reciprocity as well? Without the collective, our cells and our trees and our Self suffers. Mutuality is a vulnerable and glorious essence of our interdependence. I’m sitting with how bringing the felt sense of cooperation, beyond toddler teachings of sharing and caring, could deepen our field in these recent months. 

-Abby