Systems have obvious and non-obvious components. Take a family — a family system consists of a head and perhaps offspring. But what else? A family pet would be a component. A house, a car, a couch, you could name many different components of what might make a family. But what else?

The components of the system are not as important as the relationship between each component. The relationship will help determine how the system operates.

For example — let’s say one child in the family goes off to summer camp and will not be staying in the house. Does the family system still exist? Yes. The child’s location has changed but the relationship between other members of the family and the child has not. Therefore, the system can still operate.

Now let’s say a tragedy strikes the family and a parent dies. Does the system persist? I believe yes because the relationship between the parent and the other members may not materially change. In fact, the surviving family members may want to hold the departed closer to them hanging on to their memory.

Thinking about systems this way, I wonder how many systems we exist in? And I wonder how well we know the quality of our relationship between us and the other components of those systems?

It’s never the trees, and it’s not quite the forest, it’s about the relationships of each item that make the forest.