A practice of perception, not performance
When things feel chaotic, we tend to speed up. Seek answers. Reach for certainty. In complex systems, though, the most skilful move is often the opposite… slowing down to sense what’s actually here.
A few years ago, I spent time in the Kimberleys with indigenous elder, Kankawa Nagarra. Kankawa spoke a lot about embodied knowing —the wisdom that comes not from our heads, but from the felt sense in our bodies and our hearts (or our Liyan). She reminded me that we have many ways of knowing: through our senses, our emotions, our relationships, and our connection with place. Modern culture keeps us stuck in our heads, cut off from these sources of wisdom. But to meet the challenges of our times, I feel we need to grow our sensing capacity — to better perceive what is present, and what is possible.
Kanawa Nagarra, Anne Poelina, and Amanda Wooltorton describe this regenerative worldview in relation to Rinyi, Pirlirr, and Liyan. These concepts point to ways of seeing, feeling, and hearing the world through attunement with Country — a reminder that perception is not just cognitive but relational, ecological, and deeply embodied. It’s about being in right relation with the living systems we are part of.
Our bodies speak to us all of the time. I explore this concept in my writing on Nervous System Literacy. We have often under-utilised sensing capacity available to us. We’ve all had moments where something feels off, in a conversation, or a team dynamic, or in a project or a system we’re part of. But we often ignore it. We move forward anyway. Later, we acknowledge, “I knew something wasn’t right.”
That knowing, that quiet nudge from somewhere deeper is our sensemaking.
What is Sensemaking?
Sensemaking is how we orient to the world. It’s how we gather information, name what matters, and navigate complexity.
It is not only cognitive. It is relational, emotional and embodied. Our perception is shaped by data and dialogue, but also by the state of our nervous system, our histories, our identities, and our roles in the systems we are part of.
Thinking about this through a nervous system lens, when we’re regulated, our perception widens. We notice nuance. We listen more deeply. When we’re dysregulated — overwhelmed, reactive, shut down — our perception narrows. We slip into protective patterns, fast action, appeasement, defence, collapse.
In other words: how we feel shapes what we see.
One way we can practise our sensemaking is through the 5 Lenses for Sensing, a simple tool to help individuals, leaders, facilitators, and teams notice more of what is present.
The five lenses are:
Thoughts – cognitive meaning-making, stories, interpretations, and meaning I make.
Embodied sensations – what you feel in your body, posture, or breath
Emotions – what feelings and moods are present in the moment
Inner knowing – intuitive images, metaphors, or symbols that arise
Energy – the quality of the atmosphere, vitality or sense of flow in the space
Using these lenses invites us to listen with more than our ears. It helps us expand our awareness and widen our perception to include the subtle signals that shape how systems move and change.
Free Resource:
Want to try this yourself? We’ve created a simple guide, The 5 Lenses of Sensing, to help you practise listening with more than your ears. This tool was first presented at the 2023 Transitions Conference hosted at UTS.
This practical tool will support you to notice through different lenses and strengthen your awareness in daily conversations and complex systems.
Why it matters now
In a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, our capacity to make sense together is critical.
Without it, we default to a façade of certainty. We fix symptoms instead of sensing patterns. We recycle the familiar instead of listening for what is emerging.
In their book on System Sensing, Luea Ritter and Nancy Zamierowski write:
“Systems sensing is not a method for control. It is an embodied and emergent process of perception… a relational and intuitive field of knowing.”
Sensemaking isn’t only about what you see — it’s about how the system sees itself. As Otto Scharmer points out,
“Leadership is a distributed or collective capacity in a system. It’s the capacity of the whole system to sense and actualize the future that wants to emerge.”
Indigenous worldviews such as Rinyi, Pirlirr, Liyan remind us that this capacity for sensing is not new, but ancient. It is carried in language, practice, and relationship with Country. To build regenerative futures, we need to re-member these ways of knowing and being alongside contemporary approaches.
This kind of knowing cannot be downloaded or rushed. It must be practised.
When we practise sensing together, we lean into our collective intelligence and invite what wants to emerge.
Practising Sensemaking
This is why Vivien Sung and I created the Inside-Out Innovation Dojo — a monthly practice space for leaders, facilitators, and change-makers to rehearse the inner capacities required for transformation.
We begin not with action plans, but with perception:
Noticing patterns in the system
Listening for what’s missing
Attuning to our own and others’ signals
Learning to pause before reacting
Trusting body-based and collective intelligence
This isn’t soft. It’s strategic.
Sensemaking is one of the most underdeveloped skills in modern leadership and one of the most needed in our increasingly complex times.
From awareness to innovation
We cannot innovate in a vacuum. We cannot lead wisely if we can’t feel what’s happening.
So we practise:
Regulating our systems
Reconnecting with what’s alive
Reflecting with others
Returning to presence, again and again
This is what the Dojo offers: a space to build the muscles of clarity, collaboration, and system sensing, so we can meet complexity with more care and creativity.
Want to practise with us?
Our next Inside-out Innovation Dojo is on
Wed, Oct 1, 2025 • 9:00–10:30am AEST
Theme: System Sensing in Complexity
Come as you are. Leave more connected — to yourself, your work, and what matters most.
