Relationships – the energy and information shared between people – create habitual ways of being in the world through patterns of interaction. Styles of communication and ways of relating are passed on from one generation to another. These patterns occur within people, between people, between groups, and between people and the more-than-human world, or the earth itself.
Mindsight is a term that refers to the ability to see and respect the inner world of ourselves and others. This ability can also be referred to as mentalising, or reflecting on mental and emotional life. Empathy and compassion are central to this process in which we become ‘psychologically minded’, or ‘mind-minded’. As we grow and develop, around the third or fourth year, we acquire the capacity for ‘theory of mind’ – where we can sense the significance and meaning of the subjective world of the other person.