We are not machines. We are living systems. While we tend to define ourselves with metaphors such as "working like a well-oiled machine," machine metaphors frame our challenges and opportunities inaccurately. The realty is that while machines die and stop working, the world is alive and always at work. The reality is that all living systems are regenerative. In turn, an understanding of regeneration offers us a paradigm for apprehending our best potential. Carol Sanford, and the Regenerative Business Alliance, has been working on how we can learn from nature to build more humane systems. Here’s a primer of seven foundational First Principles. Video: The Regenerative Paradigm, Seven First Principles