Causal loops are cyclical chains of events in a system which interconnect and interact with each other. One event impacts another, which impacts another, and so on. Their interconnectedness and feedback loops between cycles can make it difficult to comprehend or control the system.
Some feedback loops amplify an effect and tend to cause instability in the system, like the gain on a microphone, while others dampen an effect and tend to help the system maintain equilibrium, like the controls on a thermostat.
A causal loop diagram can help you make sense of how the cycles in a system interact to create complex effects.
What are the amplifying, destabilizing loops in your life? What are the dampening, stabilizing loops? How do they interact and interconnect? Can you diagram the causal loops?
See also: Flywheel, Virtuous cycle, Doom loop, Cycle, Pendulum, Snowball effect.
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