A milieu is the unique, ever-shifting configuration of information flows, people, and ideas that you are exposed to and that, in turn, shape you.
It is visualized as a directed graph (Graph theory) where its nodes are its people, objects, and ideas and the connections between them.
Unlike the word “culture”, as anthropologists use when talking about “French culture” or “Balinese culture”, a milieu is not a monolithic thing. Your milieu is not the same as your sister’s. It is an ever-shifting, individual configuration of information flows. The Twitter feed you have curated is a milieu. Your friend group (which is not the same as the friend groups of the other people in that group!) is a milieu. - Henrik Karlsson
Your milieu shapes Agency—the tools, people, and ideas you’re exposed to determine what actions feel possible and what paths seem available. This relationship works both ways: your volitional choices about which information flows to engage with actively construct your milieu.
The concept of convivial tools becomes relevant here—tools that preserve human autonomy allow you to shape your milieu rather than being passively shaped by it. When tools cross the creative threshold, they replace active curation with passive consumption, diminishing your capacity to construct a milieu that serves your flourishing.
Practices like Self-anthropology help reveal the patterns within your current milieu, making visible the information flows and connections that might otherwise remain unconscious. Similarly, Unfolding with Context describes the process of letting your life and work emerge from iterative attention to your milieu—paying attention to what makes you feel alive, what frustrates you, and gradually adjusting your environment.