Tenneson Woolf • Tenneson Woolf

June 12, 2011

Tweets of the Weeks

In my morning writing. Realizing this. If I’m still in my pyjamas at noon, I’m likely having a very productive day.
In writing practice, enjoying letting the words write me.
Friend, Tim Merry reflecting on the work of core teams: to accelerate learning is to accelerate innovation.
Berkana’s annual report. A good sense of the journey, intentions, core messaging, and some fantastic friends. http://bit.ly/ijyhM4
Thanks to friend Tatiana for “intuition as immediate apprehension, through multi-sensory awareness and intelle… (cont) http://deck.ly/~22Zuc
RT @benjaminaaron: creating and protecting space for silence, emptiness and emergence is an active act – & … http://tmi.me/brv8F
Moonlit sky. Crickets chirping. Gentle swing in a hammock. Good rest after three full and beautiful days hosting UCC Regional Conference.
RT @katiaroha: 8 non-War Metaphors for building a better future from the future-shaping http://t.co/xO5ha3k. Adding Berkana’s host, not hero

June 2, 2011

It was a gift to meet earlier this week with my friend and colleague, Sandra Erickson. Sandra is Principal of Braemar, a school in support of young, unwed mothers in Edmonton, Alberta (and forty years ago, it was another format, my elementary school). We met in her office. Over a cup of tea. To check-in. To reconnect in friendship. To be curious together. To share stories of our work and lives.

Sandra asked me a question that I’ve been sitting with since. “What do you notice is different when you come back and work with people?” Sandra was a participant in an Art of Hosting training that I co-lead in early 2010. At one level she was asking about follow-up with participants and their organizations.

I spoke some of the hope and the experience that I know. “My hope is that there is a change in leadership culture. That there is a shift toward more authenticity. A welcome of the things that we don’t know. An instinct that when we don’t know, or when we have problems, or when we have dreams, or when we want to imagine together, that we know in our guts to turn to one another. That we lean into all of the bits of “I don’t know but we do.” It is an instinct and memory to touch more of the essence of what is invoked into reality from the perspective of “we.”

There are so many levels from which to speak this. Holism is one. My hope is that people, all of us, come to taste more of that holism and work from that world view. Thankfully, in post-industrialism, many are coming to remember this and other world views that revision separate and together.

It was good to share this with Sandra. It surprised me a bit. And I welcomed it. It was an expression beyond the traditional outcomes of training. In this case, learning participative methodologies or social methodologies. The part that I really want is for all of us to reclaim the instinct to turn to one another. Not because it is nice. Or even kind. Yes, I appreciate these. But mostly, because it is brilliant. Helps us to be in our brilliance. I’m aware of how that may not sound like much — remember to turn to one another — yet, to have that imprinted in any culture, from teachers with unwed mothers at Braemar to other forms of community work, to leadership teams in all sectors — that’s significant.

Thanks Sandra. A gift of time and tea together.

June 1, 2011

Tweets of the Weeks

The scientific paradigm itself is subjective. Quantum creates a bridge to connect old science objective to new science alchemy.
When did pilots get so young?
On my way to Edmonton. Seeing grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles. Colleagues, friends too.
Good time last night reminiscing with Meg about early days of Berkana and Self-Organizing Systems seminars and people we met.
What I like about modern medicine is that it is here. What I don’t like is the business model that over schedules. Good for docs.
Working with planning team for upcoming UCC conference. Checking meeting space. Improving design for hosting 175 over 2 days.
Learning about “stabilizing initiation” thanks to my friend Jeraldene. Stillness welcomed. “Just is” to.
Sunny afternoon in Utah County. Time to set up the hammock with Zoe.