Author: Tenneson Woolf

Another helpful gathering last night supporting a monthly rhythm of meeting in local circle on applied practice of participative leadership.

Last night the group was hosted by Glen Brown. Our work together was creating ideas for a day of re-imagining a summer youth camp. Glen will be working with several people in November to rethink what camp is, center on the core purpose, tell stories of appreciation, inquire together how the needs of camp have changed, and a few other juicy approaches. We supported him and each other in exploring key aspects of the invitation for that planning group, some design, and some questions that are important to ask.

I loved being with this group. We are a growing group of friends in practice together. I loved the feeling of meeting in circle and feeling an added level of insight that seems to happen more keenly in a well-held process. I love the way that thinking about someone else’s project often sparks many insights for the projects others of us are working on. Nice work Glen.

Our next Practitioners Circle will be October 21st (third Thursday evening, 7:00 – 9:00).

-Godwits Festival today: amazing birds that breed in Alaska, fly 7,500 miles nonstop, no food, and winter in New Zealand. That’s a journey!
-At Ambrosia Cafe on a rainy day in Richmond. With Glen Lauder, Phil Barker talking Roger Hamilton and values.
-Enjoying Christina Baldwin’s “The Seven Whispers” (http://peerspirit.com/books-thesevenwhispers.html) and Mount Arthur near Richmond.
-Meeting today with Waimea Inlet community about trusteeship – what is possible? What is needed?

Twitter: TennesonWoolf

Some beautiful words and framing from Glen Lauder while we were together this week. I can’t really count the number of great discoveries I experienced this week with Glen and Phil Barker in the Waimea community gatherings we shared. It is what happens in the space of friendship, wellness, and deliberate learning.

“What are our “compassion practices” as community members?

I notice my response is in four breaths .

1. Empathy. To notice their fears. In fact, I feel deeply the fears of each, as a visceral pain. My brother is hurting.

2. Equanimity. Can I find my centre. There is nothing wrong. The rain is falling gently outside. It is morning. This is a world of people who have many feelings, many thoughts. Like a waterfall. Can I bring my close attention to see the tiny droplets rather than imagine an overwhelming river. Can I un-join the dots?

3. Compassion. We are not alone. We are not powerless. The “offending party” is not evil personified, not all-powerful in the face of our powerlessness. Let me bring compassion to him who is hurting, him who feels like the “offender”, and to myself. I am a surfer in the joyous waves of life, not a struggler in the overwhelming waves of fear. Life is “game on”.

4. Courage. Do I have the courage to go “up” in consciousness? Am I willing to start with wholeness rather than taking a position? Am I willing to turn to each other? Am I willing to go further – to invite them all into one room? Am I willing to love fiercely, stand strongly, to endure and persevere?

I can see why fear persists in the world. If I am not getting to my “compassion gym” each week, each day, I don’t have the muscle to do the hard work of community.”

Thanks Glen — there is much wisdom and heart here that I can see in your day to day practice.

New Zealand colleague and friend Glen Lauder just shared this with me — a map of what’s working relevant to the recent earthquake in Christchurch. Everything from welfare centers and portable toilets to free wi-fi hot spots and food retailers. It is a google map that anyone can add to and that anyone can access on the web.

Nobody was killed in this earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter Scale — a bright spot. Yet, there was extensive damage to buildings, property, old homes. Schools closed immediately. There was no public transportation. Many homes were without power and water (sample video; also aerial footage from The Press). There was much that wasn’t working. Aftershock and aftershock arrived. When I checked, after five days there had been over 300 aftershocks (timelapse video of strength, time, depth, location). And handful of those were themselves above 5 on the Richter Scale. As you might imagine, there was a lot of anxiety and stress. It was the headline that most New Zealanders were paying attention too.

With so much “not working,” one of the things I liked about this map is that it was an offering of what “is working.” Immediately useful. And for those of us using Appreciative Inquiry and other appreciative approaches, you can see the immediate attention to shifting energy. There is always something working. A long held tenet in this that I share is, “what we give our attention to grows.” It was so refreshing even to see the heading, “What’s Working” amidst so much that wasn’t.

Another thing I liked about it was that this was offered by a man living in Wellington, David Knight, who just wanted to help. He was a fellow citizen standing up to offer what he could. No assignment. Just moving quickly with what he could. This is the way that it is in self-organizing systems working with emergence. People working from a shared identity (in this case the identity of New Zealander, made immediately clear in the trauma of earthquake) to offer what they can (a map of what is working, help) that serves that identity (helps protect, strengthen). It is an order arising amidst chaos.

So much to learn in this about self-organization. And much about resilience.