Harvest — Open Space Technology Workshop

Last Saturday, through the Salt Lake Center for Engaging Community, I offered a half-day workshop on Open Space Technology with our local community. I wondered if four hours would be enough to get a helpful taste of learning about OST and of experiencing OST. It was. Quite remarkably delicious actually.

We moved our way from Welcome to Check-in. There was an immediate deepening and group appreciation as people shared stories of why they choose to come. I offered a few resource books — some of Harrison Owen’s books (Wave Rider, and Expanding Our Now), but also others that help set a broader context for using OST (Peggy Holman – Engaging Emergence; Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea – The Circle Way; Roger Lewin — Complexity; Margaret Wheatley – Turning to One Another, and A Simpler Way; Paulo Coelho – Life; Fritjof Capra, David Steindl-Rast – Belonging to the Universe). We moved our way into a one-round experience of OST just 25 minutes — Why talk? Of course we talked about the 4 Principles, the Law of Mobility, and Passion / Responsibility. I loved the feedback from this short round and harvest, offered by Erin Gilmore — “25 minutes; 100 gems.”

The harvest was in the form of simple Haiku:

From the group, “How do you deal with problems like negativity taking over?”

Feel it. Don’t fix it.
What I’m afraid of controls me.
Not swayed by crazy.

It vibrates from me.
What is the practice here now?
Open to deep space.

From the group, “How do we include the heart in our talk?”

Heart is present when
it is lov’d and unveiled.
Spirit feeling open.

And from the group, “…even when others don’t see the value?”

Unite and conquer.
Honoring the old and new.
Speaking our shared truths.

After a short break, we spent 45 minutes teaching and telling stories on a few basics to help each of us in our practice. 1) Preparation and Invitation, 2) Needed Physical Set-Up, 3) Beginning and Open Space, 4) Principles, The Law of Mobility, Passion & Responsibility, 5) The Host’s Job, and 6) Harvesting.

And then a checkout asking people to name a bit of  how the learning today changes what they do.

All in all, a great half day. A reminder to me of the power of the process, even when done in a very short time frame.

Harvest — Salt Lake September Practitioner Group

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).

Compassion Practices

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.

Tweets of the Week

-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

Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

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In My Nature
is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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