Category: General Learning

I think of “ambient” as a term that references the state of the surrounding environment. I think of “ambient music” to connote what is playing in the background. It has a soothing or relaxing quality as a descriptor. I think of “ambient lighting” as a kind of diffused lighting. It’s not one brilliant lamp. It is the light that permeates the room, blends with other lights, and even bends round corners to integrate spaces.

Thanks Kinde Nebeker for naming “ambient togetherness” in a phone call yesterday. Our context was talking about relationships and a quality of being together. The comfort of being in the same room with another, yet at the same time not really needing to say or do anything. The ambient quality is just there adding to the overall experience. Like the music. Like the bending light.

Shifting now to my profession as a facilitator of many layers of human engagement, “ambient togetherness” strikes me as being immediately appetizing and helpful. I spend much of my time trying to create the conditions for groups of people to be in meaningful dialogue and connection together. Sometimes that is arranging a physical space with chairs in a circle or at small tables. Sometimes that is in the deliberate sequencing of important questions that I will ask them to explore. And sometimes, that is in the deliberate kind of emptiness, or pauses that I will invite people to dwell in.

In the best of that work, I believe that people feel a deep appreciation for a shared experience. Some might call it the “spirit” of the work. Some might call it the “energetic field” of the group together. Either work. Maybe this “ambient togetherness” too. It is the sensation of ease in being together, the letting down of guards, the freeing of inhibitions to simply be working well together and thinking well together. It is the aha sensation of feeling that being part of the group is feeding a stronger experience individually and collectively. The magic. The special sauce. That which makes the work that we do, really satisfying. Or even, oh my, the OKness of not doing or saying anything together — just knowing that it is good.

Permeates the room. Blends together. Integrates spaces. Yup, imagine ambient togetherness as a core aspect of strategy. I like it.

 

One of the things that I love about living in Utah is that I have access to some very open spaces. Places to hike. To roam. To find some quiet. To be in a different kind of time.

This picture is one of those places for me. It was from early September, up Dry Canyon in Lindon, and along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail towards Provo Canyon. Yes, this is dry. It is an area to be careful with. Long, dry grasses at this time of year. This is looking south towards Provo and a little blurry bit of Utah Lake.

It was particularly fun for me this day, a hike with my daughter Zoe, our last before she would leave for a study abroad program.

 

• Seattle Friends – Check this workshop with Meg Wheatley, 9/26-28, on Hope and Freedom. http://www.nalandawest.org/events/meg-wheatley-avoiding-the-ambush-of-hope/ …
• For those working with homeless issues, Andrew Heben’s Tent City Urbanism is a helpful read. http://www.tentcityurbanism.com  Thx @tomatlee.
• Check this STIA Webinar with Meg Wheatley on silence, compliance, brave action, and the human spirit. http://stiatemenos.com/webinars/ 
• I’ve posted a few short videos on The Circle Way, featuring Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea. Use as inspired. http://tennesonwoolf.com/the-circle-way/ .
• Jerry Granelli #ALIA2014 on Practise: “Nice try. Try again.”
• Dan Siegel at #ALIA2014: “A healthy mind is an integrated mind. Presence is the portal to integration.” An idea still sticking with me
• “No amount of the finite is enough to compensate for the loss of the infinite.” Charles Eisenstein at #ALIA2014
• Strong article featuring Utah climate activist Tim DeChristopher: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-power-of-story/boomers-failed-us-america-s-most-creative-climate-criminal-anger-love?utm_source=YTW&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=20140530 …
• Enjoying Mary Oliver poetry. This about Bob Dylan.”Anything worth thinking about is worth singing about.”

I like this paragraph from Bill Plotkin’s book Soulcraft. I used it to close a two-day team retreat that I was hosting last week.

“The gift you carry for others is not an attempt to save the world but to fully belong to it. It’s not possible to save the world by trying to save it. You need to find what is genuinely yours to offer the world before you can make it a better place. Discovering your unique gift to bring to your community is your greatest opportunity and challenge. The offering of that gift, your true self, is the most you can do to love and serve the world. And, it is all the world needs.”