Some of the journey shared through tweets of the last couple of weeks. I’m finding it quite helpful to tweet -- a level of attending to life through expression of snippets. I’m also finding twitter a helpful way of staying in touch, with the life stream of people, events, news.

- School for Hackers -- Perhaps all in new paradigms are hackers (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/10/school-for-hackers/8218/

- On simplicity, from an NPR radio program on the ukulele: "An orchestra can tell you stories. But an ukulele tells the truth." :)

- “@benjaminaaron: "queepening" = the process of deepening into a question through questions instead of seeking answers”

- Also readying for Art of Hosting in Arnprior, Ontario, near Ottawa (http://berkana.org/pdf/AoHOntarioOct2010.pdf). Join us.

- Preparing for upcoming work with labour educators in the Canadian Labour Congress (http://www.box.net/shared/1tjs2sc97l)

- Just walked 2.5 miles on Heritage Trail. From a townhome I just agreed to buy, to the Shoreline Trail in the Uinta Forest. Still and quiet.

- Jackie Wright (Red Cross) on Art of Hosting: "the process enriched my personal and professional life and bring clarity to my path."

- Meg Wheatley 3 minute video (http://www.vimeo.com/12939130) -- "Life seeks order but uses messy processes to get there." Yes!

Twitter: TennesonWoolf

One of the books I’m perusing these days, and finding particularly helpful, is Peggy Holman’s Engaging Emergence. It is good to know Peggy well enough to see her face and hear her voice when reading the words. I can feel the gift of her experience coming forward nicely in this book.

In particular, I’m appreciating some of her early framing. All beneath the umbrella of “emergence,” I can hear Peggy offers some simple invitations:

1. To notice the relationship between complexity and breakthrough. She talks about how many of today’s challenges are complex -- in nations, organizations, teams, communities, and families. It’s natural to invite people together to do something about these challenges. But here is the rub -- doing so can make it more complex! Peggy has a nice way of inviting the breakthrough that can arrive in that complex group of people. It is well-framed to notice that without the complexity, we may never get to the new solutions we so need.

1. To give focus to what I would call “our job” as we engage emergence. First, embrace the mystery. Second, follow life energy. And third, choose possibility. These help add to ways I’ve been naming “our job” with clients and people in systems. I often speak it as “surrender to surprise,” or “follow the spark of yes,” and as my colleague Teresa Posakony often says, “live at the scale of our dreams.”

1. To welcome the benefits of emergence. This is particularly helpful as I think about people and clients I know that are considering participative ways of working and learning. People want to be effective. There is often a worry / doubt / fear that engaging emergence won’t yield enough result. Here’s Peggy’s description of five benefits that feel like gifts in any system.
• Individuals are stretched and refreshed.
• New and unlikely partnerships form.
• Breakthrough projects surface.
• Community is strengthened.
• The culture begins to change.

Thanks Peggy. Well-framed for inviting and doing great work. Well-framed for helping to shift the culture and paradigm of leadership.

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.

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).

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.

- 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

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.

It is a courageous and insightful group of people that chooses to gather for four days of learning together. Learning in conversation. In stories, remembering out loud. In inquiry, asking challenging questions together. In action, inspired by a collaboration and broadened thinking.
I remember five core threads of intention that were spoken by participants prior to arriving. These helped our design team of Martin Siesta, Deb Fischer, Dick Wagner, Mary Sullivan, Teresa Posakony, and myself shape the meta-design for our time together.
1. Deeper Conversations -- About money. About integration into a higher life. About conversation itself and the way it can be used. About that which is beyond fear, scarcity, and limits.
2. Next Level Work -- About women clients. About graduate curriculums. About post peak-oil realities. About a different world view.
3. Holding Good Meetings -- Whether as chapter presidents or in working with families. Exploring how to do good virtual meetings. Education programs, and meetings in classrooms.
4. Practical Application -- In work. In learning more about the power of story. About what is available in the Art of Hosting as an architecture for strategy. About practices to change in the financial planning profession.
5. Friendship -- Appreciation for the unique opportunity to be with friends, colleagues. To be wise and intelligent together in the unique space of four days together.
Each of these intentions were addressed in one form or another in our time to meet in the Colorado Rockies of Estes Park. We met in the formats of World Cafe, Circle, Open Space Technology, and ProAction Cafe. As always, we set broad intentions to shape the whole of the time together and then followed the path of emergence and adaptation -- working with money metaphors, music, dance, presencing with the land, telling stories.
A bit of the harvest is below, an offering to get a glimpse of the good work done by these people. And of the good beginnings that will no doubt, feed further good beginnings.

Invitation
Facebook Group (Thanks Dana, Marty)
Landscape Map
- Start here for 1 / 7 photos
- Start here for 1 / 2 groupings)
Photos
Day 2 Daily News (Thanks Teresa)
Day 3 Daily News (Thanks Teresa)
Day 2 Open Space Harvest Photos, Notes
Day 3 OS Nazrudin Harvest Photos
Aha Moments (Thanks Dottie -- Start here for 1 / 10 Handwritten AHA Interviews)
ProAction Cafe Projects Harvest (Thanks Teresa)
Closing Circle Dialogue Poem Harvest -- The Gift of This Time

It was a gift to meet yesterday with two participants from New Zealand’s Land and Water forum. A beautiful spring day in Christchurch, New Zealand. When I was in New Zealand a year ago, my friend and colleague, Glen Lauder, was helping to shape a years worth of dialogue ahead. Fantastic to come back and hear of what had happened.

David Perenara-O’Connell, General Manager of Ngai Tahu Tribal Interests was one who shared stories. A lovely man with whom I felt quickly at ease. Hamish Cuthbert, a Sustainability and Resource Policy Manger was another. A man that I sense has deep commitment in him, and a similar ease in meeting.

The Land and Water forum is at the point of having learned well together, having asked many questions together among a group of 25 or so -- all things related to water in New Zealand. For a year. What changes are needed? What needs to be preserved? Deeper relationships to water in this place? Use by industry to support a thriving local and national economy? It is visionary work both in content and in process.

I asked the two of them what some of their learning and appreciation was. A bit of that follows, and in that spirit of translocal learning, good stories to carry to inspire other groups and communities working on water issues.

- these are the beginnings of bigger reforms
- an increase in understanding, relationship, shared values, and a compatabiiity in those values
- the ability to overcome issues and great gulfs by being together
- respect for and appreciation of indigenous view

They had great questions that they were asking at this transition point. After meeting for a year, a significant report is now going forward to the Minister, after which broader public comment will be requested. How do we continue forward, supporting the spirit of how this was created? We talked a little about the importance of a core team of trustees, or working in the spirit of trusteeship to hold the whole (I know that Glen has been doing much helpful work with many on this -- the calling out of the elder in the next generation of leaders and the deeper levels of letting go). The importance of agreements to return back too. And how they might invite the public process in a deliberate way -- perhaps cafes rather than speeches).

As we were wrapping up, I loved Hamish’s final clarity about the process of meeting for a year. “It was a bit like a small community. We could support each other. We could call each other out on misbehavings. We were remembering together something that is old in us.”

A gift to hear a year’s worth of change. It helps me to strengthen my patience for this scale of work, the kind of scale that is essential today in so many places.