I am just returning to email. Thank you for your eloquent thoughts. In the past 14 days I've had the unbelievable privilege to open space 6 times, use other forms of facilitation 3 times, and offer a practice workshop in working with open space technology.
I've been processing all the way through, and am grounding in family as things still "cook". I am very appreciative of the genuine contact whole person process facilitation techniques, and Birgitt's application of them. I am also appreciative of building a relationship with the techniques so that they become more of an art. I believe many of us have used transfer-in processes naturally for some time -- telling a joke to get everyone to laugh, having music play softly in the background and then turn it up for everyone to "tune in" to. I once had a room all set up, went to the bathroom, and upon my return I stumbled across the door jam into the room -- successfully gaining everyone's attention <grin>! I have watched and read the dialogue on cultural norms with interest. I am finding more and more acceptance of getting in touch with ourselves and each other. And at the same time, I am also finding my practice in sitting with people in despair expanding. It may have something to do with Sept. 11th in this part of the world. We have been so privileged. Yet even in North America Sept. 11th affected many groups differently. People I work with in "inner city" communities did not feel the effects of Sept. 11th as many did. These people already touched deeply the vulnerability of every day life -- never knowing if loved ones would return home or not. We constantly look for "comfort" in our lives. I watched a telecast of President Bush as he tried to completely deny that Americans are vulnerable. Yet it is my belief that our acknowledgement of our vulnerability will save our planet. We are willing to see children go hungry in our streets, to see whole countries die of Aids and starvation. And I ask myself how I participate in that. My practice of sitting with others in despair, is to hold the space for them to give voice to that deep emotion. My daily practice is to ask myself the question, "where can I disappear in the process"? I explore deeply the distinction between fixing, helping, and serving. In moving through some pain myself I could not find anyone who would just sit with me. No judging or fixing or trying to take away the pain, just go there with me -- as horrible as it might be. And the more I attempted to accommodate others by going to their place of trying to fix my pain (so they could feel comfortable) rather than taking them to mine, not wanting them to suffer -- the more I perpetuated the emotional scars of silence. I needed to know that someone could sit with me and experience my life -- not judge it, not change it. This practice can take us to absolutely horrible places -- I sit with a woman and her son who have arrived in Eastern Canada from Bosnia who has held her silence for years, a young woman who just returned from Israel and needs to speak of what she saw, a young man from a local community who watched a woman set another woman on fire as her daughter watched..... We can bear witness -- just listen without trying to come up with a solution. When we tell our stories, we begin to heal before the conversation is even over. We don't help anyone by trying to protect them by not sharing our own stories. For me this is part of the power of OST. It is why I "practice" holding space, why I check in with myself during an OST event to see if I'm fulfilling my needs or the needs of the group. It is why I disappear and stay open to sense when to reappear in the process. Why I develop a relationship to each component of the process. Last week I opened space for three people -- something I would not have thought could be successful, and I grinned as I remembered Chris C. opening space for no one and every one!! It is why I hold space for others to tell their stories to each other. I believe that in authentic conversation change occurs before the end of the conversation. Especially in conversations with ourselves! Right now I am in a conversation with myself to find the work that calls me to my courage. OST has been a part of that. I am very grateful for this community. with love and in peace, Judi Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills. Catherine of Siena (14th century) Judith Richardson www.ponoconsultants.com * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html