Author: Tenneson Woolf

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Stories of Doing from Art of Hosting Participants

With intent to support friendship, I will occasionally ask friends and participants from the Art of Hosting a question like this: I’m also wondering what is alive in you from the AoH experience that impacts what you do now? Wanna play for a bit?

Tisha
Safe Horizon — Streetwork Project
Kirkridge 2007 Participant

Well, let’s see…I hosted my first World Cafe along w/ my two co-workers Karon & Mirka which I think was a real success, despite my nervousness! I’ve also been able to use some of the tecniques I learned w/ the adolesents I work w/… I make them hold circle when we’re having groups… One of the things I luv most is the impact it’s had on my co-workers, they have been very open minded and willing to learn something new!

Gwen
Kirkridge 2007 Participant

What from the AoH that I’m using? an Attitude of openness – letting my conversations with people, especially church people, be light, and not having an agenda for them that implies “listen to me.”

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Edge of Art of Hosting

Today I gathered on a phone conference with three AoH mates — Howard from KY, Sharon Joy from FL, and Teresa from WA. Our context was to support Sharon Joy, to create together three possible AoHs over the next year in Tampa. Howard had a few minutes and spoke with richness to his experience as a “caller” of a KY AoH the past September. In the center of our conversation, I noticed several key points that help me to feel more keenly the edge of the Art of Hosting.

– Sharon Joy’s principle to “strike out with intention to then attract in”

– Her observation that AoH creates a learning experience for living systems

– Howard’s clarity that “AoH was a first view of a broader view than any paradigm I know”

Howard went on to speak fo the importance of the “practices.” In particular, 5 Breaths and the Chaordic Path. He also shared his appreciation of Peter Block’s work, sharing that it helps take AoH practices and methods to another operational level of having conversations in another way on Monday morning. I looked quickly for a resource and found “Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community: Changing the Nature of the Conversation.”

I like the question that surfaced about purpose, specific to Howard. Howard was referenced by others as Peter Pan at the Wooded Glen AoH. If a caller has Peter Pan qualities, then what central work is that person or people doing? “Helping them to be in big imagination as community.”

Our conversation continued with richness. Teresa voicing the difference of practice (chaordic path, 5 breaths, 4-fold way, diverge / converge, organizing patterns) — these are somewhat unique to the AoH as a leadership training — and process (circle, world cafe, open space, appreciative inquiry).

I love the clarity as this insight weaves to invitation hosting. Is there something different in the AoH? Yes, of course. The commitment to build leadership as a community capacity. Thus, as ongoing ability.

And this gem — we are learning at the edge how to co-create as fields, to move in the field of relations.
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Resillient Communities Brainstorming

Ben Mates and Craig Caviezel of the Hemingway Foundation hosted a conversation today that I was happy to participate in. They gathered together eight people to continue a dialogue on community resillience. What is resillience? What is a systemic view that helps move the Salt Lake Valley into a healthy and thriving community? It was a group of lovely open thinkers that impressed me for many reasons, including the overall spirit of “what if” questions that were being asked.

I love the clarity that was spoken by Ed Firmage, one of the participants: “So much of our challenge is imagining.” And this clarity from Craig, “You can’t have resillent community without participation.”

Imagine what might change if we were to start with these to statements alone, and then welcome in imagination and processes to awaken imagination and participation.

Looking forward to meeting with this group again in early January to imagine further. I particularly like Ben and Craig’s commitment to working at a level of energy and metaphysics. It shows not only in their language but in their being. This for me is the work of our times that feels so compelling. “Practical metaphysics.” I don’t think I want to end there but it is a good place to start.

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Art of Hosting Research

Today I was able to talk with Jeannel King in San Diego, CA. Jeannel is a friend I met through the Art of Hosting at Wooded Glen in Indiana earlier this fall. She is completing her masters thesis for a degree from Regis University in Denver, CO. Jeannel invited me to provide feedback on her thesis. The real inviation was to be in a learning relationship together. This is what I experienced.

One of the threads from our conversation was about simplicity. How do you speak of the Art of Hosting in a simple way (not easy task to write about this in an academic form) that preserves the energy of the experience and doesn’t just end with “you had to be there.” Jeannel’s clarity was about hosting self, so as to be a resource for others. I heard this as a tuning, an ability to feel into what is happening in ourselves, the group, the space, the field. I liked the question we arrived at — what is the self of the group? What does hosting that look like? Feel like?

I also shared with Jeannel this simple model that good friend Chris Corrigan spoke as a change model. This is the most simple I’ve heard that speaks oodles. Open hearts. Engage conversations. Enable movements. Open hearts. To look through this model at the “things” of an Art of Hosting is helpful for me. Open hearts — participation, cocreation, rest, dreams, meals, play, listening, deep listening, connection to nature…. Engage conversations — methods, silence, structured, unstructured, self, partner, small group, large group…. Enable movement — harvest, convergence, simple clarity, tangible energy.

What if our work was to open hearts?
How would that change our plans?
What would that make available that typically is not?
What could our work also be?

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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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asd
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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asd
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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