Human to Human

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More Powerful Questions

Hosting friend and colleague Toke Moeller just sent these out. They represent incredible clarity that invite a deeper consciousness as we engage in partipative work. I see these as questions to really invite a shared sense of deep purpose and commitment from those who might steward an action.

Toke has them in beautiful form. Asked from the I perspective here. And from the we perspective here.

Question at the center…
Why will I serve the common good in all?

Question to the north…
What am I ready to let go of and what am I ready to contribute to be part of a healthy and thriving community?

Question to the east…
What could I also be?

Question to the south…
What have I forgotten about being a neighbour?

Question to the west…
How will I organize myself to act wisely and ethically in service of the common good?

Question to heaven…
Who do I serve?

Question to earth…
How may I be kind today?

These relate to questions we asked of a health care system, some of which I blogged here.

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The Turtle — Mary Oliver

The Turtle

 

breaks from the blue-black

skin of the water, dragging her shell

with its mossy scutes

across the shallows and through the rushes

and over the mudflats, to the uprise,

to the yellow sand,

to dig with her ungainly feet

a nest, and hunker there spewing

her white eggs down

into the darkness, and you think

of her patience, her fortitude,

her determination to complete

what she was born to do—-

and then you realize a greater thing—-

she doesn’t consider

what she was born to do.

She’s only filled

with an old blind wish.

It isn’t even hers but came to her

in the rain or the soft wind

which is a gate through which her life keeps walking.

She can’t see

herself apart from the rest of the world

or the world from what she must do

every spring.

Crawling up the high hill,

luminous under the sand that has packed against her skin,

she doesn’t dream

she knows

she is a part of the pond she lives in,

the tall trees are her children,

the birds that swim above her

are tied to her by an unbreakable string.
~ Mary Oliver ~(Dream Work)
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Art of Hosting — Seeing Brilliance

From colleague and hosting mate, Tim Merry…

Last year Jon Guilbert, a documentary film maker joined us at the Shire for the Stewards gathering. He had taken part in the Boston AoH and was excited to explore a documentary around the AoH – following my story and relationships as a way to make the web of people and work visible. Check out the 6 minute film made from the gathering at the Shire.

It’s beautiful. Includes some of my dearest friends and hosting colleagues. It offers one voice on this body of work called the Art of Hosting and Convening Conversations.

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SLCEC — Workshops

Salt Lake Center for Engaging Community
2009 Calendar of Events and Workshops

SLCEC trainings are meant to enrich and build leadership capacity and to foster healthy vibrant communities in the Salt Lake Valley and beyond. These workshops support growth and change in our friends, team members, our communities and ourselves by offering methods for facilitating open dialog, community engagement and transformation.

January 22, 2009
Community Transformation: An Introduction to the Integral Approach
7:00 pm – 9:30 pm, Wasatch Retreat & Conference Center (75 S 200 E, SLC)
John Kesler

February 7, 2009
Sustainability Summit Stewards Group
2:00 – 5:30 pm, SLC Main Library, Room L-1

February 19, 2009
Conversational Leadership Workshop: The World Cafe — Creating a Culture of Connection
7:00 pm – 9:30 pm, Wasatch Retreat & Conference Center (75 S, 200 E, SLC)
Kathy Lung, Tenneson Woolf

February 28, 2009
Creating Community Through Virtue Meditations
1:00 – 4:30 pm, Wasatch Retreat & Conference Center (75 S, 200 E, SLC)
John Kesler

March 19, 2009
Five Levels of Civil Conversation: How to Increase the Quality of Group Decision-making and Dispute Resolution
7:00 pm – 9:30 pm, Wasatch Retreat & Conference Center
John Kesler

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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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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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