Human to Human

Christina Baldwin wrote a book called StoryCatcher. It is a delightful read reflecting so much of the depth of her life. It is a delightful invitation to notice the power — learning, relationships, pathway to action — that can show up in listening to and mining our stories.

Three days ago I met with fellow board members from the Salt Lake Center for Engaging Community. Eight of us gathered. We told stories. At one level it was an invitation to checkin — say a bit of what is alive for you. This board is not a traditional board. It is more of an incubator kind of group. We share our work. We develop our friendships. We ask for help from each other. Our checkin was half of the meeting.

It was in our storytelling that I found a deep, rich harvest, again. What could so easily be dismissed as “long checkin” was for me heart of the work. I listened. I mapped. And from that listening, tagged some of the core themes. For us working with engagement in community, there was much learning there. Much about our current noticings and practices of building thriving community. A bit of this is below.

Values
– there was Jim from the Integrated Health Network sharing his work with soldiers returning from duty, integrating with their families. He spoke of the power of healing that is internal, helping to mirror this to the soldiers. He also spoke with a few tears welling of how the marines are so hungry for this kind of help.
– there was Ben from the Hemingway Foundation telling a story of this challenged economy and how it is shifting employment for many people. “We are the authors of our lives.” And he continued to speak of his desire to work in the natural cycles of life, as happens in nature.
– there was Jane building on Ben, sharing her commitment to living in balance on the earth. She shared some of her awakening and strong sense that many are awakening and remembering.

Invitation
– Jim again speaking of his reaching out to soldiers. He speaks it with such heart. Reaching out is a simple principle.
– there was Martha, a long-time educator and leader of the Three Rs program describing how there is less divisiveness in the state now. The simple invitation to have coffee together between people of different religious affiliations.
– similarly, there was Randy of the Foundation for Intereligious Diplomacy sharing research he read on the impact of having dinner together. The invitation to just focus with each other for a bit of time in the day to support well-being.
– there was John of the CEC sharing some of his excitement in a Call to Civic Discourse in Utah, sharing the core practice of good citizenship — talking to each other.

Practice
– I am very much paying attention to simple steps of daily practice. Not grand designs. Just simple daily practices and calling myself and others to such attention.

Projects
– John spoke further of demonstration projects for 2009, working with the legislature and community groups

Vision
– there was Sonya, a cofounder of a local charter school reflecting on her enrollment. I could see and feel as she spoke the love that she feels for the kids and families that are part of her school. She asked, “what will be like in our next 10 years?”
– and Randy speaking further about relationships between ethics, intelligence, and distance.

Choice
– Jane speaking further on the choice of how to seed community, exploring arts programs.

Resourcesfullness
– Sonya reflecting further on her school. “We do the best we could with the money we have.”
– John’s invitation to media groups and state legislaters in civic discourse

Values, Invitation, Practice, Projects, Vision, Choice, Resourcefullness — for me, all rich principles of healthy community, noticed in telling stories, embedded in heartful honesty. Not brainstorming. Just showing up, telling stories, mining.

A couple of weeks ago I watched my colleague and friend John Kesler honored for a lifetime of commitment to community engagement. He was awarded the Civic, Character and Service Award at the 5^th annual Dialogue on Democracy event in Salt Lake City. This was a grand event sponsored by the Utah Coalition for Civic, Character, and Service Learning, and attended by over 500 people including many state political and educational leaders. John’s list of groups, committees, and organizations that he supports, and in many cases, chairs, is lengthy. It makes me wonder again if he ever sleeps.

I love John’s fierce commitment to engagement. I’ve seen it many times in our shared work through the Salt Lake Center for Engaging Community. Seeing him honored, and seeing many friends at this event who are also committed to dialogue and engagement, had me reflecting on a few anchors in John’s fierceness — anchors that are teachers for me. .

One of those anchors is translocal learning communities, communities of place that act locally while connecting regionally and learning globally. The SLCEC is a budding example. Our local action includes “Creating a Culture of Connection” in which we are supporting dialogues on creating welcome. This work includes local school districts, neighborhood community councils, university students, and community immigrants. I don’t know to what level this initiative will become a translocal learning community, but I love the starting points that we are at and how this is inspiring many.

Another anchor is the cross-fertilizing among people of similar interest and imagination. One example of this through our center is a recent Sustainability Summit. At this half-day event, 85 people from various organizations in the Salt Lake valley gathered to explore possibilities that make a difference – from greening business to expanded local gardens. Our format very much invited participants to share their work and to imagine collaborations that might help – simple cross-fertilizing of ideas.

I appreciate John for his steady focus on the community – the tending to the whole – while at the same time supporting the action of the individual. It is a leadership that is so needed, and one of the qualities that many see in John. I am grateful to learn with him about keeping my eyes and heart open to the global, while at the same time, keeping my feet firmly committed in the local.

John spoke it well and with deep passion as he announced a statewide call for improved civic discourse in Utah. “Now is the time. It is the time for discourse. It is the time for inclusivity. It is the time to stand up.”

A gorgeous piece here from David Isaacs of The World Cafe Foundation. I love the sense of channeling that David offers here, with such deep purpose and vision of human cafes all over the world, changing the world and changing us along the way.

David:
When I came across this piece that came through me 11 years ago, I thought it might be value to you.

In A Place Called Home

In a far away place that seems a lot like a place called Home,

there lives a small voice who speaks softly and calmly.

It says: Awaken and Stand Up and Listen!!!

Listen to the breath of the surf lapping at the shore of your soul.

Notice its’ continuous ebb and flow….

Reflect your attention on it in the same way that the moon and sun touch its surface.

Allow it to wash over you, caress you, provide nourishment and courage

to breathe, to walk, to embrace its’ patterns of being.

In this place called Home look around again and listen again with the surf’s rhythm in the background of your awareness.

The voice speaks again:

Go forth and seek other beings who have questions
and invite them to sit with you by your hearth
Then breathe all of your questions into the fire
Allowing those few with deepest meaning to emerge
and honor them as sacred words
and allow them to enter your collective heart
and let them be there in Peace and Quiet.

Until again a new question emerges in your midst
which you may trust is one that is shared in other places
all over the Earth.
In this manner your question is mirrored by other listeners
and you may now remember into the conciousness
that these sacred questions have brought to light
in this place called Home.

This place called Home is like a cafe
where the community comes together to share
their ideas, insights, challenges, opportunities
and, of necessity, their deepest questions.

This Home Cafe has brothers & sisters coming together in countless spaces & places
The communities of Home Cafes are a World Cafe
where all conversations and questions are united
in common cause to common creativity.

In this way humanity is awakening to the nature of Home
and seeks its way forward to that memory of the future
in which we remember our connection to life
to coming Home to our community of Peace.

Poem offered through David Isaacs -Autumn 1997 – Tomales Bay, California

The 5 ‘Breaths’ of Design

When we notice the diamond, we can see that it forms the basis for entire projects. This map shows five diamonds linked together, each one leading to another. These five diamonds represent five major stages in project design. In practice it feels like these are breaths, each one leading to the next.

Birth of the callers – The first breath is the birth of the callers. When a person or group is inspired to create a project, the calling breath happens. The callers come together and decide whether or not to act on the sense of things. If there is a need to go ahead, the callers often form the core team for the project and hold the intention all the way through.

Creating the ground – If the project moves ahead, the next stage is to create the ground of principles, process and people. In this breath, the chaordic stepping stones can be used to help guide the planning for the rest of the process.

Giving form and structure – The third breath is the active design of the project, be it a meeting, an initiative or a whole new organization. In this breath the core team designs what is needed and begins the invitation process.

Conversation – It is finally in the fourth breath that stakeholders come together and begin to work. This breath might be one meeting or a years-long engagement. This is the meat of the work.

Practice – As the project becomes a way of life, the core team might start to fall away and the legacy is released to the community. Founders leave, new leaders emerge and the original project’s intent is met. From here, a whole new breath can begin, and the cycle continues.