The circle was walked.
Space more visible.
In lieu of a nap
neighborhood walked.
Upon return,
work underway
Still breathing.
Picked up cups.
Topics on a wiki page
for something to do.
Nothing more
to be done.
Feel it.
Smile.
Recently I was having a conversation with someone (can’t remember who) when “intention” came up. I told this person I’d send a link to this photo. Seems like this is the best I can do for now (click the image to make larger).
Have you ever met someone for the first time and felt you’d known them forever? I had an experience like that this past weekend meeting Karen. Here’s a post of hers from February about presense that describes very much how I experienced her, and me with her. Karen and I had a really great phone call today about my last post, and through her questions, I decided that what I’m really looking for is clarity, from myself and from R.
So I called R and we had a great conversation about, “What do you want?” for each of us.
And the answers have to be honest, recognizing both that our respective wants may not be compatible and that the mere expression of the want is not an ultimatum. The mere incompatibilty does not necessarily result in the breaking of the relationship.
What the heck were we waiting for? Yes, our answers are quite different. Now we ask ourselves a few more questions. How does “What I want” translate into daily life.
Do you have more to add? I see this not as a be-all and end-all list, but as the start of an ongoing process of continually deciding if and how we want to be together.
So thanks very much, Karen! I am more present when with you than I am oftentimes.
Last August I made myself a two-step, 5-year plan to quit my job entirely. Step 1 is to find a way (or ways) to make some money so I can feel confident dropping to part-time at my job (knowing that I might lose it entirely in the discussion process). Step 2 is to use the extra time freed up to continue those passions that also make money from time to time and be able to quit entirely. In the last few months I’ve been feeling more confident about the direction I’m going, having oppotunities come up to gain experience opening space at the o/net July conf and at WikiSym in Denmark in July.
In the last month I wrote my first useful computer program in a long, long, time, which gave me an amazing feeling that this is not simply an intention, I now have evidence that it can be a reality. Sure, no money yet, but no rush, I’ve got 5 years.
And in the last week it became clear that 5 years is too long. Without deliberation, I have now shortened the plan to 3-4 years. Rich Henry suggested a book to me on Wednesday (yesterday) called Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life, by Gregg Levoy. I read the first hundred pages or so on the train this evening.
That’s where I’m at.
From the Principles of Valid Action:
- The Principle of Adaptation
“To go against the evolution of things is to go against yourself.”
Tonight we had a great Breathing In conference call about this principle. Of the seven people, two were completely new to the calls, one hasn’t been around for about a year and one never used to miss calls at all, but she hasn’t been around since about January. Everything just all seemed to come together. We shared expereinces from our lives related to this principle and talked a lot about “Oneness,” how we all are one. If you’d like to join us for our next call, please let me know so we make sure to have enough phone lines set up. June 12th 8pm in Chicago.
I agree with Doug: Your goal is too small.
Julie (Evans) Caldwell and I have been experimenting with different ways of connecting to do personal work in the 19 months since the Giving Conference. We started with open “Inviting Friends and Partners” calls, attempted to add more structure and committment with “Breathing In” calls and are now moving to a new phase, open-ended and open-invitation, with no on-going committment necessary, just the committment to be present during the call should you so desire. We have calls scheduled the 13th and 27th of March. All are welcome. Details at:
BreathingIn
I’m co-convening this event in Portland in February. Save the date and help us plan!
Please join us for RecentChangesCamp 2006 … “Building communities worth having!”
You are reading this Invitation because someone wanted to see you at RecentChangesCamp 2006. RecentChangesCamp is an un-conference hosted for people who want to “build communities worth having” both online and off. We are coming together to make connections, have fun, do as much good work as each and every one of us can … and then go home more connected, energized and capable of building stronger communities. Bring your friends and join a ever growing party!
What: RecentChangesCamp 2006 … Building communities worth having
When: February 3-5, 2006
Where: PortlandOregon
Format: OpenSpace
Five of us showed up in San Diego for WikiSym2005 after more than 20 hours of WikiVanning? down from Portland. During the drive down we convened and documented dozens of breakout sessions on all sorts of topics, from wiki features, to code we’re writing, to how our spirit is fed by wiki and self-organization, and on and on. It literally made meatspace feel as open and accessible as wiki! The WikiVanning? and discussions at WikiSym felt so right that we agreed to convene a wiki BarCamp in PortlandOregon? to provide yet another great space for the community to gather for work and play! We chose the first part of 2006 in order to complement Wikimania2006 and WikiSym2006.
What kinds of community do you dream of?
What do you need to build them?
What skills, resources, gifts and connections do you have to share with other community builders?
What would happen if you could get what you need and contribute what you have?
Come to PortlandOregon and find out!
Be Prepared: We are opening this space for meeting, for learning, for connecting, for writing code … We don’t know what is going to happen. We are imposing no limits, no agendas – only the charge to come and learn and contribute as much as you can. Be prepared to be surprised by the results!
Agenda:
You can add to the agenda any issue of importance to you. It will be discussed and addressed to the greatest extent possible. All of the key points and next steps will be captured, and offered online, so that more good people can be invited into building communities worth having.
Spirit
We invite your presence, onsite and/or online. Please pass this invitation on to others you see leading and doing good work building communities both online and off. We need you to add your spirit to the many many connections that are happening now. Please bring stories of your progress, your skills and insights, and your passion for what can happen next.
Format
This gathering is the product of many actions and connections. This space is an Invitation to make more of them, and more of us, flow more together, to the good. Participants will be smart, caring, creative and connected leaders, coders, organizers, activists and instigators. Beyond this, the space will be wide open for us to make good things happen.
I can’t get the comments to work so I’ll just respond wtih a new post (crossposted on the Open Space Sangha blog and on my personal blog, Humanize the Earth). Tree wrote in
always in open space about only wanting to collaborate with people that constantly aspire to bring forth open space in their daily lives. I’m finding this as well, though didn’t have a way to name what was going on until I read that post.
In my housing co-op, I want those most interested in gardening to do the gardening, and not worry about consulting with those that don’t care so much. Same with creating an organizing scheme for the basement. Hopefully everyone will participate in keeping things organized, but not everyone needs to create the scheme.
I’m strugging in another area, helping a friend with her project. She seems to want to put a lot of structure in place and I’m having a hard time even understanding the purpose, let alone the structure. Maybe I can find more ways to open space in the process. Thanks!
I’m really getting excited about this trip. The WikiSym Conference in Santa Barbara is going to be really cool, even if I’m actually more excited about the journey than the destination.
I’m going to get to stay at Brandon’s house and meet his wife, I’m going to get to meet other Portland folks (haven’t talked with Grimes yet – he’s on my hit list). I’m going to get to spent 4 days on the road with some really cool folks interested in lots of cool stuff, with a plan to hear about each of our passions and see how we can work together going forward. I’m going to get to see cousins in Portland and some cousins once removed! :-)
I was initially worried that I’d have a really hard time plugging myself into an academic-type conference with speakers from the front and all that, after experiencing so much open space. I decided the only thing to do was to take my own personal open space attitude with me and not worry about the format, using the Law of Two Feet liberally, and maybe not attendingn sessions at all if they didnt’ seem to be serving me.
And then a curious thing happened. I went through the conference program in detail and found something I was interested in for every time slot of the conference. Sure, I may still be wrong and need to wander out, but there aren’t any unscheduled blocks for me, and that’s a surprise.
So off I go in two weeks, on a new adventure to the northwest and then southwest and everything in between.
© Copyright 2010 | Humanize the Earth! | All Rights Reserved
Recent Comments