Introduction

[Dylene Cymraes]

To all:

My name is Dylene Cymraes--I am currently living in Maryland, but may be
relocating to central NY this summer to continue building a project I have
worked on for the last few years.

For those of you who have responded already, and those of you who have asked
for more information, I figured it was time I introduced myself.  I kind of
came in the back door on this list, thanks to the kindness of Peg Holman--so
here goes!

I am the founder of a non-profit organization called Community at the
Crossroads (CATC).  The goal of CATC is to create a Greenhouse of Dreams for
women who have survived a major life crisis--and in the crisis, have used up
most of their resources.  As we understand through OS, crisis (and chaos) are
the places at which someone or something either falls apart completely, or
re-organizes at a higher level.  It is an interesting paradox that people
tend to make life changing decisions after getting through a life
crisis--death of a spouse, divorce, career redirection--and at this
threshold, may choose to re-awaken old dreams of becoming.

The down side of the paradox is that most of their resources--material,
emotional, financial, spiritual--have been used up in the survival of the
crisis.

The ultimate goal of CATC is to provide a healing environment to help women
unleash their own human potential--using Open Space as a philosophy, a tool,
and a way of communicating.  We are working on an Open Space conference to
actually pull the pieces together to build the program and take it into
reality, instead of just an idea.  This is all coming in the wake of losing
my business partner a month ago, to breast cancer--it was her belief that her
cancer was largely due to un-healed issues in her life.  By helping women
heal and find their passions, we hope to create a dynamic model for living.

The plans for CATC include a retreat facility for Open Space events and other
training, to provide a partial revenue base for the actual CATC program.

For those interested, I will include the mission statement in a separate
post, so this one will not be so long.

I have been a trainer, facilitator, writer, career counselor and
jill-of-all-trades--I was a military spouse for 15 years (hence the patchwork
of experience).  I have experienced three open space events--and feel that I
have finally found a place for my feet with it.  In all the years of
facilitation, I have never felt so much at home as I have in Open Space.

I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Dylene
Maryland