confessions of a space invader

[Lisa Heft]

Julie, Julie, Julie - you are incredible.

Even with all the bruising and bumping about by circumstances you could
not control, you see the spirit and goodness in it all:

"And still... I'm glad we did it.  It was a new and interesting
experience for all of us.  The problem was named.  The intentions were
good.  People talked.  We all did the best we could with what we knew at
the time.  Thinking back on it, it feels good to me.   I like the energy
of movement and engagement, even when it feels more like stumbling than
gliding.   I just like the fact that we were all in the room together,
trying."

Okay so now you know some things you would do differently.  And boy you
got the full experiential learning on those so you're never going to
forget 'em.

And yes, in hindsight, you and we could all say those things which we'd
pick out as the ones to prepare for, fix, require, adjust for.

My cognitive thinking says knowing there's high conflict already I would
have said it couldn't be done in so short a time so try another method.
That I want to be involved in all the planning, from food to room to
participants, to know about all things that might affect the OS.  That
if it was for / about youth I would have wanted youth planners.  And
blah blah blah.  "Woulda, shoulda, coulda" as they say. (for you English
as a second language speakers, that means spending time focusing on what
you would have done, should have done, could have done...rather than on
what has happened and what now can happen).

My intuition says that hey, maybe it all happened perfectly, with no
mistakes at all.  That it was important for you to be a lightning rod
for anger to act as some sort of catalyst - the outside element to
provide some fusion, some focal point for the organization.    That you
were the right person for the job, because your pure intention brought
to that situation just the right elements of breathing and holding space
to let out some really toxic junk.

So maybe what happened was the only thing that could have...

And by the way, in my experience, food has *never* been a distraction;
more like a lubrication for the process...

So congratulations on being a formidable 'chaos pilot' (to borrow the
name of a Danish consulting firm) and for believing and breathing and
walking forward into the unknown.  Again.  You inspire us all.

Warmly,

Lisa



L i s a   H e f t
Consultant, facilitator, educator
O p e n i n g  S p a c e
2325 Oregon
Berkeley, California
94705-1106   USA
(+01) 510 548-8449
lisaheft at pacbell.net
www.openspaceworld.com

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