Keepin' Busy

Fri Jan 13 10:24:32 PST 2006

Hello all - my name is Maria Carpenter Ort. I live in the Phoenix, AZ area. 
At Christine's suggestion, I've been lurking on the listserv for about a 
month and have found it an inspiring and enriching resource. I was trained 
in OST a few years ago by Michael Hermann and BJ in Phoenix. I opened a few 
small spaces and loved what emerged from it. Then, thanks to Christine and 
Claudia, I had the opportunity to participate in the design prep and 
delivery of the huge OS for the Girl Scouts. That preparation led to an 
opportunity to meet and talk with Michael Pannwitz about OST in large groups 
when he participated in the TOP Training in Phoenix.
Taking the time to lurk has made me aware that OS is so much more than a 
process or technology, it is a way of being in the world. What a gift! The 
listserv is offering me an opportunity to re-examine and reframe my 
perception of OST.

Christine, I have too have been experiencing an open space/time to recharge 
and reflect on where I want to take my practice and life in the years to 
come. The space opened, client activity required minimal attention and the 
internal chatter diminished - opening new space and places for me to enter.

I look forward to participating in listserv discussions and meeting many of 
you in the years to come. Maria

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christine Whitney Sanchez" <milagro27 at cox.net>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: Keepin' Busy

> Thanks for sharing your scrubbed up letter, Harrison.  I have just sent a
> similar epistle to a client focusing on the perception that there is not
> enough time to open the space.  I have often wondered about this 
> time/space
> issue.  Are they really one in the same?
>
> I've finally broken the surface after swimming up from the bottom of the 
> flu
> river that hit our family over the holidays.  I'm not recommending this as 
> a
> first choice for a spiritual retreat, but being so sick did have the 
> effect
> of quieting my mind and giving me the experience of living beyond time.  I
> wasn't able to do any of my "normal" stuff and therefore, I could not
> distract myself in any of my favorite ways.   And, I can't explain this -
> during my absence, there was very little activity of any kind that needed 
> my
> regular attention.  So, as I've resurfaced, I'm not at all "behind."  I've
> also had this experience when I was working out of the country.  How does
> that work?  A shorthand description might be that this is how it works in
> open space/open time.  Another, more shamanistic take may be that our
> ordinary experience of time and space is altered when second attention 
> takes
> over.
>
> Harrison, you said >>The hard lesson of Open Space (and I think life as
> well) is that firm attachment to specific outcomes is usually disastrous.
> When you don't get what you expected the temptation is to think that you
> achieved nothing at all.<<  I would add to that that when we DO get what 
> we
> want, then we think we are "right."  One of the most compelling aspects of
> Open Space (one that I've been challenged to describe well to my clients) 
> is
> the way it shifts the power from individual egos to collective wisdom on
> behalf of something larger than oneself.  As one of the volunteers on the
> Girl Scout project said, "As I look back on the past month, I think of all
> the wonderful days that went by when you led each of us to slowly and
> deliberately give up little pieces of who we are to people we didn't even
> know to enable the Movement to move forward in new directions it never
> thought of before."
>
> Harrison, as always, I am so grateful for your insight and
> courage/stubbornness in walking the talk and sharing your stories along 
> the
> way.
>
> Christine
>
> Christine Whitney Sanchez
> KAIROS Alliance Inc.
> 2717 E. Mountain Sky Avenue
> Phoenix, AZ  85048
> 480.759.0262
> www.kairosalliance.com <http://www.kairosalliance.com>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harrison
> Owen
> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 9:11 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Re: Keepin' Busy
>
> Hey Folks -- I wasn't just giving a report of current activities (I am 
> alive
> and breathing). I was also hoping to spark a little conversation about 
> such
> things as -- when do you give up on the sales pitch and push the client to
> the wall in terms of intentions and degrees of freedom? And what are our
> obligations to the client and the participants? And to our selves?
>
> Harrison
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland 20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute
> www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
> archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harrison
> Owen
> Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 10:22 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Keepin' Busy
>
> I guess I fibbed a wee bit. Yes I am working on a book (or the book is
> working on me) - and there are a few other things coming down as well. I
> have also been working with a really neat organization which is seeking to
> open some space in a very critical area. And they are more than a little
> worried about really opening space. We have been going on and on until I
> felt constrained to send the following message. I share it here because I
> thought it might be of interest. As I was writing this about 5 this 
> morning
> I thought fondly of Lisa and her speech about "only the highly evolved..."
> But I didn't think that would work in this case. Needless to say I have
> scrubbed all the identifying details.
>
> Dear XXXX -- I am glad that you still think Open Space is the way to go --
> but I must confess that I am having some reservations. These reservations
> have nothing to do with the capacity of Open Space enable this group, or
> indeed any group, to engage in meaningful conversation and come to useful
> conclusions. The issue for me is two fold -- First, Do the sponsors feel
> sufficiently trusting and supportive to let the process run? There will be
> moments of high tension, and experience has shown that the people 
> themselves
> can and will handle it all by themselves. The bottom line is that I just 
> let
> it go. Once underway, we are gone, and there is no place for intervention,
> mid-course correction, the conference management committee doing a
> re-design. It is all up to the people.
>
> My second area of concern is whether or not what I might call "competing
> interests" create conditions that are, to some real extent, antithetical 
> to
> real Open Space. I am thinking particularly of the Press. I clearly
> understand the need for press coverage -- just to get the word out. The
> problem is that deep conversations can rarely be reduced to sound-bites.
> Even worse, deep conversations which are only partially concluded are even
> less susceptible to being sound-bites. I think it is quite possible that 
> we
> will reach the end of the first day in Open Space and there is nothing to
> report -- or at least nothing that anybody wants to report. It is equally
> possible that we will reach the end of the conference in the same 
> condition.
> Several thousand years (well almost) of understandings, misunderstandings,
> ignorance, misperceptions, to say nothing of mis-trust and anger will not 
> be
> resolved in three days. We can make a good effort, and things may well 
> move
> along much further than we have any right to expect -- but expectations of
> any sort can be very problematical. The hard lesson of Open Space (and I
> think life as well) is that firm attachment to specific outcomes is 
> usually
> disastrous. When you don't get what you expected the temptation is to 
> think
> that you achieved nothing at all. And if the expectation is that by the 
> end
> we will have a neatly tied up body of conclusions combined with action
> plans, all of which may be "briefed" to the Press, I think that is quite
> unlikely. Possible for sure -- but unlikely. And should any of this occur
> (or actually NOT Occur) the press will leave frustrated and might well
> report total failure. The fact that subtle, but important movement took
> place in the building of relationships, the definitions of issues and
> opportunities for future conversations (but not immediate resolution) will
> escape them because they were not part of the conversations. That would 
> not
> be, I would judge, a desirable outcome.
>
> An even worse scenario would be if we were to drive the whole conference
> towards a final, definitive document with neat conclusions, 
> recommendations
> and actions. That would effectively shut the space down, and the only way 
> to
> assure such an outcome would be to have all of the conclusions,
> recommendations and actions defined in advance. Obviously there are 
> multiple
> international conferences that do just that. Such conferences have the
> advantage of meeting expectations and maintaining the semblance of 
> control.
> But that is not open space (or Open Space).
>
> The crux of the matter, I think, is that everybody (certainly the 
> organizing
> body) must be willing to exist in that wonderful Great Cloud of Unknowing.
> Something for sure will happen, but there is absolutely no way to predict 
> or
> assure what that "something" might be. Personally, I have always found 
> that
> the "something" we didn't expect was so much better than what was 
> predicted
> as to make everything worth while. But you can never tell in advance.
>
> I have written at such length because I think it is absolutely critical 
> that
> all the responsible parties are totally clear about what we are getting 
> into
> -- which paradoxically is that we really don't have a clue, and certainly 
> no
> guarantees. Hope, desires for sure -- but we will not know what is 
> achieved
> until it has happened, and even then we may not be too sure.
>
> Personally, I also want to make sure that nobody mistakes me for a 
> salesman
> or even an advocate for Open Space. I am delighted to share my experience
> and pleased to offer my services, but the choice on how to proceed is not
> mine to make. Truth to tell, I guess I am an advocate, not for Open Space
> Technology -- but rather for the people and their capacity to make sense 
> out
> of the confusing and progress out of difficulty. But you can never tell 
> how
> it will all work out.
>
> Harrison
>
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland   20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
> <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>
>
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website
> www.ho-image.com
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
> Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
> <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html>
>
>
>
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