What do you do while your holding space?

[Joelle Lyons Everett]

Ralph--

My list would look a lot like yours.   I have taken walks and naps, looked 
out the window, written bad poetry, typed a list of session titles, felt myself 
holding space, watched what was going on, occasionally slip into a session in 
a "listening only" mode, picked up coffee cups, tracked down abandoned flip 
charts, thought about why this works, critiqued my opening, answered or refused 
to answer questions.   I sometimes confer with the caterers, find missing 
supplies, or tend to a need for more heat or fresh air in the meeting room.  I've 
never talked on the phone or gassed my car.   I have occasionally stopped 
people from taking down posters "because the session is over" or rearranging the 
wall to suit their particular desires.   I drink lots of water and coffee, and 
eat when I am hungry so I don't get fuzzy in the brain.

This week, I was glad for all the practice in holding space, as several 
people in my extended family found themselves in crisis situations and needed 
someone to hold space while they figured out how to deal with the crisis.   There 
are a lot of situations that need someone to just stay present, and not jump 
right to problem-solving, and I was grateful for the hours I have spent in 
meeting rooms doing just that.

Joelle



*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20070107/7763396a/attachment-0016.htm>