grief work

Wed Mar 11 05:31:46 PDT 2009

thanks to those who sent suggestions of links relating to grief work

Harrison, yes, I'd seen some of your suggestions regarding grief work in earlier books so it's interesting that you've come to the conclusion that grief works itself out in the natural process of Open Space without necessarily having to do special rituals. I guess there have always been and continue to be rituals, like funerals for example, which we can also draw on for inspiration. I haven't yet seen a funeral conducted in a circle, but that might be a great idea!

This is all helpful

Michael

________________________________

From: OSLIST on behalf of Harrison Owen
Sent: Tue 10/03/2009 22:47
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Carol's Op-Ed article on weapons testing in the Wenatchee Daily World -- NOW Grief work and OS

Michael --

Almost 30 years ago it occurred to me that the Griefwork Cycle applies to institutions/organizations just as it does to individuals - which is where it was originally discovered and described. I guess that shouldn't be surprising, for after all -- it is all people. Anyhow, based on that understanding I began to hold Wakes for corporations and other organizations that were passing from the scene. If you are interested you will find a lot of this described in several of my books. 

Later I learned that this was one more thing not to do. All you had to do was open space and the Griefwork cycle just naturally ran if there was a need. Specifically - if you have an organization in major trauma either because it is going out of business or thinks it might invite everybody to sit in a circle. No need to do anything special (as in presenting or facilitating the process). It occurs quite naturally all by itself. The theme will vary with the situation but usually I do something like "What are we going to do with the rest of our lives: Issues and Opportunities?" In short order the people effectively become grief counselors to each other -- and more often than not get well beyond that and start dealing with creating new futures, like business plans, etc.

For a long time I was both amazed and mystified by the depths reached by those grieving people in open space. Particularly since they did it all by themselves and helped each other. I think I now understand what is going on. Open Space is a child of self organization - the natural, ongoing process of the cosmos itself for the last 13.7 billion years. The good news is that life has evolved, but at a cost. It turns out that as self organization happens there are a series of natural concomitants - chaos, conflict, and confusion all of which usually end up with ending or death. Doubtless we might prefer something different - but there it is. Anyhow, I understand Griefwork to be the naturally evolved human response to the process of self-organization. An interesting question is how this process is coded into our collective lives ?? Since it operates everywhere and in a similar fashion it would almost seem to be part of our genetic system.   But that is a puzzle for somebody else. What I do know is that everytime space is opened, self-organization is energized - and the Griefwork process does its job. No help needed.

That is sort of a short tour - and if you want a more extended treatment check out my last book "Wave Rider: Leadership for High Performance in a Self Organizing world." 

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 <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> 

Personal website www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com/>  

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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael Wood
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 9:58 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: [OSLIST] Carol's Op-Ed article on weapons testing in the Wenatchee Daily World

Does anyone have any thoughts about when it is appropriate to run something specific around "grief" before opening a space (compared with just allowing the grief to emerge naturally as part of the Open Space)?

We have a few situations with large lay-offs of workers in mines and factories, some affecting the entire fabric of small rural communities. I was mulling this over with my friend Brendan McKeaguea and we were thinking about what kinds of spaces might be needed in such situations when, in the first few weeks, the rage is so pronounced and people are simply not yet ready to move forward?  

How might "grief work" be best facilitated in such situations? Has anyone used any particular process for collective grief work AND/OR used Open Space to help process this kind of grief?

Michael Wood

Western Australia 

________________________________

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harrison Owen
Sent: Friday, 6 March 2009 11:44 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Carol's Op-Ed article on weapons testing in the Wenatchee Daily World

Opening space for the news to break out is a marvelous idea, and definitely could put community news media in a new mode of being. In the northeast of the USA we have a great enterprise called Villagesoup. It started as a (www.villagesoup.com <http://www.villagesoup.com/> ) online news outlet and with most of the content generated from the community. I am not sure how they finance it, but it has a great deal of support and the idea is definitely spreading. But I have always thought that they could really get double bang for their buck if they were to host what I might call Community Editorial Meetings. That would just be a fancy name for an Open Space for anybody who cared about issues in that community. Standard drill with proceedings - which could then become new content. To be sure you can do all of this online, but as we all know online, good as it is, never quite lives up to f-t-f. It is nice to press the flesh, and great things happen with a hug, etc. 

And in this present moment - otherwise known as financial chaos - it is safe to say that folks are a little bit nervous, one might say fearful. And fear does terrible things to viable community. Folks stay inside, hunker down, stick their thumbs in their mouths, and assume the fetal position and more.  That is what happens when folks experience shock -- the front end of Griefwork. However, as we work our grief, fear can dissipate and new futures manifest. And boy do we need it! And every Open Space provides the opportunity for this essential function (Griefwork) to do its work. And not incidentally, it is one hell of a story. All of a sudden we can see that the media is the message and the message is the media. Not too bad for a day's work. Go for it!

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 <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> 

Personal website www.ho-image.com <http://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> 

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Carol Hiltner
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 10:46 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: [OSLIST] Carol's Op-Ed article on weapons testing in the Wenatchee Daily World

Dear Michael!
That may well happen here -- immediately, in fact. In the course of our conversation about the news business, I invited Rufus to attend the "Leadership in a Self-Organizing World" event that will be in his distribution area in Leavenworth, Washington in May. He was already planning to attend. So, those of you planning to attend might put on your thinking caps now about what "journalism that serves the community" looks like to you; how you would leverage it for the "greater good"; and how it can flourish in the new society we are "self-organizing."
Carol

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 4:17 AM, Michael M Pannwitz <mmpanne at boscop.org> wrote:

Dear Carol,
reading your note about the "World" and "journalism actually serves the community" reminded me of the work our colleague Ingrid Olausson did in Sweden years ago. She was engaged by regional editions of a large Swedish daily to facilitate open space events (with hundreds of participants)on local issues with proceedings posted in the newspaper and followed up by readers writing in.
Greetings from Berlin
mmp

Carol Hiltner wrote:

Hi all!
Major victory! *The Wenatchee World *will publish my Op Ed article about
weapons testing, attached and below.

The *World *was started by my grandfather Rufus Woods back in early 1900s to
provide local and national news to North Central Washington, and is now
published by his namesake, who is my cousin. It is now one of the last
family-owned daily newspapers in America -- one of the last places where
journalism actually serves the community.

In response to my submission and letter, he wrote, "These are indeed
fascinating times - lots of challenges yet amazing opportunities here at the
newspaper. We're in total reinvention mode, getting back to the basics
of *serving
community* and in particularly more completely embracing the notion of
*celebrating
community successes* as a way to lift the conversation out of the morass of
reactivity that is all too often the baseline of discourse."

If you'd like a whiff of nostalgia while supporting a rare and valuable
American treasure, bookmark the link http://wenatcheeworld.com/  I'd like to
see them with a national following.
Best!
Carol

Navy weapons and weather control testing in Washington State

by Carol Hiltner

I received an e-mail last week that caught my attention. It proclaimed that
the U.S. Navy was planning to use the whole northwestern U.S. for military
target practice. *Wait a second,* I thought. *Could this be true? Isn't the
Navy supposed to be defending us? *

Apparently the Navy has prepared the required environmental impact statement
(EIS) that is subject to public comment until March 11th, and this e-mail
outlined the author's questions and concerns.

So I read the e-mail. It was long, and contained a lot of technical
information that I couldn't assess. The author wasn't so concerned that we
would shot at, as she was about the airborne residues of chemicals the Navy
admits are toxic, such as depleted uranium and white phosphorus, that
American citizens would be breathing, eating, and drinking in perpetuity.

Most of the requested target practice area is just off the Washington coast,
from which prevailing winds would carry persistent toxins progressively
further inland. I wondered about the pollution of the orchards and wheat
fields of eastern Washington, the forests and cities of western Washington,
and the immediate impact on our beleaguered fisheries. Could we indeed be
victims of our own defense efforts?

*Democracy in action,* I thought. I have watched the surge of citizen
activism spawned by our presidential elections with hope and some amazement.
I participated when our President-elect asked Americans to choose the
priorities for his administration by voting on the internet.

I was still caught up with the wave of people's empowerment when I got this
e-mail, and I was alarmed about the prospect of the Navy turning its weapons
of war on us, even indirectly. So I glanced at the summary of the 1000-page
EIS, commented via the Navy website, sent messages to my Senators and
Congressman asking them to look into this, and forwarded the original e-mail
to my networks requesting their involvement in protecting the western United
States.

Back through my network came news that Senator Conrad of North Dakota had
responded. His staff determined that, based on what they found in the EIS,
the area under discussion was much smaller than stated, but still worth
watching.

Concerned that I might have responded to a false alarm, but also recognizing
that Senator Conrad's staff might not have found the proverbial needles in
the 1000-page "haystack," I wrote the author, Rosalind Peterson, asking for
citations to back up her assertions. She responded with a flurry of
forwarded government reports and studies.

What I discovered shocked me. From the mouth of Mrs. Sheila Murray, Navy
Region Northwest Environmental Public Affairs Officer, this EIS addresses
only a minor adjustment to an on-going weapons testing and chemical weather
control program not only on the West Coast, but also in Hawaii, Alaska, and
parts of the East Coast. Weather control?! Who does this serve and what is
the toxic cost? The actual operations areas may be mostly off-shore, but it
is *our* weather that is being experimented with for the purposes of war. It
is our survival that is being tinkered with through persistent toxic
chemical releases.

I personally live by the adage, "We get what we focus on." So, I focus on a
humanity engaged in the wholeness of life. I see this situation as a wake-up
call for us to individually and collectively participate in decision-making
with a whole-systems, long-term perspective. This official request for
comments on the Navy EIS is an opening for citizens to impact the direction
of the military that we pay for.

The U.S. Navy Environmental Impact Statement is posted at
http://www.nwtrangecomplexeis.com/. The original article that brought my
attention to this is posted at
http://www.newswithviews.com/Peterson/rosalind114.htm.

We can comment on-line until March 11th at
http://www.nwtrangecomplexeis.com/NtrcCommentForm.aspx, as well as contact
our elected representatives.

Guest columnist Carol Hiltner is cousin of *World *publisher Rufus Woods,
who once worked at the *World*. She is an author, artist, and activist who
works collaboratively to access peace through multi-cultural awareness and
friendship. She is currently focused on bringing forth the perspectives of
the ancient indigenous culture of peace found in the Altai Mountains of
Siberia. E-mail: carol.hiltner at gmail.com. Websites:

www.AltaiMir.org <http://www.altaimir.org/> <http://www.altaimir.org/>and
www.Altaibooks.com <http://www.altaibooks.com/>  <http://www.altaibooks.com/>.

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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49-30-772 8000
mmpanne at boscop.org
www.boscop.org <http://www.boscop.org/> 

Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 457 resident Open Space Workers in 73 countries working in a total of 139 countries worldwide
Have a look:
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-- 
Best regards,

Carol Hiltner
Founder, Altai Mir University
206-525-2101 (US)
913-462-6912 (Novosibirsk)
carol.hiltner at gmail.com
www.AltaiMir.org <http://www.altaimir.org/> 
www.AltaiBooks.com <http://www.altaibooks.com/> 
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