Everything is Moving: An Invitation to Join the flow (longish)

Koos de Heer koos at auryn.nl
Sun Aug 29 01:35:00 PDT 2010


Thanks Harrison and Harold and the others for sharing your 
inspiration. It makes me smile and I can feel like the fish watching 
you and being happy.

A lesson that I draw from it is that I myself tend to want to find 
the perfect wave, and my challenge is that I wait too long, never 
jumping because I keep expecting the next wave to be even better. For 
me, it is also important to take the jump and go with whatever I get 
and be happy with it.

Love,

Koos


At 09:00 27-8-2010, Harold Shinsato wrote:
>An amazing piece, Harrison - thank you - it was worth several 
>readings. I concur with what Suzanne highlighted, and at the same 
>time - there were so many "i gotta quote that" moments as I read it. 
>I'm glad Eleder added lots of literal color with his comprehensive 
>quote of your writing on his blog. "Invitation" is so much what Open 
>Space is about - and it's really an invitation to deepen - an 
>invitation into our selves. I'll take that invitation - and pass it 
>on with this message.
>
>Your post title, everything is moving, evokes thoughts about 
>Buckminster Fuller when he said "I seem to be a verb, an 
>evolutionary process". I wonder where this email thread will evolve.
>
>Earlier this month I was in Orlando at Agile 2010, an annual 
>software conference that got started early in the aughts, the 00's, 
>as a purely Open Space Technology event - but which the organizers 
>decided "OST wouldn't scale". So the Open Space morphed into "Open 
>Jam" on the "sidelines" which people mostly pass on their way to 
>officially chosen events, and which has no facilitated opening, 
>circle, or closing. OST would make the event so much better, but I'm 
>glad there's at least some of that same spirit. It was great getting 
>to meet and interact with attendees at these more spontaneous 
>sessions - several of which were touted in the twitter world as "my 
>favorite session at Agile 2010".
>
>One of those "Open Jam" sessions was an actual 90 minute Open Space 
>Technology event at 7:30am the morning. To make that early hour even 
>more challenging, it was after the conference party. Suzanne Daigle 
>facilitated it - and it was wonderful. Even with only about 10 
>people and just one session - it was such a refreshing process. It 
>was invigorating as opposed to so many other sessions at Agile 2010 
>which were really exhausting. The people who showed up at our mini 
>OST were just the right people, even at that early hour after only a 
>few hours sleep. The theme was also exciting - taking Scrum and 
>Agile beyond software - a foreshadowing of the event Suzanne will 
>facilitate in Phoenix next month. 
><http://phoenix.scrumgathering.org/>http://phoenix.scrumgathering.org/
>
>Since I was in Florida for Agile 2010, I was fortunate enough to 
>visit Sarasota and enjoy the Gulf of Mexico waters lapping gently on 
>the "west coast" of Florida (thank goodness there was nary a sign 
>spilled oil). The waves were small, but large enough to do a bit of 
>body surfing, and since my head was swimming with Open Space 
>Technology after hours of speaking with Suzanne Daigle - it's no 
>surprise that I thought - Hey... I'm a wave rider.
>
>Here are my wave rider lessons from body surfing in Florida:
>    * Being in a gentle surf and fairly shallow water made it 
> possible to learn quite a few wave rider lessons very quickly. How 
> true is that too with OST when it is facilitated well - there is 
> safety to bring up your issues and not worry if no one shows up and 
> the freedom to use your 2 feet when it's time to learn something else.
>    * Body surfing requires finding and waiting in the place just 
> before the waves break, perhaps I can call it "the zone". The best 
> breaking waves do have a tendency to congregate in the zone. So I 
> was using my "two feet" to get there, but the location of the zone 
> kept changing. Being in "the zone" is a lot easier if you don't try 
> so hard to be in "the zone".
>    * When I caught a really good wave - it was great fun riding it 
> to the shore. But catching a wave totally took me out of the wave 
> breaking zone. It made me realize that success, catching a wave, 
> ends up with me laying on the sand surrounded by foam as the 
> shattered remnants of the wave recede behind me back into the 
> ocean. Once the wave is over, it means getting up and then making a 
> not so exciting hike/swim back to the zone. Maybe it's good to 
> remember that wave riding is about more than just catching the perfect wave.
>    * It was interesting waiting for waves. Every time I caught a 
> great wave, there was another one just after it that was even 
> better, so I had some great luck letting a good wave pass to catch 
> an even better one. Maybe it's like versions of software... you 
> don't usually want to jump on wave 1.0 - sometimes the best wave is 
> just after the first one. Maybe it's also like that for the 
> issue/theme you might want to work on. If you jump on wave 1.0, 
> maybe you'll be on the shore when wave 2.0 comes.
>    * I was so happy after just a little bit of body surfing, when I 
> waded out of the water I noticed these teaming schools of small 
> fish swarming around my legs. So much life, gleaming and darting 
> and glittering. I think they were there before, just beneath the 
> surface, but I felt oddly and serenely certain that they could 
> sense my happiness and they were dancing with my joy - happy 
> finally to share it with me. How much of the dance is happening 
> right now just beneath the surface of the water - no matter where 
> we are on the wave.
>     Yours in Open Space,
>     Harold (in Montana)
>
>
>On 8/26/10 4:34 PM, Suzanne Daigle wrote:
>>
>>Harrison,
>>
>>I accept the blame gladly if chiding you for being quiet led to this.
>>Salutations to Ralph who inspired the "everything is moving" with you
>>then taking us all on a journey at sea on the Ethelyn Rose. Virtual
>>Wave Riding on this 25th anniversary year of Open Space. How fitting!
>>
>>Of everything that you wrote here, what speaks to me most is this sentence:
>>
>>"For me an invitation to Open Space is an opportunity to include
>>friends and strangers in the deepest experience of (my) life."
>>
>>Thank you Harrison for inviting us all as you have all these years
>>which has led us to invite others and each other in this big global
>>community. In the spirit of invitation, how I wish I could know and
>>hear all those who are out there now in the simplicity of this moment
>>whether it's sitting at the kitchen table like me so glad that the sun
>>is out after 4 days of gray skies and rain.  If anyone feels so
>>inclined, I invite you to come to the middle of this virtual circle to
>>write a few words on one of the big white sheets of virtual paper on
>>the floor.
>>
>>It's an invitation to everyone out there to Open a bit of Space to
>>share for a brief magical moment where you are, how you feel or what's
>>up with you right NOW, wherever you are!   Not much that I know most
>>days, but one thing I know for sure is that connecting with others
>>gives me courage and much joy!
>>
>>Whimsically curious in Florida, Suzanne
>>
>
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