[OSList] Open Space - A Celebration of Life (long)

[Suzanne Daigle]

July 1st Canada Day (I am Canadian) on the eve of July 4th US Independence
Day (my adopted country where I live).   I still can’t quite believe that it
was only a little over 2 years ago that Open Space came into my life. Two
years ago, I remember it as if it was yesterday and yet it feels like a
lifetime ago!  Something happened that day and that weekend that shocked me,
surprised me, scared me and made me feel giddy with embarrassment. Harrison
created a manifesto on something I had written and posted it on the OS list.
http://www.hhowen.blogspot.com/


<http://www.hhowen.blogspot.com/>

As I recall it now, I felt a bit like Susan Boyle,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnmbJzH93NU  singing “I dreamed a dream”,
being discovered on the world stage. I had just started to find the true
power and passion of my voice, a voice I never knew I had, a voice that
boldly and bravely helped me step out, speak out, and connect me in
conversations that are as heartfelt and soul deep, the likes of which I
still to this day cannot even begin to describe. I look back to my past two
years feeling such gratitude. Before it’s as if I lived on a street in a
small neighborhood; now I am connected to a community of close friends
across the globe thanks to Open Space.


Putting one foot in front of the other, trusting my intuition, facing my
fears and doing it anyway, I am astonished to have facilitated,
co-facilitated or participated in 30 Open Space events.  What I saw, what I
felt, what I experienced, and what I witnessed over and over again goes
beyond words. How could I ever explain the unspoken pain and fear as people
take the risk to invite others to something they do not know, that is so
different from what normally happens (sitting in a circle, no experts, no
speakers, no agenda, etc.)? How could I describe what happens in a moment,
in an instant when people rush to the middle, writing and announcing their
topics quickly filling the giant blank wall?  How could I capture the
essence of watching people move so purposefully from one group to another,
feeling their intensity, their exhaustion, and their bliss?  How could I
ignore what happens when people let go their armor, laughing and talking in
abandon, rediscovering what it feels like to just be themselves, perfectly
imperfect, knowing that they do indeed have much to contribute.


For me, Open Space was never a process, a theory, a management tool, a cult,
a religion or a large system change intervention.  From the first time I
experienced it, I always knew it was so much more than that, more than what
happens right then and there and more than the end results and actions that
we want and expect.  It’s an invitation to come home to the power of our
lives and who we are.


Truth be told, I cannot get enough of discovering the layers beneath, under
and around Open Space.  I have a longing and a hunger to know more, to hear
the personal stories of others who were touched and affected by Open Space
as I have been, as others have. I crave reading those stories wondering at
times if it is just me, if this is as important as I feel it to be, if this
is too private only to be shared with a few. I dream one day of interviewing
hundreds of people, becoming the journalist that I once was, writing a
“Chicken Soup of the Soul” Open Space book that speaks about what happens
deep inside a person and a group when they experience Open Space and opening
space to their true selves with others.  I want to hear and write about what
happens, when people let go, shedding  their armor and facades, allowing
themselves to be the best of who they are, working with others to make this
complicated world a better place.



Yes I have much to celebrate this weekend on this Canadian and US holiday
and much to look forward to because of Open Space!   Thank you my precious
Open Space friends and colleagues for this wonderful gift, for inviting me
stand on your shoulders to savor this gift of life that so many have
contributed to these past 25 years not the least of whom, Harrison who
originated this.

Suzanne


-- 
Suzanne Daigle
NuFocus Strategic Group
7159 Victoria Circle
University Park, FL 34201
FL 941-359-8877;
CT 203-722-2009
www.nufocusgroup.com
s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com
twitter @suzannedaigle
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