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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000>Hello Wendy and to everyone on the Open Space list. My name
is Kathryn Thomson, and I too had a "conversion" experience with Chris Corrigan
while supporting him at an Open Space event in January. I have been offering
training and facilitation to organizations for years and years, and Open Space
is what I've been waiting for all my life. I am in danger of becoming
altogether evangelical about its transformational potential. I believe
with all my heart that this experience of OST is what is needed at this time, on
this planet, with all its dear inhabitants. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000>One thing about using OST is how deeply it exposes me to
myself. My need to "facilitate" to "do" something, to "be helpful"--all
very fine qualities in some circumstances, but so absolutely wrong in open
space. Chris had me go to the wall and just observe my own responses to
what unfolded there. It was so hard not to offer assistance, and
I saw how much of my own ego is invested in the idea of me being a
"helpful" person. I also saw how important it was to let go of my
attachment to this ego-idea.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000>Since then I have introduced OST in various organizations and
witnessed the "chaordic" magic of OST unfold before my eyes.
Once I described the process to a colleague who had never seen it, but so
clearly needed to use it. I tried describing it, and ended up
using my young daughters stuffed animals and kind of acted it out, so she could
get the idea of what it looked like. She used OST the next day--her client
group had been struggling for over a year with some difficult decisions and
changes that needed to be made--and they experienced major breakthroughs in all
areas. My colleague and her client are now converts too.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000>I am hoping to bring OST to the Island that I (and Chris) live on.
There are some urgent issues facing our residents and OST will be our way
through. I think the time, the people and the need is ripe. (How
about it Chris?)</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000>I thank each of you on this list for your generosity in sharing
yourselves and your OST experience so openly and helpfully. I am
learning so much from each of you. I really appreciated the conversations
you had about sexism and that poem. I saw right down into the core of what
it means to honour each other in all of our humanity, in all of our brilliance,
our blind spots, our judgements, our deepest beliefs and deepest hopes. I
saw you struggle with what it means to hold very different world views and to
hold on to your respect for each other as human beings. It was a
delicious, enlivening, and heartening dialogue and I thank you for
it.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000>Thank you too, to Harrison Owen for bringing OST to this planet,
to all of us, at this time, in this place of such great
need.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=115334219-09052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=115334219-09052005></SPAN><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#800000>Sincerely,</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#800000></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT><FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#800000><SPAN
class=115334219-09052005>Kathryn Thomson on Bowen
Island</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT><FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#800000><SPAN
class=115334219-09052005>(a hitherto invisible, appreciative and grateful
"lurker")</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=115334219-09052005>PS--Is
there anyone practicing OST in New York that would be willing to meet
me (for a wee cup of tea and a chat about OST) sometime the second week in
June??</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> OSLIST
[mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Wendy
Farmer-O'Neil<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, May 03, 2005 11:57 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: multiple facilitator
roles<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Hi all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Having just come from playing a support role in an
OST event, the question of co-facilitation was also in my mind. I took on
the support role with the intention of service. Service to the facilitator
(Chris), to support him in holding space, and service to the participants to
support them in their journey in Open Space. With that experience
behind me, as I contemplate facilitating my first OST event (which is on the
horizon), I find that I am wanting to create a support team who understand Open
Space and who will help to maintain the continuum or field of experience for the
participants. I understand that it is not necessary for successful OST
facilitation, but I am wondering if it is worth experimenting to see if there is
a qualitative difference for the participants and/or the facilitator--a
deepening, I suppose. I guess I am seeing a tandem approach to
facilitation, where one facilitator takes on the "face time" as Harrison put it,
while the other provides support--at the wall, at the computer
stations--wherever presence can arise to open more space.
Thoughts?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Cheers,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Wendy</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Wendy Farmer-O'Neil<BR>Prospera Communications
& Consulting Services<BR>1.250.713.2351/1.800.713.2351<BR>weblog: <A
href="http://www.wordgravity.blogspot.com">www.wordgravity.blogspot.com</A><BR></DIV></FONT>*
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