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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=SV link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap: break-word;-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;-webkit-line-break: after-white-space'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Thanks dear Lisa for being so generous, in all directions…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>and thanks for sharing your journey with me<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>All my love to everything<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>& love and hugs to you too<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Thomas Herrmann<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Från:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org] <b>För </b>Lisa Heft<br><b>Skickat:</b> den 25 juni 2011 00:02<br><b>Till:</b> OSLIST<br><b>Ämne:</b> [OSList] Thank you, my mother, and Chile<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hello, dear colleagues -<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>I appreciate all the love and support you have sent me both on and off the list as you heard the news of my mother's passing.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>As you may have read from previous messages - I was in Chile facilitating several Open Space Learning Workshops as my mother was moving through her transition from life into death.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>My father and I have been taking care of her for 10 years as her health has shifted. They live close to me in a wonderful elders residence and I am there all the time as we are very close emotionally. My life is a lovely balance of self care, parental care and this wonderful work that we facilitator folks do. This time has been a true and bittersweet gift. To be able to love them both up by being there, caring for them, sharing thoughts and emotions, and knowing that we love each other has been an amazing gift. I feel very lucky to have this sort of relationship with my parents, and I know that not everybody has this opportunity, and I treasure it.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>The last few years have required more care as my mother has become more delicate in health and our lives have been intertwined as my parents and I have traveled together through these experiences.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>At the end of April my mother became critically ill, and since that time she had been making an amazingly graceful progression towards death and release, surrounded by loving care and loved ones.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>I had a strong feeling she would die while I was away teaching in Chile - however my father (and my mother's voice was also very strong inside my head) said 'Go! Go! Live! This is what it is all about - sharing learning and community across the world!' about Open Space and dialogue and the power of a diverse community. Sharing knowledge, love and peace.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>So I went.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>My classes and the fabulous WOSonOS 2011 Host Team knew that I was sad and concerned about my mother and father during my travels, and they loved me up and held their arms open for whatever shape my concern and worry would take - while at the same time they traveled with me through rich learning and exploration about Open Space in these workshops.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>The first group of participants was about 65 graduate students and faculty of the Masters program in Organizational Development and Strategic People Management in the School of Economics and Business at Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago de Chile - as well as members of the 2011 Host Team. They welcomed my teaching in Spanish (including my various words in 'Spanglish' that either worked or were hilarious errors) as well as my sharing about my mother. The talking / listening piece I use in my Open Spaces is a stone from the sea that my mother gave to me when I was a small child - so they learned about my love and concern when we went into Closing Circle in the Open Space meeting that is a part of my workshop. The second group of participants was about 50 facilitators, coaches and executive directors of NGO's / non-profit organizations, in our workshop hosted by the School of Psychology at the Universidad Aldolfo Ibañez in Santiago de Chile.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>One evening during the first workshop dates I suddenly had a feeling that my mother was waiting for me to return home from my travels before she could die. I have been at many deaths and have seen this happen, where people wait for their loved ones before letting go. And I told her not to do that for me - but to fly...to let go...with my love. I woke up the next day to find an email message that she had died at that exact moment. No surprise, our profound connection.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>I came in to that next workshop day with the news that my mother had died. And I said 'If you are okay with me crying, I am okay with continuing on with you in this learning journey. It is what my mother would want. She believes in our work together. And besides - if you want to be facilitators - emotions happen. This is real. Shall we continue?' And they did, with open arms. And with stories throughout the day of mothers and love.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>During the second workshop I was of course still quite emotional, and I shared the story of my mother when we came again to that point with the listening stone. Once again I was held in open arms and once again we continued to explore rich learning together in and about Open Space. At the end of that workshop, one of the participants gave me a gift - a necklace that her mother made for me. Each night she had gone home to tell her mother about the workshop, and her mother had felt a deep connection with me even though we had not met. I treasure that necklace, and that experience.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>My father now wears both his own and my mother's wedding rings - artful little pieces with lapis, agate, jade and other stones inset in gold. On his desk calendar, on the day she died, he has drawn a picture of little hearts, flying away up into the sky. And we look up into that sky and see the stars and think that one of them - or all of them - is my mother. But then I feel my mother and father in every word and act and deed I do - I always have - in every moment of my work with groups and my remembering to be the truest me that I can be. My mother and father are everywhere in me and in everything I touch and experience.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>So I am a lucky girl - and most loved, by my parents, and by you...<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Thank you all, and take good care of yourselves and the mothers and fathers you have or for the mother-father love you have created for yourself inside of you.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Perhaps I will see some of you at the WOSonOS in Chile this October...<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Lisa</span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:black'> </span></span><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#9B2C01'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:blue'>Lisa Heft</span></b></span><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#9B2C01'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:black'>Consultant, Facilitator, Educator<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><b><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:blue'>Opening Space</span></b></span><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:black'><a href="mailto:lisaheft@openingspace.net">lisaheft@openingspace.net</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:black'> </span></span><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>