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<p>Anne Stadler wrote:</p><p><br>
<b><i><span style="font-size:14pt">Love...</span></i></b> <br>
<b><i><span style="font-size:14pt">“A world that works for ALL is a world of love made
visible”</span></i></b></p>
<p>How I love Open Space and what it invites, what unfolds and what it reveals
inside us. Yes the word LOVE seems to capture it with such utter simplicity.</p>
<p>I decided to create a separate post
while honoring the question about University Training. Anne’s words unleashed a tsunami in me.</p>
<p>This 2 martini, coffee break thing that's been around for 30 plus years and
counting ignites something inside us that's always been there, a pure,
infinite, boundless love of life and love of everything around us, a noticing
that seems sharper, crisper, more joyful, and more full of possibility.</p>
<p>Our 2 martini, coffee break open space …</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in"><span style="font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span>from the budding seed of an idea to convene
around something that matters much, </p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in"><span style="font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span>to the invitation where we're inviting people to
something so different from what they know, <span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>an invitation that is filled with listening and
connecting</p><p style="margin-left:0.5in"></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in"><span style="font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span>to the point we are together sitting in a circle
where it will unfold in so many unique ways depending on the individual. </p><p style="margin-left:0.5in">It's
like a play within a play, with stuff going on outside of us and inside us.<br></p><p style="margin-left:0.5in"></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in"><span style="font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span>Our senses are awakened; we are on the alert
whether anticipation or healthy nervous anxiety. As the facilitator walks the
circle, knowing this is happening and will happen, the words humble, gratitude,
quiet, calm, totally present and yes LOVE come to mind.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in"><span style="font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">
</span></span>During and afterwards, the Open Space continues
to percolate inside us... it has done its magic reminding us of the essence of
life. Whether we are aware of it or not in the moment or weeks, months and even
years later, we sense that something is happening, has happened. That space that
was inside us all along suddenly feels as if it's been set free, ready to
expand ever more. We feel an invitation to freedom one that we’ve may have been
deprived of if we were folks that behaved and conformed to society’s norms.
Like new clothes, it can feel uncomfortable at first; we can feel somewhat discombobulated.
</p>
<p>Free to choose, free to be courageous, to breathe and yes to LOVE. Whether the law of 2 feet or the principles, these
are all reminders of the freedom that is ours to choose ignited by the Two Martini/Coffee
Break of Open Space. </p>
<p>I became a grandma a few years ago and as I watch and feel my little grandson
engage in life, I see the open space of life bursting out of him, not holding
back anything, curiosity, awe, joy, pain and hurts, exuberant energy and words
that sound like music each with such intonation. He exudes LOVE moment by
moment. Oh to capture and nourish that side of ourselves before it gets muffled
by society and fears and the mechanistic way of doing things. </p>
<p>And then these past few years, I've been working with a Packaging Association
in Central Florida. Open Space was alive and well before I arrived... Not the
two martini, coffee break one but the spirit of Open Space. When I joined they expressed
that they had been drifting. Their meetings were less attended, many on the
Board were tired having serving for many years. <br>
We spent time together, I attended their meetings and became a part of them in
the shared passion around work, packaging, manufacturing, etc. By asking
questions, space opened and they/we began to dream again. </p>
<p>In January 2016 we started talking about an Open Space; in March we started
inviting; in June we hosted a one day gathering to record attendance -- 80
people, more than we could have hoped. The naysayers (“nobody will come there”)
had been proven wrong. Interestingly as the invitation evolved, some of those
naysayers registered. It made us smile and we welcomed everyone with open arms, Life shifting in beautiful ways. </p>
<p>The two martini Open Space started to work its magic from the moment the
idea of packaging Open Space became a possibility. The team poured its heart into
the planning and inviting; doubts haunted them at times but nothing could stop
us. We found courage with others and with each other. Many moments of happy and
hopeful anticipation and lots of anxious moments too. They/we learned together on how to invite to
something with no power points, no speakers, no panels, visits or tours, for
one full day. As it had been with <a href="http://www.creativenj.org/about/the-idea/#.V8G_5VeeNcY">Creative New
Jersey</a> years ago, we took the invitation job seriously, we engaged in many
conversations, we listened, we connected, we invited and invited by speaking
the issues, the possibilities and our heart. </p>
<p>Those early conversations opened tons of space -- space that is still
vibrantly open today with many in the industry whether they attended or not. People
could feel our shared purpose, our “can do, unstoppable” attitude, our optimism.
It was embodied in the Theme <a href="https://evolveorperish.wordpress.com/">“Evolve
or Perish – A Future of Exponential Growth and Unlimited Possibilities”</a>.
Serious and urgent stuff.</p>
<p>Today we are brimming with projects and plans. Open Space is in us and part
of us. </p>
<p>Never in my entire life have I worked with a group so connected with each
other, so open and inviting to others. Step by step, on top of their day jobs,
our work and plans continue, bigger than any one of us could have imagined.
Grounded, serious, purposeful, it has become a labor of love and as our plans
grow and the energy around it does too, it becomes infectious, attracting and
igniting others who want to be part of these serious meaningful projects. It is
also infecting other parts of our lives – in the everyday work as people step
into their own leadership in their own companies – bolder, more confident,
clearer and increasingly articulate in speaking that which can and should be
done. Their colleagues, leaders and others in their organization are noticing. Space is opening there too, slowly but
surely. </p>
<p>I have written very long... and most certainly strayed from the point on
university training which was the subject of the post that Anne Stadler
responded to. In my mind, there can be no official training or certification
for this. The training happens in all kinds of ways, in the inviting, in the sharing,
in the talking out loud, doing and being ourselves. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Training can happen in so many ways as it has been happening
over decades – no formula, no best way, no set program or certification.
Whether individually (amazing trainers and facilitators around the globe) or in
teams as happens in New York at International House every January with Harrison
and Karen Davis or soon in September at the <a href="http://www.contorno-consulting.com/092016-ost-workshop">Contorno workshop</a>
in the Netherlands with Thomas Hermann, Anna Carolina Turk (Germany) and Doris
Gottlieb (US/The Netherlands). Then of course, one cannot forget World Open
Space and others like it in various countries. I’m planning to be in Manila in November at <a href="http://www.wosonos2016.com/">WOSonOS2016</a> hosted by Sharon
Joy Chao. In 2009 we were two newbies together at WOSonOS Taiwan hosted by Gail
West. We knew then that there was something incredibly profound about Open
Space and we each ran towards it. We will celebrate our friendship together in person and I, with others, will hold space for her. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yes, there are those basic steps that can be taught quite
easily -- all described in Harrison’s Open Space User Guide. But for the rest,
the stuff that talks to love and life which Open Space invites, there is no
training, there's just the wave riding of life, meeting and reaching out for
every wave, each moment more exhilarating than the other, in the joy, the pain,
the endings and beginnings. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I
could write and write and write. Thank you for indulging me as I speak my Open
Space soul after a long absence on this list. I’ve just been busy living it. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:12pt"><b><i>Suzanne</i></b> grateful for Anne's simple
word and phrase about LOVE </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:12pt">P.S. Today I dedicate this piece of writing about
love to our Open Space colleague Hélène de St. Front who is marrying this weekend in France. We met in
Open Space in Paris, later she traveled to Washington to meet Harrison in
person and then, this past January, she came to International House in New York
and then to Florida with Amy Chen and I. We were the first to see her wedding dress which she paraded at my home and which she bought in New York. You can't invent stories like this. It's the magic of the synchronicity that happens in Open Space. </p>
</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">Suzanne Daigle<br>Open Space Facilitator<br>NuFocus Strategic Group<br><br>FL <span>941-359-8877</span><span dir="ltr"><span dir="ltr"><span><img></span></span></span><br>Cell: <span>203-722-2009</span><br><a href="http://www.nufocusgroup.com" target="_blank">www.nufocusgroup.com</a><br><a href="mailto:s.daigle@nufocusgroup.com" target="_blank">s.daigle@nufocusgroup.com</a><br>Twitter @Daiglesuz<br><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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