Some of my friends and I with in the Art of Hosting community create poems from our work as a kind of harvest, a way of listening to the voices shared in a circle and reflecting back to the group, it’s wholeness using the words of those in the room. The poems are written on the spot and read into the room, slam style. Such poems evoke energy, and honour the whole. We call these “dialogue poems.” Here is the one from yesterday’s check in in Montreal with our core hosting team… Hosting team Check in poem Where did you …
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Over the past few years Jerry Nagel and a group of practitioners in Minnesota have been working deeply with the Art of Hosting in the state. The Bush Foundation, who has supported a lot of this work, helped create 10 fantastic videos on the Art of Hosting and some of the methods of the process. You could look through these and get a great foundation in what it’s all about. Enjoy! 1. Art of Hosting – introduction: https://vimeo.com/72614471 2. AOH Community Conversations for the common good: https://vimeo.com/40679035 3. AOH Four-fold Practice: https://vimeo.com/69785461 4. AOH Harvesting: https://vimeo.com/69785465 5. AOH Collective Story …
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On a bus at the moment travelling from Tartu to Tallinn, through the Estonian countryside. We pass by fields and forests that remind me deeply of the southern Ontario countryside I grew up, differing only in the occasional ruins of old Soviet collectivist farms and apartment blocks that housed their workers when this was part of the Soviet Union. This is my second trip to Estonia and it is perhaps not my last one. There is some much that is interesting about this country and my friends here, including a close connection to land and culture and a strong sense …
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There are conversations I don’t want to have and there are conversations I show up in and where I don’t like how I show up there. How to change these? We are always inside the conversations we don’t want to have. We cannot leave them. We always have to host from inside this place. At some level you can never leave earth. You belong here and to every conversation that is happening here. You are invited to host it all. That is your obligation for being given the gift of life.
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My friend Peggy Holman is about to write a short series of posts on how to manage the tension between hearing from luminaries and hosting participation in gatherings that aim to: Make the most of the knowledge and experience of the people in the room; Support participants to make great connections; Bring the wisdom of luminaries – respected, deep thinkers – on whatever subject drew people together; and Deepen collective understanding of a complex topic. Peggy notes that: A common design challenge with such gatherings is to work the tension between hearing from luminaries and engaging participants. When the mix …