Day 2: Courage and Personal Leadership
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PROCESS

7:15  Morning practice
9:00 Framing
9:00 Check in
9:20 Meta harvest
9:40 Appreciative Inquiry (A.I.) - Trio Conversations
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 A.I. Harvest & Debrief
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Teach (Fourfold Practice)
15:00 Open Space
18:00 Village news and Check out
19:30 Collective Story Harvesting

PHOTO GALLERY - MORNING CHECK IN

SUMMARY OF THE DAY

The  theme of the day was courage & personal leadership.

The morning check-in was led by Liz, who guided us through different movements on the basketball court outside. After the exercise  everybody (or should we say every body) was awake and ready to listen to the harvest team who presented what had stuck with them from the previous day. 

The team presented the different organizational structures with their bodies and Peter presented a clear overview of the topics that emerged during the World Cafe in the form of a mindmap. 

Back inside, the hosts of the day, Marc, Marjeta and Laura, opened the space and gave the floor to Daniel and Lara. They shortly explained what Appreciative Inquiry is, after which participants were invited to experience it themselves. We went into trios and told stories about courage. After harvesting the essences of all conversations, the group went outside again to learn about the fourfold practice. 

Teaching on fourfold practice (host yourself first, in order that we can be participants and be hosted, to become learners, to host others, and together co create the learning community) was done outside in nature, on the experiential level.  In each fold we were sensing how it feels like to be in this state.

Before coming back to the building we created a big, spacious circle on the meadow, in which we felt the power of our community, listening to the impressive echo of our united vocalization, from the mountains around.

Back inside the second Open Space took off, you can read more on it below.

In the evening small groups gathered around six storytellers to listen and harvest collective wisdom. Even after the collective story harvesting, the story telling continued around the campfire until deep in the night with laughter, music and conversations under the stars. 
DAY I META HARVEST: 
 
Ondrej from the harvesting team mini-interviewed a bunch of participants (capturing impressions in one word, sentence or an idea): 

"What are you bringing back home from the 1st day here?"
  • Smell of fire.
  • Feeling that somebody could strengthen others.
  • Many insights.
  • Concern.
  • Mess.
  • Storytelling.
  • “Oooh...”
  • If we do the good shit, it doesn’t smell...
  • Courage to love and be loved.
  • We need to move from chaos to order and from order to control.
  • Four organizational structures.
  • Feeling of similarity.
  • Collective.
  • The importance and the beauty of connecting.
  • The importance of invitation and purpose.
  • Determination that I will use collective storytelling harvesting.
  • Positive energy and reflecting.
  • Boundless potential of human being, which need to be recognized, cherished and supported.
  • Stories.
  • Courage.
  • Friends.
  • It’s easy to connect.
  • Making the world better is possible...
DAY I WORLD CAFE META HARVEST:
Peter captured the key themes from the World Café on Day I into the following mind maps:

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY TRIADS HARVEST

Daniel and Laura had visually (and in the movement) presented story about how "Appreciative" met "Inquiry" in 80's and some of the principles of AI:
  • The principle of simultaneity (What you put into a system you get out of it). 
  • The anticipatory principle.
  • The positive principle. ( Energy to move forward)
  • The constructionist principle. (What you see most is what you recognize)
  • The poetic principle. 

Trio’s dialogues: Storyteller, Witness (what is behind the words), Harvester (harvesting the principles, the process…)

The question for the story-teller was:
Tell about the time when you felt something had to be said or done and you stood up with courage in your heart and you did it. What happened? How is it staying with you today?

Harvesters listened to the questions:
  • What are the strategies that storyteller chooses for being courageous?
  • What essence of courage can encourage the community?

After the break we have shared the fruits of harvesting – strategies (each group has shared one strategy):
  • We should embrace our fears and be persistent whatever we do.
  • Let your heart win over your mind.
  • Embracing the meaning, supporting the harmony.
  • Follow your heart and you’ll find the way.
  • Follow vision.
  • Focus on the first moment.
  • Listen, respect, and express the truth inside in order to be yourself.
  • Trust – yourself and others.
  • Value the wholeness that everything is connected.
  • The seemingly opposite quality of courage, vulnerability, is actually the essence of courage - the vulnerability to see yourself and reveal the true Self.
  • Embracing the meaning, supporting the harmony.
  • Step out of your comfort zone because your values are stronger than consequences. Step into the unknown. Recognize opportunities.
  • Courage to be patient – not to step out.
  • To have the co-urage to listen, respect and express the truth, in order to be myself.
  • When you/we hear the proper call, step in, in matter what and trust that stepping into by itself, will give you/us the courage that will last.
  • The time is now! Rebellion - standing up against authorities, conventions, constraints. 
  • Grow from sand, to oyster, to pearl choosing the path of decision, experience to gratification. 
  • Listen and create opportunities. 
  • To follow the inner voice and to manifest big vision through small steps.


In each trio we have found an essence of the courageous stories we have heard and put it in the ‘bottle’. In the plenary meeting we have had a prominent event with presentation of “2014 precious courage essences”. The room became filled with a smell of a faith, love, following the intuition, listening to inner self, following the truth, trust, pearl of longing, following the dream, love (to ourselves, people, country, self-trust; vulnerability; recognition of the value, following the emotions, connection (with yourself, life), tears, eagerness, relationship (toward people, things) and authenticity (accepting the moment that comes up).

PHOTO GALLERY OF APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY

Picture
Trio Storytelling Process
Picture
A collection of precious "Essences of Courage"

OPEN SPACE IN PICTURES
OPEN SPACE HARVEST IN WORDS
After teachings followed one more Open space with the invitation question: “What conversations will help me to put my courage into practice?”

Some of the Open space topics were:
  • How can we create a community of practitioners of meaningful conversations?
  • How would you use the AOH to evaluate the conference?
  • How to host courage?
  • Flow game.
  • How to explain AOH to “normal” people we meet?
  • How to host conversation about hunger in society where people are hungry?
  • How to deepen our intimacy in relationships?
  • GeoengIneering. What are your concerns?
  • How to self-regenerate when you are involved 
  • Trust and letting go.
  • How to get the positive experience?
  • Am I the only one in the group, not feeling ok, when everybody seems to experience everything positive?...

We have harvested the open space conversations with two questions: What are the key learnings of your conversation? And What kind of support are we discovering we can give to each other? (show physically).

Some key learnings we have harvested in Open Space are:
  • It’s time to put out a questions like: Who we really are as a humans. Where we are going? 
  • What you focus on,  will grow. Choose wisely what you focus on. 
  • Make a call around solution and not around the problem. 
  • Team up. Look what other people are doing about the issue. Be informed. Spread without convincing. Be conscious, but not preoccupied.
  • Give objectives and let people work on a form.
  • Have a circle to discuss a framework and let people work with responsibility within the framework. 
  • Importance of good design.

Support we can give each other and was shown physically:
  • Real listening.
  • Network of knowledge and people.
  • Intimacy – looking in eyes for one minute and then tell partner, what did you see in her/his eyes. 
  • Knowledge.  Experience.
  • Make the first step in the good direction. 

COLLECTIVE STORY HARVESTING

After the dinner followed the Collective Story harvesting method. In different groups we listened to inspiring stories about: 

We listened to the various arcs in stories: Co-creation and sustainable partnership, Leadership, Embodiment (where do you see living the values), Transformation, Courage (where do you see courage at particular) and Trust. 

The story telling and celebrations continued long into the night and was wholeheartedly enjoyed by all.