Full Circle Associates

Judy Brown has a piece in the April Shambala Institute "Fieldnotes" newsletter that I really liked. (issue 9) 5 Ideas that increase the likelihood of our working together. Substitute "work" for "life!"

1) Come to the work with 100% of the self. Set aside the usual distractions of phone mail, e-mail, things undone from yesterday, things to do tomorrow. Bring all of yourself to the work, not just the parts of yourself and your experience that would be obviously relevant to this work. Be l00% present here.

2) Let the beauty we love be what we do. Think of all the things you value and enjoy in life. Bring them with you in your peripheral vision. Bring their richness along as resources. Consider what they have to teach us about the dilemmas we are exploring today. Rumi says it best: Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don't open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

3) Presume welcome and extend welcome. We all learn most effectively in spaces which welcome us. Therefore we have a responsibility to welcome each other to this place and this work and to presume that we are being welcomed, as well.

4) Nose into inquiry. When we feel challenged or confused, switch from saying to asking, from advocating to inquiry, from knowing to wondering, from stating to questioning. Like a canoe trying to make headway up a lake in the wind, nose straight into the wind, head into inquiry. When it's hard, turn to wonder.

5) Consider that is possible to emerge from the conversation refreshed, wondering, curious, surprised. Expect that our time together can provide for renewal, refreshment, helpful perspectives on the work at hand. Our work is not about more “to-do” but rather more effortless ways to do that which we must do.

I've been thinking about "Nose into Inquiry." I really like the feel of that phrase. I am addicted to learning, but sometimes I leap into endpoints, forgetting the inquiry. When I try to give guidance to my son in college, I realized I want to find ways to have him enjoy nosing into inquiry. The joy of the exploration without always worrying about the endpoint.

When I think about "nosing" from a facilitation perspective, I seek ways that not only use questions to stimulate inquiry, but tone to include the joy and fun of the journey. I forget that sometimes as I'm hard nosed and pratical. I think I need to let more "air" into the process at times. Something to pay attention to. If I do, I think #5 would come naturally.