All Conversations Tagged 'stewardship' - The Art of Hosting2024-03-29T10:06:55Zhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=stewardship&feed=yes&xn_auth=noOn stewardingtag:artofhosting.ning.com,2017-08-08:4134568:Topic:1097272017-08-08T09:49:09.005ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p>from email exchanges, summer 2017:</p>
<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Toke Paludan Møller <<a href="mailto:tokemoller@me.com" target="_blank">tokemoller@me.com</a>> wrote:<br></br><blockquote class="gmail_quote"><div><p><b>On the Art of stewarding.</b></p>
<p>Friends, these are my reflections today on the 2. August 2017 - on The art of Stewarding , as 3 practitioner mates recently have recently asked me…</p>
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<p>from email exchanges, summer 2017:</p>
<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Toke Paludan Møller <<a href="mailto:tokemoller@me.com" target="_blank">tokemoller@me.com</a>> wrote:<br/><blockquote class="gmail_quote"><div><p><b>On the Art of stewarding.</b></p>
<p>Friends, these are my reflections today on the 2. August 2017 - on The art of Stewarding , as 3 practitioner mates recently have recently asked me about “becoming” a Steward…….</p>
<p>Being a steward or not, is not so much the focus for me, rather to live in the exploration of the art of stewarding something I practice and care enough about to stay conscious, in on going practice and in service of the deeper qualities and essence, that is the life of that practice.</p>
<p>For me it is a verb not a title, so to say - :)</p>
<p>We each begin to know when that awareness begin to surface, to be real - and others stewarding humans will notice too. </p>
<p>It is a beautiful, gradual and natural process of becoming more human, awake and feeling life & love flow in you more freely.</p>
<p>I welcome you to the joy, companionship and responsibility of stewarding this art and practice - and to care for and protect Life in all it forms.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here a wee poem from 2009 that expresses my deep feeling about this:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wordsfrom-tokesheart.dk/words_from_Tokes_heart/This_love.html" target="_blank">http://www.wordsfrom-tokesheart.dk/words_from_Tokes_heart/This_love.html</a></p>
<div><i>This love is </i></div>
<div><i>indeed stewarding us all </i></div>
<div><i>and all there is </i></div>
<div><i>- I have no doubt in that</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>To learn how to be stewarding</i></div>
<div><i>as I am being stewarded by life</i></div>
<div><i>is a gift of great proportion</i></div>
<div><i>I hear my heart singing to me</i></div>
<div><i> in this moment </i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>So much space is there</i></div>
<div><i> in that knowing of the reality of love </i></div>
<div><i>and </i></div>
<div><i>as this life web of love weaves us</i></div>
<div><i> into being alive for a wee while,</i></div>
<div><i>to meet others in companionship </i></div>
<div><i>to be healed </i></div>
<div><i>to come back to zero and enter ONE</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>- to know and to let go into</i></div>
<div><i> a trust in trust</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>To know truly that this sweet kindness</i></div>
<div><i> is our core </i></div>
<div><i>- one and all</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>what a gift to be able to offer good work</i></div>
<div><i> from such heart </i></div>
<div><i>in service of this quality</i></div>
<div><i>that words can not ever reach</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>bowing from my center</i></div>
<div><i>to your center</i></div>
<div><i>I am in happiness</i></div>
<div><i>once again.</i></div>
<div>- toke 2009</div>
<p> </p>
<p>When you step up and in to this space and next level of learning about yourself, Life and the art of hosting and harvesting conversations and work that matter, you will know - and be seen by other mates - in you seeking depth, simplicity, courage, humility, kindness and clarity.</p>
<p>- and more good can happen in the service of peaceful coexistence and well being for All on our beautiful and troubled planet Earth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here is the harvest of the first Art of hosting on Art of hosting gathering in 2005 for you inspiration - we where 12 of us at the Tim’s and Katie’s learning center in Nova Scotia, called the Shire</p>
<p>Here is a folder in dropbox for you to see….<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sa9d7bvhvdx8kn1/AABN-EY8EOGfFFXKucY62Y_ua?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sa9d7bvhvdx8kn1/AABN-EY8EOGfFFXKucY62Y_ua?dl=0</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>in the folder is these 3 documents so far….</p>
<p>* The story so far from 1996 /7 - 2005….</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/ps9jo4nsc3xv8mv/AOH%20Story%20Shire%202005%20copy.doc?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/ps9jo4nsc3xv8mv/AOH%20Story%20Shire%202005%20copy.doc?dl=0</a></p>
<p>* Our clarity on the Chaordic clarity of the Art of hosting:</p>
<p> <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/onfh2vf0zbj0i6l/AOH%20chaordic%20clarity%201.0%20copy.jpg?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/onfh2vf0zbj0i6l/AOH%20chaordic%20clarity%201.0%20copy.jpg?dl=0</a></p>
<p>* and the art of stewarding - both still holds true to me:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1xur89krklj0p9/AOH%20steward%20-%20leadership%201.1%202005%20copy.jpg?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1xur89krklj0p9/AOH%20steward%20-%20leadership%201.1%202005%20copy.jpg?dl=0</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>May it inspire you and bring clarity, joy and strength to your life and Work for our world, however you chose to do it.</p>
<p>I would appreciate to hear others reflection in this circle…..</p>
<p>With love and respect</p>
<p>Toke</p>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">I really have only a little to add to this. The clarity that arose at the Shire in 2005 has only been reinforced for me over the years. Every time I think about the practice and responsibility of stewarding the Art of Hosting community I return to Toke’s observations on this. <div>That is not to say that what we are doing collectively doesn’t change over time - it does. But the role of a steward is to have the long view, to witness and notice how the changes are either inspiring and creating the community or how they detract from it. And the role of protecting something is important. </div>
<div>I can’t exactly say what that something is, but I notice more and more that as people make offerings that pull the Art of Hosting away from it’s simple clarity, I can help protect the generative centre by asking questions that help us to see if their inquiry is rooted in what we have been doing or is outside of what we have been doing. It is not any one person’s job to decide what is in and what is out, but collectively we entertain and explore the fuzzy boundaries while protecting the powerful generative and empty centre of our work - empty because it is no one’s to own, and generative because our deepest questions have come from there from the collective intelligence and curiosity of stewarding practitioners who have been at it collectively for thousands of years now. </div>
<div>You are venturing into the kind of mystical territory of stewardship, not the conversation we have every day with everyone. But it’s how I understand my responsibilities.</div>
<div>Chris</div>
<div>-----------------------</div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Thank you, Toke, for responding with this clarity and historic perspective. I took the time today to read (re-read?) the story from Maria of that first steward gathering and I felt a sense of gratitude for the consciousness and care that was apparent. I suspect that the current Art of Hosting community that we have today would not exist had less conscious, more egoic or more fear-based responses emerged from that conversation. It fills me with awe and gratitude to recognize the wisdom and consciousness that has held this field by so many different people over the years. This, to me, is stewardship and a challenge to live into such a pattern in my stewarding. Yes, after years of resisting and questioning, I am ready to fully accept that I am stewarding and to practice embodying this. </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">I wonder what it means that this question is arising so frequently right now. Just this week, I heard of a person who is anxious to attend his first AoH training and wants to know how he can become a steward. In recent months, I have had several conversations about what it means to steward and especially what it means to steward the emergence of hosting work in a geographic region. Every day, I feel like I am confronted by my lack of knowledge and skill and challenged to continue my practices in the quest to learn how to steward. Stewarding can be lonely work, in my experience, and I am constantly appreciative of the field that is holding this work and holding me in it. I wonder how we might be more intentional and conscious in sharing the struggles and learnings of stewardship. To be in the unknowing and the trembling of working beyond the clarity of established patterns and structures while listening for the wisdom of the deeper patterns and to do all of this out of love for the wisdom and the sustaining presence of those patterns - this feels to me like the experience of stewarding. I suppose that it is just the next level of learning and of service that becomes obvious and unavoidable when the time is right and always just beyond the grasp when it is the object of one's desire. My question for any aspiring steward would by 'why do you want this? what do you imagine would become possible if you were recognized as a steward?'. In my experience, I discovered that I was stewarding and that people recognized me as a steward when I was just doing the work that needed to be done without thought for the title or role. What is it in our field that has made this designation something to be desired or sought after? Or is this a contamination of our field by the allure of status and hierarchy from the current popular culture? </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">I welcome more conversation about this as it feels very important for our field and for the world. I don't know that we need more stewards but it sure feels like this world needs more stewarding if we understand this to mean the protection and care for what one loves. For those of us who find ourselves in this work, do others sense the need for collective learning about how we steward well?</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">with gratitude,</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Steve</div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Steve and others…<div>I truly don’t know why someone who has just discovered Art of Hosting would “want” to become a steward. The pay is terrible, and there are no benefits! :-)</div>
<div>It also not some kind of advanced designation. You either become really good at hosting within the art of hosting world, or you become really good at something else. But you only become good through years of practice and failure.</div>
<div>I know over the years that there have been ideas and thoughts about some orderly step to becoming a steward, but I just can’t see this happening. The journey is different for everyone. And yes I know that leaves unresolved shadow questions about “well, if there is no clear way to become a steward, does that mean that only those who are already stewards are exerting some kind of hidden power?” I actually welcome this question and I welcome the fact that the answer is both yes and no, and that it will always require a conversation. Neither the question of orderly stewardship, not the shadowy things are every going away. And so that makes it a worthy question to host, with maybe a bit of fear and trembling, but also with courage and love. For always. And that IS in fact something that stewards can and do do.</div>
<div>But as a father I was reflecting today on how one knows that one has become a steward. The metaphor that best fits me today is that it is obvious when your child is born that you become a biological parent. But there is another thing that begins to happen, and that is you start to become a father. Not every male parent becomes a father. And how do you know you have moved from just being a biological parent to being a father? </div>
<div>That is a question each of us has to answer for ourselves. And I can also say that it is even possible to become a father without being a biological parent. I think of someone like Juanita Brown or Christina Baldwin or Anne Linnea who, although they might not describe describe themselves as Art of Hosting practitioners, would surely accept the title of mothers to our practice, and in Juanita’s case especially, even feeling that role of stewardship for our community of practice. And I would not dispute her feeling that way. </div>
<div>It’s a mighty complicated question, with no straight answer ever in sight. And so, let’s keep hosting it, together, for as long as we are a part of this global community of grace.</div>
<div>Chris.</div>
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</div> Shape of the Universe: a torus?tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2013-03-24:4134568:Topic:758152013-03-24T20:40:27.054ZAmanda Fentonhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/AmandaFenton
<p>From the email list February 2013...</p>
<p></p>
<p>Toke shared this video: <a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/video/shape-of-the-universe-the-orange-theory">http://artofhosting.ning.com/video/shape-of-the-universe-the-orange-theory</a></p>
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<p><span>Three years ago at our stewards gathering on Bowen Island, I had a strong sense that this was the shape of our community of practice. We arise from a centre of ideas and we emerge from that and expand out into the…</span></p>
<p>From the email list February 2013...</p>
<p></p>
<p>Toke shared this video: <a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/video/shape-of-the-universe-the-orange-theory">http://artofhosting.ning.com/video/shape-of-the-universe-the-orange-theory</a></p>
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<p><span>Three years ago at our stewards gathering on Bowen Island, I had a strong sense that this was the shape of our community of practice. We arise from a centre of ideas and we emerge from that and expand out into the world and then return to that centre. The art of stewardship is travelling the whole circuit I think, that you would return to where you began bringing knowledge and experience and adding to the centre, while protecting the ability of the centre to continue to generate.</span><br/><br/><span>Since then I've been looking for a representation that captures what I saw so clearly during our time together. And this is it.</span><br/><br/><span>One of the issues I have had with our idea of the fifth paradigm is that it is flat, and is a miss mash of four other paradigms. I've talked about it as paradigm 4.5. But since that stewards gathering I have thought of the dynamic torus (the name for this shape) as the fifth paradigm. It includes and transcends all of the other ways of organizing and is itself LITERALLY the next level of organization.</span><br/><br/><span>Thanks for sharing this…I think this is very important, not only as cosmology but also as a metaphor for the way in which hosting can work as the DNA of an organizing paradigm.</span></p>
<p><span>Chris</span></p>
<p><span>-------------------</span></p>
<p><span><span>Yessssss! </span></span></p>
<div>I also share this understanding. That is why forus in the Hunagarian group, AoH is called in our language, in Hungarian,<b>TerTeremtes</b>...meaning SpaceCreation-SpaceGeneration. </div>
<div>The two consonants <b>T.R</b> is a derivative root for a " torus" of words like: </div>
<div><b>Te(é)R</b> leading to</div>
<div><b>te(é)r</b> = <i>space, square, </i></div>
<div>as noun:<b> ter</b><i>em</i>=<i>room</i>, </div>
<div>as verb:<b> ter</b><i>em</i>= <i>bearing fruit,</i> </div>
<div> <b> ter</b>emt=<i>create</i>, --------------------<b>Ter</b>emtö=<i>Creator, </i></div>
<div> <b> ter</b><i>el</i> =<i> to herd, sheperd</i></div>
<div><b>TaR</b>= <i>to open up</i> leading to </div>
<div>as a compund noun:<b>...tar=</b> <i>a space where you keep, hold things</i>, such as szer-<b>tar</b>, könyv<b>-tar</b>-library ( book space), eszköz<b>-ta</b>r=tool kit, </div>
<div><b>Tar</b><i>s</i>=<i>partner</i>,<b> tar</b>sad, <i>your</i> partner, <b>tar</b>sad<i>alom</i>= <i>society.</i>..</div>
<div>Ervin lazlo calls this 5th dimension_Akasha filed...I guess...</div>
<div>With love.... </div>
<div><br clear="all"/><div><i><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif"><b>Agota E.Ruzsa,</b></font></i></div>
<div><i>---------------------</i></div>
<div><i>HO Chris</i><div>I remember you bringing that clarity in the gathering and it made me share this link as it was a way to study not just the form flat but how it flows - and of course </div>
<div>in real life and in the river of energy it ids much more dynamic and helpful…..</div>
<div>Ah how this most basic energy that creates, sustains and lets go when no more needed can be trusted - a bit more each day…..</div>
<div>cheers to being in harmony with that flow….</div>
<div><br/><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><font face="'Handwriting - Dakota'"><font color="#3423FF">Toke</font></font></div>
<p><font face="'Handwriting - Dakota'"><font color="#3423FF"> ---------------------------------</font></font></p>
<p><font face="'Handwriting - Dakota'"><font color="#3423FF"><span>There is a mathematician, James Kelley, who is a MacArthur Fellow who has been exploring mathematically the shape of the universe and believes it is a torus, too. His work is very interesting, too, Chris and Toke.</span><br/><br/><span>Carolyn</span></font></font></p>
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<p><span>I appreciate the shape.</span><br/><br/><span>As I continue to learn, this is what I find myself point people to do. A simple pattern. Words for the torus image.</span><br/><br/><span>1. We come together to touch the hearth. Or the center. The energy of the whole. The purpose.</span><br/><span>2. While together, through questions and stories, we notice what emerges that could not have happened alone. Notice what has energy for this group.</span><br/><span>3. We take those learnings in the form of commitments and offerings for the next season of work together. Or work apart. The stuff we just do in the world or in the organization.</span><br/><span>4. We regather to share the learning and touch the hearth again. To let go of that which doesn't have energy. To notice next surprises.</span><br/><br/><span>A system that feeds on the energy of what is created together. Commitments fueled by that experience and clarity.</span></p>
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</div> Can AoH serve as an organizational governance structure?tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2012-01-23:4134568:Topic:504652012-01-23T10:26:54.902ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p>Michelle, <a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topics/sociocracy-holocracy?xg_source=activity" target="_self">after learning about Holacracy,</a> went further in her quest (22 Jan.2012):</p>
<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<div>We use the AoH philosophy and practices now to act as stewards within the context of meetings. What about an ongoing organizational context? Can an organization be governed effectively in this way, over time? If so, what existing conditions are necessary (for…</div>
<p>Michelle, <a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topics/sociocracy-holocracy?xg_source=activity" target="_self">after learning about Holacracy,</a> went further in her quest (22 Jan.2012):</p>
<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<div>We use the AoH philosophy and practices now to act as stewards within the context of meetings. What about an ongoing organizational context? Can an organization be governed effectively in this way, over time? If so, what existing conditions are necessary (for example, does everyone need to be at a certain level of maturity/consciousness)? On what occasions would this not make sense (for example, when unilateral decisions are needed, or when speed is more important than emergence and engagement)? What additional support might be needed?<br clear="all"/><div>Helen Titchen Beeth wrote earlier today of the limitations of AoH as a governance system within the EU. In a simpler system, or one starting fresh without deep patterns of disfunction, might the story be different?</div>
<div>What has been the experience of the stewards of the global AoH network? Have you found that you had to draw on other disciplines or practices to be effective stewards of this "organization"?</div>
<div>Thanks for your thoughts on this!</div>
<div>Michelle Holliday</div>
<div>-----------------</div>
<br/> Being so heavily involved in the Occupy Movement, I GREATLY look forward to everyone's answers here. I've been wanting to form a database of AoH-like best practices for small governance, but usually find the time and nuance necessary for emergence to be impractical in such fast moving, high stakes, middle of the road maturity-type of situations...<br/> Ben Browner<br/> -----------------<br/>Hi Ben, Everyone.
<div>There is a deck of cards recently created by the Group Pattern Language Project. It includes 91 aspects of working well in groups. I was recently gifted these (thanks Chris Corrigan) and feel excited about them. I see them as a way to see what is underneath method. It is some of the stuff that supports a quality of co-learning on an ongoing basis.</div>
<div><a href="http://groupworksdeck.org/">Check them out here.</a></div>
<div>Thanks for the stirrings this morning.</div>
<div>Tenneson</div>
<div>-----------------</div>
<div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I love this thread, great getting right to an important point, everybody…</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">It takes courage for a leader to change the place from which they operate. The idea of “less control” being preferred over more control can be un-nerving…</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I think the means to a core operating system (OS) for many group situations, is through small groups. Several of us here, at <a href="http://asmallgroup.ning.com/">A Small Group,</a> have experimented with numerous local groups using the <a href="http://api.ning.com/files/8xbiEZl05JO*IlQjB6Gzf7gWsqC2kl*a8epKmjY812GJdnuIe0QjTUpzVNwsEoww122SI8r8edIqxTKpVS5j7VIKAWNKdnM*/CES_jan2007.pdf">Civic Engagement Series</a>. We’ve learned that in two 3 hour gatherings, 20-45 people can connect, practice and generate a rich environment for innovation and change.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Leaders who continuously connect group members to each other can then begin connecting associations to associations… This is where scale comes from.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Best Wishes,</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Dan Joyner</font></p>
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</div> Stewardship developmenttag:artofhosting.ning.com,2011-02-02:4134568:Topic:58212011-02-02T17:14:51.000ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p><strong>Stewardship</strong> is a word within the Art of Hosting community that has been the topic of many conversatons. People have been engaging in conversations to find out what it really is about and what it could be; both for the governance/stewardship of our own network and as an art that follows the cycle of: art of invitation -> art of hosting -> art of harvesting -> art of stewardship.</p>
<p>In the practice of offering your gifts to the community, some of us have named…</p>
<p><strong>Stewardship</strong> is a word within the Art of Hosting community that has been the topic of many conversatons. People have been engaging in conversations to find out what it really is about and what it could be; both for the governance/stewardship of our own network and as an art that follows the cycle of: art of invitation -> art of hosting -> art of harvesting -> art of stewardship.</p>
<p>In the practice of offering your gifts to the community, some of us have named themselves and seen each other as stewards of this pattern in the world because we care for the whole and care for the DNA of this pattern. In this circle of Stewards of Art of Hosting has been an interesting conversation going on (via email in 2011). Later, in 2014, there was a revival of this conversation with some beautiful contributions.</p>
<p>Everyone is invited to join this conversation here. Be welcome!</p>
<p>(some context for the governance/stewardship of our network you can find <a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/page/history-and-governance-of-art" target="_self">here</a>)</p>