Day 1 of AoH Karlskrona 2019.
After the very breef introduction on day 0, where we dipped our toes in the ocean, we started the great dive today. Right from the beginning, the participant is invited to dive into predominant themes of Art of Hosting by answering two powerful questions: ’What animal are you?’ and ’What animal would you like to be?’ It felt unexpected, but also made a lot of sense in that we were invited to reflect on ourselves, our feelings and our experiences. Being present, being a host for yourself and for others are some of the key aspects of AoH. Two surprising questions, a stretching and breathing exercice later, the conditions for participants to be present and dive into different methodologies to connect with oneself and others were put in place. Time to swim.
The world cafe was the first of these methodologies participants started to explore. It invites to diversity of views and experiences. Organized over several rounds of small and different groups, it is a widely practiced and powerful way to generate incredibly big quantities of data and input. Harvesting all the content generated makes us realize that listening to others is so important and a way to discover new perspectives. Finally, one realizes that capturing the diversity of nature helps solving issues. The method, bringing different perspectives, is an invitation into reconsiderating our own views.
After capturing the diversity of nature with the world cafe, we are invited to dive onwards with the appreciative inquiry. What if we focused in what works well instead of what is wrong? Maybe that would help bring awareness to the conditions that help us shifting towards ”the animal we want to be”. In groups of three, one participant is invited to share a story while the two others actively listen, focusing on the emotions and strenghts of the person sharing the story. A strong feeling of connection and empathy is unavoidable. Hosting others by listening to their stories and actively contributing by determing what are the conditions to shift succesfully to another mindset makes the conversation strongly meaningful. We leave the exercise with the feeling of having shared something and being more aware of what can help us to create the best conditions to reach our objectives. To find out what works.
The circle is the last methodology explored on our journey towards the bottom of the sea. Another surprise emerges from this approach: as a more reflective experience, and where one is encouraged to take time to think and is free to choose when to speak, we experience another approach of communicating to reach a common purpose. The circle is self organized, generous, and one should ask and offer. The focus of each participant is on the purpose that the circle wants to reach, and we don’t seek to answer to one another. If one follows the rules of the exercise, based on empathy, compassion, intention and attention, it is then guaranteed to leave the circle with the feeling of excitement and gratitude.
We end off with a check out that brings us back up on the shore for some breathing over night. We’ll be doing even more diving tomorrow, and for that, rest is needed!
