Commutation in the LO#2 LO12902

Sue Starr (starr@internorth.com)
Sat, 15 Mar 1997 11:57:12 -0800

Replying to LO12893 --

Sue Starr here, - on the far northern frozen rock in Yellowknife, NT
Canada. I've been on this list for about a year now, and am a dedicated
listener. I read all the way through At's post on commutation. That's a
rare occurrence, as I tend to get a little overwhelmed by the length and
density(always a lot packed in-taxes my weary brain) and want to respond
to it from an intuitive place rather than an 'intellectual one'. What
follows will be a collection of thoughts that arrived while I was reading
it:

A dear friend died late last year, just before the birth of my
granddaughter. My reflections centred on how baby Lucy's life would be
affected because of my friend's influence on me.

I've just left the corporate world to begin independent work as a
facilitator/consultant here in the North of Canada - a couple of million
square miles, a population of about 100,000, multi-cultural, where two of
the largest organizations are reeling from the effects of downsizing
(including the one I left). Further, a nation is being reclaimed here as
the Inuit establish their own territory (1999). I see much of my work now
as helping individuals to make some sense of the current environment and
find a way in the chaos(double meaning).

The last two weeks I spent on a facilitator's course, here, in an intense
cross-cultural environment. We all moved closer, the primary vehicle
being story-telling in a space of respectful listening and reflective
questioning. I offer one of the short stories told by a young woman as
learned from her grandmother. A group of elders was sitting by a lake,
enjoying its calm serenity. A little boy passed by and threw a rock into
the lake. The elders were upset as the ripples disturbed the calm surface
and their peaceful enjoyment. As the surface of the lake smoothed they
settled back into their serene watching...but what they didn't understand
was that the stone now rested on the bottom, changing the lake forever.

As I was gifted by this experience (and led more away from the
intellectual analysis of everything to multi-dimensional learning), so do
I feel gifted by this LO List. It is so much my connection to the
questing part of the corporate world. I'm grateful to all of you who post
and who listen. At: - I'll be mulling on that last one for awhile.

with great regard,

Sue Starr

-- 

Sue Starr <starr@internorth.com>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>