Open Space as a Metaphor for Transformation

Open Space As A Metaphor For Transformation

These thoughts on Open Space were prompted by my attendance at the 10th Annual Open Space conference in Marysville, Victoria, Australia.

== Space is part of our being ==

Inasmuch as we all exist in our bodies (spiritual beings in a physical existence) we all live in space and require space with all its implications to continue life.

Historically groups have left countries where they feel they didn't have enough space (the Pilgrim Fathers going to the New World; Chinese migrating to Singapore) to seek a more fulfilling existence. Some groups have been forcibly ejected from their communities and sent elsewhere (convicts sent to Australia) when their community of origin perceived that there was no suitable 'space' for these people.

On an individual level, when people move house, the nature and amount of space (plus the location and cost) available in the proposed new residence is a crucial factor in the final decision to move.

Walking, ie, changing our location and moving in space, is a well-recognized stress reliever.

== Our global village ==

It's becoming a truism that the world is a global village. We have run out of physical space to run to or banish others to! One of the implications of this is that we now need to seek and create for more than just physical space: we also need emotional, mental and spiritual space to create wholeness, harmony and health for everyone. This is where the Open Space concept comes in with the joint responsibility to 'open space wherever and whenever you can' (Harrison Owen).

== Ways of opening space ==

I've been reviewing a few of the practices that I've found particularly helpful in my own life and have realized that each of them represents a form of 'opening space'. Some of these ideas may be helpful to you or your clients and I'm sure you can think of many others not mentioned.

Here they are, in no particular order of importance.

• The practice of 'morning pages', spending the first half hour or so of the day writing a personal journal, as described in The Artist's Way and The Artist's Way at Work (Julia Cameron, Mark Bryan, Catherine Allen). I've found that this opens up space for me to take new initiatives during the day that I wouldn't otherwise have considered. These initiatives always seem to lead to further positive outcomes.

• Walking by myself on the beach or in the park and allowing my focus to be on my changing surroundings. Although I don't do this as much as I would like, when I do take the time to enjoy this, the effect is to feel distanced from some of the pressing concerns that were previously draining me of energy. Seeing them as more distant, they seem smaller as I look at the bigger picture that more space allows. Whether it's because they seem smaller, or because being further away I can see some potential pattern emerging in the whole context, the outcome is that I feel calmer and can usually find more creative ways of tackling these challenging situations.

• Listening and being listened to. I once read a most interesting paper by someone who had collected evidence for the hypothesis that having our story listened to enables us to complete our thoughts - something that the constant interruptions and sound bites of modern living discourages - and in this process of completion, a great deal of healing takes place that enables us to move on and create new and more productive outcomes in our lives. On of the central ideas in the Open Space approach is to create the space where everyone has an opportunity to tell their stories.

When we feel truly listened to, we feel acknowledged and don't feel we have to defend who we are. This gives us space to find out more about ourselves and what possibilities we can create for the future instead of falling into the trap of trying to justify what we have been and done in the past - which, when all is said and done, can't be changed.

Stone and his co-authors in the book, Difficult Conversations, makes the point that one of the strands in understanding and resolving conflict is realizing that conflict threatens our sense of self-identity and so one of the ways to start resolving conflict is to acknowledge and honour the other's identity. This same realization informs the practice of restorative justice in which the parties come together with the help of a facilitator to listen to what the crime has meant to each party and after listening, begin the process of exploring whether a settlement can be reached that satisfies both sides.

• As some of you may know, I have this year been taking a Diploma in Solution-Oriented Hypnosis. The practice of solution-oriented therapy that focuses on allowing clients to find their own unique resolutions of whatever is their current issue, is also a way of 'opening space' for people to explore and be more of themselves. Finding and exploring such individual solutions while in hypnosis, presents a very powerful way of integrating these solutions into everyday living. While we can be intellectually convinced of something, we may still not take steps to implement it. Exploring the situation in hypnosis allows the possibility of change occuring in an enjoyable, unforced and natural way.

This is also the focus of our Transformational Coaching program. Transformation comes from inner change and the various strategies and techniques used to evoke and encourage transformation all in one way or another open up more space for a person to be aware in a fuller and deeper way of who and what they are and to express this expanded awareness in practical and productive ways.

The physicist, David Bohm, has written about the implicate and the explicate universe. As we practice opening space for ourselves and others, we align ourselves with this self-organising process. We start to invite and co-create the as yet unknown and multi-dimensional explicate universe which is there enfolded in the implicate universe.

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