1st Conference call Mastery of Stewardship in AoH Aug 27, ‘09 Maria, Sarah, Ria, Phil, Monica, Bob, Tuesday

Framing by Maria: Welcome! I was exited all day about this call. In the email was a little flow. Check-in: Why is gathering as AoH stewards important in this time? Central question: What Mastery of Stewardship is called for now; to ground the Art of Hosting practice?

Since January ’09 we were sensing the need to come together. Then there was a smaller group – 5 of us – to sense more deeply into what would be needed in our field. We connected three times, and we started to surface a really deep need for the AoH stewardship to come together. Not only to surface the next level, but also to sense into the lineage. AoH is not only a resonance and a practice, but also a lineage. We saw this pattern of three conference calls, and a gathering in May 2010; this might be in Axladitsa, but this is still open.

Toke and Tenneson are hosting 90 people now in AoH New-Zealand.

Check-in: with a local stone from the beach in Kastri as talking piece

Monica: I’m in my office, at home, and it has been intense days, because Toke’s mom needs support. The stewardship part; what I feel is important: I hope it could be a kind of stewardship that doesn’t take it into a movement, but … it is about loving the hosting part and the beautiful tools we have … I have the dilemma that if you put too much words on it, that it becomes a movement. More of tending to the well, and making it sure that it can flow. Happy to be on this call with all of my mates.

Sarah: Sitting outside in front of the house, a beautiful calm evening, a still day today. There was a lot of wind, and fires in Greece. Being vigilant about it is part of the rhythm of the day. Sensing into this call, sensing into the expansiveness of the pattern. The AoH is now getting known in orthodox settings, and with that there is that sense of really wanting to sense the patterns that are part of the DNA. Also what Monica spoke about… stewardship is showing up in lot of different circles these days.

Tuesday: I’m in my living room in Columbus. Thank you for this invitation. Why it feels important to gather? Recently we had a conversation about stewardship here; there is a larger pattern around stewardship to learn and to contribute to. Also sensing this is a larger pattern that we could benefit from – different levels and different ways, different places. We are really wrestling with it here: how to let it emerge… Phil: I too am in Columbus, sitting in my office. A lot of work done in these building, and a lot of dust on the windows! I picking up on the back end of Tuesday, what we are experiencing here… also I think that in the scheme of things the AoH doesn’t live that long yet. And now the exponential growth of it around the world – like Sarah said. Those two things combined, for the stewards, we need to have the opportunity to re-discover what that means, to strengthen the field. If nothing else than just hold this exponential field. We are also experiencing the AoH on a daily basis. What is the role of the stewards in crafting an opportunity for learning? Do we have a responsibility for this… we are all experiencing this is not trainings anymore, we go deep into organizations, deep into communities, what does stewarding mean? Celebrating with my wife our 10 years together: what was most impacting? Both of us identified that AoH had become the mayor factor of influence. For all these reasons I am glad to be here. Hearing all the voices, I realize I miss you!

Teresa: Nice to hear the voices, I am in Seattle. I am here on so many levels… my deep needing of the mates and the stewards piece… AoH is part of the world I am part of: conversations around money, connected to the Canadian role out of… Another meeting with Tenneson around the Health care work in Columbus, now it is coming into my community. We need each other – how to make it the operating system… Also sensing the depth of timing, we need to shift quite quickly… Being in the US, the level of polarity, the level of fear… doing personal work and having the mates there is important in this.

Maria: I honestly didn’t know how deeply I cared about stewarding. The calls that we had between the 5 of us ignited a very deep flame. It has to do with my musings and the difference between a pattern and a product. In my life, I have been drawn to allow patterns to reveal themselves. The AoH is the one I have given my life to. It is so different than making a product. We do it also here in Axl, with its own pattern, heart and soul. Also here: listen to the land – seeing how the AoH pattern and the land interact is very beautiful. Stewardship is the way that you lead – it is the practice to listen what comes through. Patterns cannot be sold, and only be practiced. What we are doing in the AoH, I don’t want this playful, loving pattern and practice - with seriousness and lightness - to become too much in form and become a product. As it becomes more known in the world, there is something about protecting it. Allowing … it is all about giving people permission to take and shape and express, what is right for themselves and the context they are in. I have this deep responsibility to wanting the pattern to be a pattern and a practice, and not something that is used like a brand. Like Tuesday, I come with a deep curiosity – what is it that I already know? And needing the mates to be listened to… there is so much love for all of you. Bob: I don’t know what I am going to say here… a lot of the words we use – like stewardship – we/I am learning what it is. Defining it too strictly is not accurate. As I go along, it starts with deeply caring for what it is, and let the pattern reveal itself. This play of …, the personal engagement in stewardship and how it affects my life, and there is the broader sense of that; not promoting myself – more like sacrifice something of my own for the betterment of what I am stewarding. Ultimately it is not a sacrifice. I can’t be a steward of this by myself! It is difficult to have a dialogue with myself; I have to be informed by all of you. It is not through the words, but to be with you – to dance, to dialogue, the tone of your voice, … I think that is how this pattern of AoH is passed on! People seeing how that person that brings AoH, how they move, how they speak etc. I want to be moved by all of you – I want to change by being in your presence…

Ria: I don’t know what I’m going to say. Have gone through many notes & harvest re. stewardship this afternoon. I resonate with what Bob says – when we stepped forward in June last year at the Shire – committed of holding the whole – that was clear from me – but I missed a lot of in-put since then. As I’m not so much in trainings – or in organizations. I’m not so much a trainer. I’m more holding the deeper questions. I can’t evolve on my own anymore. What is the right minimal – optimal structure for the constant learning for people in the community? I sense a need – but I don’t have the answer. I do care to let emerge a pattern of stewardship for a self-organizing network. What kind of tending is needed and right – in timing and space – so the pattern can unfold – not just for stewardship but also for the community – the pattern of: ongoing looking for the next level of pattern – not for us to find and then pass on – but: How to install the pattern seeking ability?

Sarah: Has anyone joined the circle? Did we all check in? I would like to invite us into the next level of circle. The question that came was: The mastery of stewardship, what is called for now? Is it simply coming together that will reveal it? Is that enough to see the patterns? Can we drop even more into the subtle realms?

Monica: Something is percolating; I picked up two questions during the checkin: What is the responsibility of stewardship? and What kind of stewardship do we want? I heard different voices: the metaphor that came for me: a form of stewardship that is quite simple. Imagine a wellspring – just sitting there and make it flow – sometimes there is nothing to do and just sit, and sometimes you need to do something. I hear between the lines – we want the same – but how little is enough? Is there a simpler way? I’m quite surprised around how readily people accept the concept of hosting. Toke and I were together with a new mate – hosting the International Association of Conference Centers – their heart is about hospitability; like: meeting them with love. The concept of hosting is us, and it is quite nebulous… difficult to find words for it… Maria: What is coming through for me – making sure the water flows – we can only do that if we have become the water – knowing what it is to flow. We are not stewarding something ‘out there’, but we are stewarding ourselves, and... How do things get passed on, is in the way how people become the pattern! Like Phil and Laura – the way they live and their relationship is the AoH. I think this is something that is, for me, about becoming conscious, collectively. Then I go and walk. Needing to come together to open it up, to amplify it… not stewarding others or a pattern, but stewarding ourselves to become the water.

Phil: My sense is much like what you say Maria. Maybe this is an exploration – there are 14 or 15 on this email list. We have been wiling to accept this name: steward. Maybe the exploration is: Why I have committed to hold that name? Maybe that is a good point to start. It has less to do with acting ‘on’ the field, but more with that I am willing to put that name on myself – and how that relates with the field. It might have a positive effect on the field… does this make sense?

Teresa: One piece of our patterns is naming what we are seeing. Simple way of doing that is the mailing I have been sending out, as part of what we are seeing, what is cooking. Also finding ways to … where we show up together – being on the email list – grateful for the stewarding of the list. Being in the trainings… and watching for different fields that are forming. Being on a call – seeing the Health care community of Practice: how to support that? How to share information and stories? Those are practices of stewardship that are alive for me: also hearing your voices here.

Tuesday: What came into my mind in listening… how much large scale work is starting to happen… stewarding these – like the AoH field itself – scaling up and stewarding the scaling up... What is needed inside of me to do this? I heard it speaking here…

Maria: That really resonated for me. From my perspective, the story of the work in the EC, there is something - I noticed when I entered that field, how the practice of stewarding was really important to hosting, or participatory leadership for scaling up in the commission. One level of stewardship was Toke and Monica, that they offer in different parts of the world, and then the local stewards – Mathieu – we have become more conscious of that. If that practice, the local and the world stewardship, if that had not been in the equation it would not be scaling up to the degree that it is doing now. It seems like to be a very important component of the scaling up.

Monica: To reflect on what Maria just said, I fully agree with this local stewardship. Mathieu knows the world we are coming from, those people are extremely important! The other part is actually those travelling, journeymen of the AoH. I remember being in Vancouver – there is something about being the total universality of this. People who witness – reflecting back what they see – there needs to be this linking. There is some significance in linking these local projects. The way it has happened was good. Don’t know if we can continue that, and if something else needs to happen. As long as we can connect as human beings, something will sustain. There is something …

Bob: This idea of scaling up is interesting, and I wonder if one of our questions is how to scale up stewardship? It has been one on one, like on the phone with all of you. Wondering if that is what we are looking for? Any structure that can support that – the scale needs to change, not the DNA…

Sarah: I’m drawn to what Phil spoke - the name of steward and then this tread of scaling up… these conference calls and the gathering is a way of scaling up. What happens if we bring an intentionally to that; seeing it on behalf of the whole and for ourselves – probably both. For me, acknowledging, when I showed up at the Shire in 2005; there was a sense of it, but not understanding what it meant. We haven’t seen half of it yet! We need to give ourselves the time and the joy of being in conversation with people who are just getting this stuff. Keeping this space clean and open – letting it flow. Taking out the weeds, taking out what doesn’t belong… practicing the art of protection – gentle and keeping the flow…

Ria: Continue on what Tuesday said – what if what we are hosting is getting bigger and bigger in terms of organizations and our community or field? Something about our personal competence in being able to hold that. It asks from us to have a deeper presence that allows to hold or embrace more and with that goes questions that are able to hold it all – like: ”How can we be like water?”

Sarah: The piece that was really critical for me in understanding, was the pattern that Toke, Monica and Maria saw – circles circling out from an entry point – next layer are participants – then practitioners and callers – then host of practitioners – then stewards of organizations/regions – stewards of the pattern in the world. There is mastery of the journey for me; from being an apprentice to steward the whole. It is helpful for people in trainings to hear this, we noticed; it is about natural hierarchy. It is connected with the scaling up. We go where we are called, feeding the translocal connection, as the work works more at root level there are levels of practice that needs to be forged. Like in Columbus, EC, Axladitsa etc. Is there a form that needs to be clearer? Is there a next level for hosts of host? Is there a need … also knowing the expansion needs to be grounded, a strengthening of the flow and not a watering down.

Maria: In the silence I was starting to see different elements: * Become the water, my own practice that is always there * Listening and watching, and the service it wants to offer - the scaling up, what does AoH demands of us on a bigger scale? What is it asking? * The element of the process of evolution – we are dying away –what do we wish to offer to others who want to go to the next level? What is needed there? * Then there is our own fellowship – the collective level – needing each other to see more of the practice and more of myself.

Phil: This is one of those chicken and eggs conversations… I’m trying to put some definition on stewarding. Perhaps in another call we can tell some stories, those of us who took this name, what is happening, what are we seeing? What are we doing? And from there tease out our behavior – what is in there that has the characteristic of this?

Teresa: and what are we seeing in each other’s offering? I see so many moments… that makes the gift of this field so strong.

Maria: I really love that! It gives form to our next call – so easily. I have also noted down the other questions: - What is the responsibility of the stewards? - What kind of stewardship is needed? - How can we be like water?

There seems to be a readiness and completion for this call. Then let’s check out… is there anything else?

Ria: Is there a need to have a similar online community platform as TWC, Alia and the Presencing Community? I would like to help in that – but not alone of course - if you sense a need let me know.

Checkout: What landed, what inspired, what disturbed us?

Teresa: I check out with an invitation: sending out an invitation to talk about what is happening – some of the simple acts of stewardship became visible here.

Phil: I want to thank the five of you who decided to call this. What showed up for me: hearing your voices stimulated to wanting to hear your stories – and what they mean to each other. Longing to continue to hear your voices and your stories – that is inspiration to me. Looking forward to the next!

Monica: I also believe in the stories, they can hold information in different ways – more than any brain way. I have a sense that this field is … it is impossible to keep an eye on everything – stories will give a bigger picture. Another story is how we all came into the AoH? There is something very simple, intuitively, very clear… we drew it in the Shire in ’05 – how did you recognize it? Happy to be part of the next one; really wonderful to hear your voices.

Tuesday: Really lovely to hear voices I have never heard before! And old mates too! Phil’s question: why did we pick up that label? That is what I am carrying out of this call. Bob: Really grateful to be part of this call. Also stories are good – that is how cultures are passing on; what this AoH culture is – is key to me. I like the question of: why did you put on this mantel of steward? There are also other questions in me, which is a sign of something that is happening…

Sarah: What I take away is a longing to go deeper… sharing these stories is important – I started to get a sense of what we are embodying… lovely to hear the new voices… There are so many paths we are walking, but how do we bring the knowledge and the experience and the storyline so that it finds its place in my heart? Deep friendship is woven in there…

Maria: I love to share the view of Venus – utterly beautiful! I love the beauty of our fellowship, not seeing each other for years, not even knowing each other – and then such tremendous ease… How does that happen? Why does it happen to us? Thank you for this call. I would love to have a Ning; I love the stories!

Ria: I’m happy too! And some longing to get even more clarity, to go deeper. The question about telling our stories is really good. I hope to have audio recording in place then, would be good.