NEW YORK METRO FOCUSING
6/6/14 Meeting Notes - Finding the Wisdom Within - Susan Deisroth
We are pleased to share with you meeting notes from the June 6, 2014 meeting of New York Metro Focusing. Larry Hurst opened the meeting, which was attended by twenty-four participants. The meeting began with Community Announcements.
Larry’s first announcement was about the next Focusing Folio. Larry reported that the editors of the next Folio, being unable to settle on a specific topic, decided to produce it as a “potpourri” and were inviting people interested in writing an article on any topic pertaining to focusing to submit their contributions.
Larry then introduced Melinda Darer, the former Managing Director of the Focusing Institute. Melinda explained that, after 17 years at the Focusing Institute, particularly with the increased pressure of the last several years, she felt the need for a change. When she focused on what was most meaningful to her, she found it was the work with international groups around community wellness, work that took focusing beyond individual personal development to communities, particularly communities under economic, social, and political stress. Together with Pat Omidian, who co-founded the Community Wellness movement, she is now operating Focusing International, which will concentrate on bringing focusing to communities, while listening to their cultures, rather than imposing our values on them, and on using focusing in nonwestern approaches to healing trauma. Melinda brought literature about upcoming Focusing International programs and called the group’s attention to a program in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in which participants would both bring focusing to the local community and return to a retreat center to share their experiences of what did and didn’t work.
After these words from Melinda, Naomi Glicken introduced the theme of the evening, “Finding the Wisdom Within,” and Susan Deisroth, the evening’s facilitator. Susan began by noting she believed a person giving a workshop needed to be impelled by a personal motivation. In her own case, she was seeking something inside that could help with difficulties in living. Having experienced losses in the last several years. she felt the need to develop more inner strength.
Susan told the group that each of us has his or her own quest, but that, as focusers, we also have much in common and that we were going to explore wisdom in a focusing way, with an attitude of curiosity, not judgmental and not critical. She asked us to be mindful of the pause when we listened to one another.
Susan then led the group through three exercises. In the first exercise, we went inside to get a sense of what wisdom meant to us – whether it was the dictionary definition or something else, and whether we might express it in a word, phrase, image or gesture.
In the second exercise, Susan began by noting that in situations of adversity, self-doubt, or criticism, it is hard to stay connected with wisdom and perhaps easier to see wisdom in another. This exercise was done in groups of three. After going inside and contemplating a person we regarded as wise and how we resonated with them and their wisdom, we shared in the triads about our experience.
The third exercise again involved going inside. This time, rather than sharing in triads, the whole group participated in a focusing conversation about our felt sensing of wisdom in others and in our selves. In the conversation, some people spoke about their small group sharing and how what one person said would spark a further insight in another person, so that the triad together seemed able to access more wisdom collectively than any individual focusing on their own. The importance of interaction and relationship to the experience of wisdom was a common theme.
We look forward to the next meeting, on Sunday, September 28 at 5 pm.
Prepared by Diana Kirigin
6/6/14 Meeting Notes - Finding the Wisdom Within - Susan Deisroth
We are pleased to share with you meeting notes from the June 6, 2014 meeting of New York Metro Focusing. Larry Hurst opened the meeting, which was attended by twenty-four participants. The meeting began with Community Announcements.
Larry’s first announcement was about the next Focusing Folio. Larry reported that the editors of the next Folio, being unable to settle on a specific topic, decided to produce it as a “potpourri” and were inviting people interested in writing an article on any topic pertaining to focusing to submit their contributions.
Larry then introduced Melinda Darer, the former Managing Director of the Focusing Institute. Melinda explained that, after 17 years at the Focusing Institute, particularly with the increased pressure of the last several years, she felt the need for a change. When she focused on what was most meaningful to her, she found it was the work with international groups around community wellness, work that took focusing beyond individual personal development to communities, particularly communities under economic, social, and political stress. Together with Pat Omidian, who co-founded the Community Wellness movement, she is now operating Focusing International, which will concentrate on bringing focusing to communities, while listening to their cultures, rather than imposing our values on them, and on using focusing in nonwestern approaches to healing trauma. Melinda brought literature about upcoming Focusing International programs and called the group’s attention to a program in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in which participants would both bring focusing to the local community and return to a retreat center to share their experiences of what did and didn’t work.
After these words from Melinda, Naomi Glicken introduced the theme of the evening, “Finding the Wisdom Within,” and Susan Deisroth, the evening’s facilitator. Susan began by noting she believed a person giving a workshop needed to be impelled by a personal motivation. In her own case, she was seeking something inside that could help with difficulties in living. Having experienced losses in the last several years. she felt the need to develop more inner strength.
Susan told the group that each of us has his or her own quest, but that, as focusers, we also have much in common and that we were going to explore wisdom in a focusing way, with an attitude of curiosity, not judgmental and not critical. She asked us to be mindful of the pause when we listened to one another.
Susan then led the group through three exercises. In the first exercise, we went inside to get a sense of what wisdom meant to us – whether it was the dictionary definition or something else, and whether we might express it in a word, phrase, image or gesture.
In the second exercise, Susan began by noting that in situations of adversity, self-doubt, or criticism, it is hard to stay connected with wisdom and perhaps easier to see wisdom in another. This exercise was done in groups of three. After going inside and contemplating a person we regarded as wise and how we resonated with them and their wisdom, we shared in the triads about our experience.
The third exercise again involved going inside. This time, rather than sharing in triads, the whole group participated in a focusing conversation about our felt sensing of wisdom in others and in our selves. In the conversation, some people spoke about their small group sharing and how what one person said would spark a further insight in another person, so that the triad together seemed able to access more wisdom collectively than any individual focusing on their own. The importance of interaction and relationship to the experience of wisdom was a common theme.
We look forward to the next meeting, on Sunday, September 28 at 5 pm.
Prepared by Diana Kirigin
