online Complex Mess gathering reflections
Gatherings August 2024
Our very first online gathering included people from America and Australia. So what did we talk about? Here are some of the themes that came up... :
🌟 Humans are complex.
🌟 There is no silver bullet for complex problems - it's weird to be in spaces where everybody is so sure.
🌟 Judgement literacy - are we aware of how our mind works?
🌟 Complex problems can be overwhelming, sometimes you just want to run away.
🌟 How do you get people to embrace the messiness, while working within the parameters of the organisation you serve?
🌟 Maybe we need to redefine what a "solution" is - redefine it as "being in the mess and working through it".
🌟 Doing nothing is also doing something - how can we intentionally create space for that?
🌟 We don't teach complexity, how to sit with ambivalence, how to allow time to pass.
Our second online gathering included people from Wales, Japan, Scotland and South Africa. Here are some of the things we talked about:
🌟 There has been a speed-up, we need to slow down.
🌟 Coming to terms with whatever this moment is.
🌟 Visceral experience of being in this time between worlds.
🌟 We are in a constant state of transitioning (fractal, the world, us).
🌟 We have made our own transitions much harder through overthinking, need to tune into the body and intuition. "I'm more than a disconnected head floating around the world".
🌟 Being together well requires connection with our bodies - embodied relational approaches to ideas and transitions.
🌟 Continuous renegotiation with the present moment.
🌟 Craving for a certain future. Where is the possibility in the moment now?
We noticed there was a lot of similarity in themes and intention across all three of our gatherings (both online gatherings and our in-person gathering). It seems no matter where we are in the world, we are grappling with the same things, seeking the same connections, wanting something different.
