Thanks to Bob at the Turtle Island Native Network I have learned of a number of the indigenous peoples in the Andaman Sea who have been decimated by the tsunamis. Here are some links to some articles on them. While it seems true that groups like the Sentinelese have eschewed contact with outsiders up to the present day, still some of these articles treat these peoples as endangered species, so if you can get past the unsophisticated cafe anthropology(prmitive, negrito, etc.), there is some news in there.

For more details about the tribal peoples in question, here are some better links:

• The Indian government’s recognition of the rights and title of the Jarawas and the Sentinelese
• The Andamans/Nicobar Yahoo Group
• A brief history of the colonization of Andamans

In the last couple of days I have learned a couple of secrets about breathing and smiling.

I was listening to a recording of a teaching by Thich Nhat Hahn from the 1980s and he said this:

Thich Nhat Hahn also reminds us to smile when we breathe in meditation, to reclaim our smile from whatever is holding it when we aren’t.

The second secret – two secrets really – I learned from my friend, Myriam Laberge and they were about facilitation. First, understand that the operating system of groups is in fact breathing: take an in breath to collect the oxygen you need for living, breath out to disperse energies and toxins and breathe in again. Groups thrive when they breathe, and when the transition between in breath and outbreath is marked with a sense of accomplishment and agreement, a point where we look around the group and smile. Anything you can do to get a group through this process once, helps you to build momentum so that as you open up the group to bigger and bigger work, they already have that experience of converging and smiling. Even the most conflicted group can agree on something, even if it’s the quality of the weather at the moment. Going through the cycle of opening and converging brings life and fresh oxygen to group work.

And so, leading from this Myriam’s second secret is that any process will work with this operating system but only if the facilitator is aligned authentically with it. This is why as facilitators we get into the groove on certain processes. They more we use them and deepen our understanding of them, the more authentic they become and the better we are able to work with the operating system that invites breath and smile.

Every year I look back on all the work I have been a part of, and I like to publically thanks everyone who has invited me to be a part of their lives this year. It has been a busy one, with trips to New Zealand, the United States, and every Canadian province from British Columbia to Quebec. So thanks are due to the following groups who invited me to come work with them:

I would also like to thank my associates and partners who have worked with me over this past year, including Chris Robertson, Michael Herman, Crystal Sutherland, Cheryl Matthew, Sienna MacMillian, Brenna Latimer, David Stevenson, Stan Bear, April Bosshard, Brian Creswick, Kathryn Thompson, Mere Wetere and Michael Elkington.

And a happy new year to all the readers of Parking Lot. There is much going wrong in the world, from war to tsunamis to the smaller personal losses in all our lives, but your reading and contributions to this weblog are gifts that shimmer in the dross and keep me focused on what matters.

See you in 2005.

From a conversation with Krishnamurti, on the art of listening:

David Bohm, after many conversations with Krishnamurti, developed the concept of Dialogue in which seeing and suspending were intimately related. Krishnamurti here points to suspending biases and conditioning that allow us to both see to the root of things and listen deeply to one another.

I’m curious about how people might do this is daily life. It’s one thing to enter a deeply relfective state in a retreat and practice seeing and listening, but in daily life, when these practices are critical, how do we quickly enter that state where real seeing is possible? What do you do to set aside your biases, prejudices, assumptions and conclusions? How do you suspend in the moment?

Rob Paterson is leading a charge for a new movement, taking Martin Luther for his inspiration:

Nailing the theses to the door, I’d say. Even though the 95 Theses meme was used by Cluetrain, you can’t have too much 21st century protestantism. Stay tuned…