Back in Monticello, Minnesota on the banks of the Mississippi River where we are running the third residential learning session in collaborative leadership for a cohort of groups working to improve health in their communities.<\/p>\n
The river is high here, and the channel is full. \u00a0Downstream, in the rest of the United States, the Mississippi is challenging communities and families who are in a fierce struggle to learn how to live with the river’s whims, with the river’s power and its overwhelming desire to renew the floodplains that stretch away from the main channel.<\/p>\n
Sitting by the river yesterday it felt right to offer a blessing to the water so that as it travelled it would use its fullness for good, and it occurred to me that at the end of this nine month period of training and working together, our participants are also full and ready to move out and do serious work. \u00a0So the dialogue poem I wrote this morning, a harvest of the check in circle, was offered as a blessing to the river of leadership that was flowing through this room.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have grown more open<\/p>\n
to new ways of working and meeting<\/p>\n
collaborating, fabricating ideas<\/p>\n
I have a garden where I relax<\/p>\n
and am relaxed about taking time<\/p>\n
having fun while I get things done.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gradually graduating<\/p>\n
expanding myself settling myself<\/p>\n
knowing you as friends, partners and allies<\/p>\n
tend to what’s starting, the group that tries to change the world<\/p>\n
starts the work.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The river connects us,<\/p>\n
sends a shiver of recognition<\/p>\n
through names that come down to us<\/p>\n
between the banks,<\/p>\n
a thanks that is my privilege to offer<\/p>\n
to this little village.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This is a space of learning,<\/p>\n
earning my knowledge in a community that cares<\/p>\n
moving forward together further than I ever dared to go<\/p>\n
on my own.<\/p>\n
I am always asking, who is not here? \u00a0What do we need to be clear?<\/p>\n
Together we can act without fear.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The process is here<\/p>\n
and the chance to mentor is at hand.<\/p>\n
It’s a transition that is sad on the one hand<\/p>\n
but I’m glad to use the ning thing and get face to face<\/p>\n
to learn how much more we can do.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have comfort and peace, sitting in this chair<\/p>\n
much more aware of my triggers and cues<\/p>\n
so I know it’s not just a brainwashing ruse.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Instead it seeps into my work,<\/p>\n
creeps into my practice, charms and disarms,<\/p>\n
I came here guarded and shy<\/p>\n
but over time I have started to fly with new skills,<\/p>\n
more at home than I ever thought I’d be<\/p>\n
in the chaordic space of discovery.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My art has been liberated,<\/p>\n
and I can draw on the inspiration of the heart.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Just to come and sit in a room of friends<\/p>\n
is an end in itself. \u00a0But a space that gives so much learning<\/p>\n
is the space I have been yearning for.<\/p>\n
I’ve learned to fit and use this space to reclaim sanity<\/p>\n
that has eluded me in my daily life.<\/p>\n
I was feisty when I arrived, wanting to bust through walls,<\/p>\n
but now what calls is a gentle opening of doors<\/p>\n
and I see so much more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Your stories change me and my work. \u00a0Change is good<\/p>\n
and growth is inevitable, even though what we are doing is unexplainable,<\/p>\n
people know it has worth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Communicating and collaborating I’m more self aware,<\/p>\n
living without fear,<\/p>\n
whether tending bar and slinging beer, there is a resilient wealth<\/p>\n
that comes in my work public health.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I’m hip to this flip in ways of working<\/p>\n
with sedated conversation, co-created presentation,<\/p>\n
collective self-preservation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thankful and appreciative. \u00a0I am no longer alone. \u00a0These four I brought from home<\/p>\n
mean the world to me. \u00a0This has been like the blossoming of bulbs<\/p>\n
the flowers reaching for the light through the occasional dump of snow,<\/p>\n
always rising, always knowing that the spring is coming<\/p>\n
that the flower will open and our power will rise into a glorious summer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I am more aligned and intentional<\/p>\n
more present and keeping a sentinel watch<\/p>\n
over what old Swedes and Norwegians can do<\/p>\n
posting statements on the doors that we will no longer go through,<\/p>\n
and leaving notes about where else we will go, what else we will do.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My story has been one of complication,<\/p>\n
each retreat has resulted in an emergency<\/p>\n
some urgency that has resulted in surgery.<\/p>\n
And that is true in community too, where we have focused on<\/p>\n
what needs to be done…we can laugh now, but it isn’t always fun.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The truth is that we sometimes lose body parts that you can’t see,<\/p>\n
we are working on invisible health disparities,<\/p>\n
privilege and white supremacy channeling the energy<\/p>\n
of discomfort from anger to resiliency, and working change to create opportunities<\/p>\n
for long term change sustainability.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I walked in here to see the circle<\/p>\n
I knew the work was here, the task is to braid together<\/p>\n
what we have made together, but I already grieve<\/p>\n
for what we will leave behind when we go home,<\/p>\n
and I don’t want to be alone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I feel worthy to practice here.<\/p>\n
The further I walk down the path of vague notions<\/p>\n
the more I find oceans of possibility releasing into<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the car, we pool our learning, drink from the clear water<\/p>\n
that we found in the place where we now ground ourselves<\/p>\n
knowing that we can break patterns and do anything together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Clarity and calm, and growing personally<\/p>\n
has been a healing balm for me own growth and learning;<\/p>\n
ideas rearranged by being with strangers<\/p>\n
who are friends now and who chatter in the back of the van<\/p>\n
that is speeding forward toward.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I can sit here through sun, rain and snow,<\/p>\n
see the community that grows<\/p>\n
from thirty kind hearts, sat beside a river that ever flows.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Back in Monticello, Minnesota on the banks of the Mississippi River where we are running the third residential learning session in collaborative leadership for a cohort of groups working to improve health in their communities. The river is high here, and the channel is full. \u00a0Downstream, in the rest of the United States, the Mississippi is challenging communities and families who are in a fierce struggle to learn how to live with the river’s whims, with the river’s power and its overwhelming desire to renew the floodplains that stretch away from the main channel. Sitting by the river yesterday it …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[22,19,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collaboration","category-conversation","category-poetry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piBp1-QF","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3266,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3265\/revisions\/3266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}