I love this! The idea of collaboratively creating meaning. To me this means not being so attached to our own idea or outcome, but to the potential and possibility of what might unfold. We need this especially now given some of the deep divides. One potential path to a little healing is to open a conversation in a more ambiguous way to allow for more possibilities in the responses. A personal story of this was in my volunteer literacy project in Belize. Having no training in creating a volunteer project was a blessing because I had no set idea of what "should" work and therefore was constantly open to revising and adapting. It meant I was always openly listening to the locals and what they needed or wanted and then doing my best to collaborate with them and meet the needs. It turned out that creative writing in the schools was a need so I utilized the local indigenous legends learned while traveling village to village to create a first person narrative lesson plan. This also was ever changing depending on which region of the country I was training in <3 And then it further opened in other countries. Being open to the possibility of adaptation and revision allowed for so much more to unfold. And now in my current work at the World Bank, I am always adapting my training and listening to open conversation and meet needs. <3 I think putting myself in another's position helps me to open up to more possibility in my own actions.
On Mar 12, 2018 Kristin Pedemonti wrote :
I love this! The idea of collaboratively creating meaning. To me this means not being so attached to our own idea or outcome, but to the potential and possibility of what might unfold. We need this especially now given some of the deep divides. One potential path to a little healing is to open a conversation in a more ambiguous way to allow for more possibilities in the responses. A personal story of this was in my volunteer literacy project in Belize. Having no training in creating a volunteer project was a blessing because I had no set idea of what "should" work and therefore was constantly open to revising and adapting. It meant I was always openly listening to the locals and what they needed or wanted and then doing my best to collaborate with them and meet the needs. It turned out that creative writing in the schools was a need so I utilized the local indigenous legends learned while traveling village to village to create a first person narrative lesson plan. This also was ever changing depending on which region of the country I was training in <3 And then it further opened in other countries. Being open to the possibility of adaptation and revision allowed for so much more to unfold. And now in my current work at the World Bank, I am always adapting my training and listening to open conversation and meet needs. <3 I think putting myself in another's position helps me to open up to more possibility in my own actions.