I went for a meeting yesterday. After a long while an ‘in-person’ meeting. The client was an old one, although it had been a while since I had engaged with them. There were a few hiccups leading to this that had thrown me off, to say the least. And I know when I am not centred I cannot tune in.
I reached the place on time, and sure enough the meeting got “moved” by 20 minutes. Instead of feeling more miserable I decided to walk outside in the sun. It always makes me feel better. It did briefly cross my mind that I was “dressed” for a meeting. As I started to walk ‘aimlessly’. I felt aimless. And strangely it felt funny and good.
Next to the office building there was an open space where some local slum youth were practicing football. And there were a bunch of randomly stacked large cement pipes kept on the invisible periphery of the space, where the footpath I was walking on and the ground they were playing met. As I walked I could see “snapshots” of the game through various pipe circles. Through some I saw people running, another I saw someone just standing and looking around, some I saw just the goal post, some I saw the ball, some I saw just empty ground. It was beautiful. If I was a movie maker I thought I could make 8 movies out of each perspective. And then stitch all the 8 stories back to one football game. I even thought of the movie name Pipe dreams.
I smiled at my own thoughts and felt better.
Something settled down inside me. I felt centred. And then I went up for the meeting and had a good one.
The organization had gone through a huge restructuring and had, in their words, a ‘surgery’ and were recovering but still had some trauma , and pretty much each of the 5 people including the new CEO I met, had a ‘View’ of the game. Each was different. Each was convinced that was the only view. And seeing from that pipe, I could see what they were seeing. I knew the ‘invisible’ had already told me the frame to the whole issue even before I had actually had the meeting. I had goose bumps
My feet took me to see, and my head found out later.
This brought back memories of one of the space methodologies, I was trained in years ago. Open Space
Open space originated by Harrison Owen, an Episcopal priest whose academic background and training told him that his study of myth, ritual and culture had direct application to social systems.
Harrison convened the First International Symposium on Organization Transformation as a traditional conference. Afterward, participants told him the best parts were the coffee breaks. We know this of course. So when he did it again, Open Space was his way of making the whole of the conference one big coffee break, albeit with a central theme ( question or “myth”) that would guide the self-organization of the group.
Open Space is a Technology. That gives structure to the intuitive emergent Truth
And It has just ONE law. I guess I love this technology for its Simplicity.
The Law of two feet.
Briefly stated, this law says that every individual has two feet, and must be prepared to use them. Responsibility for a successful outcome in any Open Space resides with exactly one person, You. Individuals can make a difference and must make a difference. If that is not true in a given situation, they, and they alone, must take responsibility to use their two feet, and move to a new place where they can make a difference.”
Simply put, If at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing – use your two feet and move to some place more to your liking.
The beauty of the law is that it allows people to self-select and “opt-in or opt-out”. And it’s always ACTIVE. Even when we don’t know it. It is active because inherently people want to be Free. So if sometimes when you cannot actually walk out, we walk out mentally.
There are Four guiding Principles of the Law:
- Whoever comes is the right people, which reminds people in the small groups that getting something done is not a matter of having x no of people or some specific people only. The Only fundamental requirement is people who care to do something. And by showing up, that essential care is demonstrated.
- Whatever happens is the only thing that could have, keeps people focused on the here and now, and eliminates all of the could-have-beens, should-have-beens or might-have-beens. What is, is the only thing there is at the moment.
- Whenever it starts is the right time alerts people to the fact that inspired performance and genuine creativity rarely, if ever, pay attention to the clock. They happen (or not) when they happen.
- When it’s over it’s over. In a word, don’t waste time. Do what you have to do, and when it’s done, move on to something more useful.
I have found the law of two feet very useful in many areas of my life, personal and professional. As I reflect it also stands to reason. How often do we pay attention to our feet? What they know. How often do we trust them enough to take us where we actually need to be but probably don’t know. Out feet are closest to the Ground, and our head the farthest. Must be some connection.
Really this should not warrant any more explanation of why, we must often let our head follow our feet.
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
Dr Seuss
Our feet KNOW. Our Mind has to catch up
But of course we live our lives in the exact opposite orientation. No wonder we are often disoriented.
How often we stay in the same place, physically and/or mentally long after our feet know we should be moving on. But our ‘head’ can’t seem to make sense. And we wait for that sense. And the rest of us pays a price. Sometimes too heavy a price.
I have had instances when I have done that. Many years ago, I was staying in a place and in a relationship that was long since over. But I just could not move out. My feet literally developed ulcers. To the point I could not walk. Over two years, I tried a few doctors and many methods, no one could tell why it was not healing.. It got so bad I had to stop working, and yet I did not listen to my feet. I only “woke up” when one day just walking to the bathroom I fell down.
My head refused to listen to what My feet had been telling me all along. I moved out in 3 weeks.
Whatever happens is the only thing that could happen – When it was over it was over.
Miraculously in less than a month, my feet healed on their own.
Our feet have the entire blue print of our entire system. So when they want to move it is safe to assume it means our whole body wants to move. And by not listening to it we are putting our entire system in stress and risk.
Perhaps we need to pay more attention to what are feet our saying and where are they taking us. Perhaps we need to let them lead and let our minds follow. Perhaps we need to pay extra attention to spaces where we go “Feet dragging”. They already know something we don’t yet.
Maybe we must accept that, our head may sometimes be in the air literally and figurately but our feet are grounded.
Perhaps that is why in some cultures we touch the feet. Symbolic of the head bowing down to the feet. Perhaps that is why they have soles.
No wonder paths are made by Walking.
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