Partners In Dialogue
December 2003
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WELCOME
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It is this time of the year again when
we reflect, contemplate and think about the year that has
been.
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INDEX
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- Dear Friends
- Change
-
Constellation work
- Workshops
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DEAR
FRIENDS
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I would like to take the opportunity to apply the technology of the web to connect with many friends around the world.
I would like to express my gratitude to all of you who have provided mirrors in which I could find more of myself.
Thank you to all of you who have willingly contributed to my wellbeing and were open to receiving my (our) contributions.
Email newsletters, workshops and private client work have been some of our creative ways to contribute to the formation of a sustainable global human community living in harmony with each other and all other species.
In doing so I have shared my compassion and wisdom, have discovered where I needed to grow and deepened my world-view. Elisabet Sahtouris, an evolution biologist, beautifully expresses that world-view: “For the first time in history we are becoming aware that each individual and each culture has a unique perspective on the whole of human experience in our world and cosmos, giving us a basis to move beyond tolerance into mutual respect without the requirement of agreement in our stories of How Things Are. We are shifting from the belief that there is One True Story to the understanding that a multiplicity of stories can co-exist if we agree on basic values”. (www.ratical.org/LifeWeb/Articles/theBridge0102.html)
Agreeing on basic values seems to be the mandate of this time. I have asked myself many times: How can we agree on basic values if we don't develop a language and communication skills that help us meet needs in a compassionate and cooperative manner?
Marshall Rosenberg has given me some very effective clues and tools, that have empowered me to not only prevent painful conflicts, but also to generate my empathic understanding of others without compromising my own values. I am learning to express myself with honesty and clarity while simultaneously paying others respectful and empathic attention. (See also: Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication, 1999)
Of course, I struggle at times when I am confronted with world-views that have no interest in supporting cooperation like competitive, profit-driven multi-national economics, unsustainable technologies that devastate ecosystems, like narrow-minded science that reduces reality by excluding experiences of spirit, soul and wider cosmos, like dogmatic and fundamentalist religion that incite division and wars, like hierarchical dominant cultures that force people into various forms of slavery, rob them of their self-reliance, their ability to express and negotiate their unique interest. In moments of hopelessness Mahatma Gandhi reminds me, “become the change you want to see”. Elisabet Sahtouris provides a beautiful metaphor that reconnects me with the potential for a better future. She invites us to think of the present world situation as “a stage between caterpillar and butterfly – a time of metamorphosis when an old unsustainable system fights to preserve itself as a new system struggles to be born”. She explains:
“Caterpillars chew their way through ecosystems leaving a path of destruction as they get fatter and fatter. When they finally fall asleep and a chrysalis forms around them, tiny new imaginal cells, as biologists call them, begin to take form within their bodies. The caterpillar’s immune system fights these new cells as though they were foreign intruders, and only when they crop up in greater numbers and link themselves together are they strong enough to survive. Then the caterpillar’s immune system fails and its body dissolves into a nutritive soup which the new cells recycle into their developing butterfly.
The caterpillar is a necessary stage but becomes unsustainable once its job is done. There is no point in being angry with it and there is no need to worry about defeating it. The task is to focus on building the butterfly, the success of which depends on powerful positive and creative efforts in all aspects of society and alliances built among those engaged in them.” (http://www.ratical.org/LifeWeb/Articles/theBridge0502.html)
I thank you all for being pioneering imaginal cells and I know that it takes tremendous resourcefulness, creativity and mutual support. Please continue to let us know what impact our contributions have on you. It helps to strengthen our self-esteem and our knowledge of ourselves and each other. It helps us to feel connected and energized and most of all to maintain a positive vision of the future.
Many warm greetings to all of you.
Peace, creativity and joy
Arohanui
Mirjam Busch
Christchurch, Aotearoa, New Zealand
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CHANGE
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Change is immanent. Again, we are entering into a phase of reflection as the year comes to an end. How has your year been? What was your highlight?
One of my highlights was our trip to Australia. I felt very welcomed there and met many inspiring people. To once again feel at home away from home gave me the reminder of being a citizen of the world.
Another one was to speak out at the GE onion hearing. Far too long had I hold back. It's time now to speak one's truth publicly. (see also: Submission)
As one year closes another year is opening new possibilities. Change is always a challenge for me. I am a creature of habit. Yet, change is the only thing we can rely on, as a Sufi saying goes: “Whatever it is, it will change”.
This statement gives us hope in times of hardship. In good times, it is a reminder not to take anything for granted. It encourages to appreciate the present moment.
As for the new year, Mirjam and I will again be at the communal setting of Convergence 2000, a yearly outdoor gathering of open minded and forward thinking people. Later we can look forward to meeting the founders of the Virtues Project, Linda & Dan Popov. There will be friends visiting from Australia, followed by the Eco Show in Auckland, where we have been invited to offer a workshop and be part of a facilitators team. Elisabet Satouris, who inspired us lately will be one of the main speakers. So we can meet her in person.
Again, a year full of inspirations and mutual exchange is ahead of us.
We'll explore the community idea further, continue to grow more of our own food organically and in between explore some more the beautiful country of New Zealand where we live.
Befriending change and all the possibilities it gives us will continue to be the task in these turbulent times.
Wishing you all a good festive season and a growthful & fulfilling new yearlyAroahnui
Rudolf
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CONSTELLATION
WORK
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Margaret Koenning from Maleny,
Queensland, is going to be briefly in New Zealand in January, yet
long enough to offer one of her highly successful constellation
workshops. She speaks so passionately about this work that I am
looking forward to this great opportunity.
Her workshop, where she combines Gestalt Therapy with Bert Hellinger's family therapy concept and techniques offers an opportunity for people to explore their family of origin and find out what might have kept them stuck. We are not only affected by our own life's experience but also by what Hellinger calls the “conscience of the wider family system”. We usually, even with the help of individual therapy, have no access to this aspect.
Constellation work has the capacity to make those patterns visible and to spark off a healing process.
There has been great interest in Margarete's work, yet as it is often the case, people haven't yet committed to take part. Therefore there are still places available. Since Margarete works at a deep level, only 8 will have the opportunity to explore their family constellation.
However, there will also be the possibility for those who want to experience this way of working by witnessing and being representatives in other people's family constellations at half price.
If you are interested, please contact us a.s.a.p.
To secure a place, please send your name and contact details with a deposit of NZ$ 70 (cheques paybale to “Rumijabu”) to Constellation workshop, 11 Penguin Street, Christchurch 8007.
For phone inquiries, ring 03-3885292, or e-mail rumijabu@inet.net.nz
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WORKSHOPS
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For specific information on Margarete's workshop, 24 & 25 January 2004, please click here: http://www.partnering.inet.net.nz/310MKa.html
We, Mirjam Busch & Rudolf Jarosewitsch, will be offering a workshop “Towards Global Community” at the upcoming Eco-Show in Auckland, 25-29 February 2004. For more information, please click here: www.ecoshow.co.nz
Our next open workshop for couples will be offered in Christchurch on 27 & 28 March 2004
For more information, please click
here: http://www.partnering.inet.net.nz/312CPa.html
For more information on workshops:
http://www.partnering.inet/net/nz/workshop.htm
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