First person gets to  the more we can be present to what we are experiencing in the moment, we can be present to richer possibilities that can emerge. Almost like the spirits of our own inner landscape can only reveal their guidance when we can be very in touch with them in the moment. As much as I love stories and sharing ideas, I get really jazzed when I can dive deeper into the experience in the moment. This can drive some people nuts, who just want to get on with life, I suppose. Maybe this can feel like too much work. It’s one of the things that drew me to depth psychology, one arena that totally supports being in the moment and learning from these experiences.

I have been writing about my own philosophy of ‘Facilitation Arts’, I also am owning up to how much I am motivated by the sublime. Not to marginalize everyday life, but to stand up for that which is unique and distinct and often just below the surface in each of us. This includes for me the art and music and food and places I bring together in my life . Also, the relationships and dialogues that we create together. I have this belief that there is a natural impulse in all of life to evolve toward beauty and the sublime, even the world in a grain of sand, as William Blake said. My role and passion is to help be a catalyst for these little evolutions in myself and my surroundings.

This first person gets at some of the heart of good facilitation for me. Listening past the debates and challenges in ourselves  and projects and listening for what is below the surface and wanting to emerge. That if we pay attention, there is this wisdom in us and groups that can create work that is special and that will more deeply engage people and endure. And to me this is also the heart of ecology, creating outcomes that have character and uniqueness and that will endure.

Reflection: Notice places you or a project you are working on is not being personal enough, that is focusing on big picture or little details without tapping how the people really feel about what is happening. It can be risky at times sharing our very personal reactions and desires in the middle of projects, yet it can be very helpful and powerful.

A recent Sunday Oregonian had a nice piece on Portland based design firm Ziba Design and the firm’s  evolution over the past twenty five years. What felt intriguing and relevant was the idea from Ziba founder Sohrab Vossoughi saying (consumer) culture has entered the ‘Age of Meaning’ with consumers craving a connection to the things they buy, that the mass economy is over. I would extend this to people longing for a deeper connection to themselves and life around us.

I notice in people I work with in city agencies or small businesses or local developers the challenge to be unique and express real character. There is so much pressure to conform to what is known in today’s tight economy and shrinking budgets and staff. And yet, it will  be those who express uniqueness and even eccentricity that can stand out with a grounded integrity to what they most value that seems to be rewarded over time.

The Division Street Green Street meets Main Street revitalization project has been an ongoing learning laboratory for the tension between unique visionary plans and the pressures of stretched city staff and not enough money that can dilute the possibilities that exist. This is not just another example of aspirations meeting reality, to me it gets at the more fundamental issue of what really has ‘meaning’ for us in our local neighborhoods and how do we support this.

Despite civic goals of city agencies, they are also very large and complicated human organizations that struggle to create meaning in their programs with we citizens as customers. One of the biggest challenges we have faces in our seven year efforts on the Division Street project is to clarify who is responsible for what? What seems to have worked on projects is to have a very robust shared understanding of core values and framework for a project. And then allow a great degree of openness in what forms these values can take.

Reflection: Notice some place you may feel frustrated and see if there are ways that you may be compromising your own values and beliefs to conform to some others expectations. Imagine small ways that you can begin to start to stand up more for the values you care about .

Why is it that almost all design magazines and staging look and feel so soulless? I’ve just seen some pictures in the Sunday Oregonian from the upcoming Street of Dreams tour that features penthouses in a few of the recently built condo buildings in the Pearl in downtown Portland. In each of these $1 million dollar plus offerings there have been designers contracted to decorate the spaces. And while they are each technically well designed, they  lack soul and a sense of being emotionally moved by the spaces. And isn’t this a big part of what we want in our homes, to feel embraced and to feel good???  It seems such a lost opportunity. Where we could be giving people the experience of spaces with deeper design character.  Instead, most designs and shops offer up the latest styles that celebrate the surface of things, which by it’s very nature is transient and less enduring.

Alain De Botton writes eloquently about this in ‘The Architecture of Happiness’, that homes can represent our deeper desires for ourselves and life, the things we most value. In my own design practice I strive to create spaces that people feel good in, that have personality and character. One key lesson I’ve learned for making spaces more enchanting is to have the space (home or work) include only things you really love. This is actually part of deeper ecological thinking, that if we invest in only that which we really love and that moves us, we will consume less and surround ourselves with what inspires us and nurtures us. While this sounds relatively simple, it’s both very challenging and rewarding.

Reflection: Are there places that you may be putting more energy into how popular something is or how it looks without having given enough thought to how much you really love it? This reflection can apply to most all areas of our lives. Notice the aspects of your life that you deeply love and imagine what qualities may be shared in these loves that can inform you in the future?