The power of presence in dialogue

When someone says the word dialogue, what comes up for you?

For me, engaged, thoughtful and at times charged discussion comes up for me.

Context

The immersion

Caroline has a wonderful grace, ease, yet assertiveness in facilitation. That assertiveness came from an acknowledgment of contracts to one another at a human level. To provide space, to listen deeply, to be on time, and more.

The topic of the day in the spirit of XR and the climate emergency, was dialogue around that emergency.

The conversation meandered across the use of the word emergency, the debate around what the emergency means to each person and more.

It felt like Caroline was walking us down a spiral staircase towards a deeper, more moving conversation, and she was.

The deep dive

Sitting in an open circle where everybody could see the eyes of one other, Caroline advised that people should only speak when they felt moved to and that they should speak with sparing voice so as to not labour a point or to lose the energy of a message.

I went first after a minute and honestly went off on a tangent a bit, advising how grateful I was for this experience and for feeling the connection between all of the peers, most of which I had never met until today; I did not do a good job of staying succinct, but I was aware of and learned from this.

One minute later someone else spoke up more succinctly about how they felt with regards the climate emergency. They felt trapped, hypocritical.

Two or three minutes of total silence passed before someone else spoke up about being angry, yet helpless.

This process of intuitive communication and dialogue continued for what must have been an hour, however in those up to 5–6 minutes of complete silence, there was an incredible, grounding presence.

I talk a lot about the power of presence, but this was different. It was deeper, more profound.

On leaving the session

As I stood up to leave I felt this incredible grounding presence, literally! I felt as if I had two steel rods running through the whole of my body, through the bottom of my feet and into the ground.

It took me a few moments to realise that this was not the case, but something deep and profound occurred during this workshop.

I am sure it was in part of the depth of connection.

I am sure it was in part the open heart, hand, and will of everyone in the room on which Otto’s work is based.

However, whatever happened was a privilege. A privilege to witness and be part of such a deeply profound walk-through of connected, deeply human dialogue.

Question 1 — How often do you give yourself or those around you space and time to be truly grounded and present?

Question 2 — What could shift for you if you prioritised slowing down as much as you do speeding up?

Do connect with Caroline if you wish to experience this for yourself.

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