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Hi Wise Democracy folks,

This is a quick newsletter note to reconnect....


** SURVEY RESULTS **

Below are highlights of our recent survey and how I would like to respond to it, providing you with some services. 36 of our 172 wise democracy subscribers responded to that survey, which is 21% - which is actually pretty good. The results show this:

64% would like to hear more about the Wise Democracy Project and/or its pattern language, just in general.

39% would like to participate in an online class, workshop or seminar on wise democracy and/or the pattern language.

36% would like to get the periodic newsletter they signed up for.

36% would like to talk with others about wise democracy and the pattern language.

36% would like help thinking about a challenge or opportunity they're engaged with.

36% would like to participate in co-creating a community of practice that uses the pattern language.

33% have ideas and/or projects of their own that Ihey’d like to share.


** MOVING WISE DEMOCRACY PROJECTS AHEAD **

These results suggest many possible projects we could do. Given my limited capacities at the moment, what I’m going to do for starters are the following:

* MONTHLY VIDEO CALL: Once a month I’ll offer a 90 minute open participation wise democracy video conversation (using Zoom.us). I’ll use the first 10-15 minutes talking about some aspect of wise democracy and/or its pattern language. Then I’ll "open the floor" for questions and comments from the participants. I’d also hang out for about 30 minutes after the main event to talk with whoever wants to stick around.
To find the best time for doing this, I will do a Doodle Poll. This month I will ask how many of you could join such a conference call at various times on Wednesdays, Fridays or Saturdays (focusing on midday Pacific Times which are good for US and EU folks). Please email me if none of the times I offer works for you, and what times would work - especially if you live in Asia or Australia/NZ. I’ll see what I can do to accommodate you. ANSWER THIS DOODLE POLL https://doodle.com/poll/d8ydzk4rmga8n6ef .

* ONLINE COURSE PLANNING: In the calls, we can explore what kind of online course would best serve those of you who are interested. I will then see if I have energy to create such a course (with any help I can get from some of you :-)….

* MONTHLY NEWSLETTER: At least once a month I'll send you a newsletter - sometimes very brief and informal (like this). My previous attempts to send you a frequent, substantive and fully formatted newsletter ended up becoming a barrier to sending you anything at all. No more!!

* CONNECTING WITH FACEBOOK: Creating more engagement on the wise democracy Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pg/WiseDemocracyPL - and connections between people on that medium and the WD-PL project site, starting with enlisting the FB page followers to subscribe to this newsletter and for all of you to add your thoughts, resources, and questions into the FB page. I think the FB page could become a major forum for people here in the Wise Democracy Project site.

IMPORTANT: Let me know if you’d like to work with me to provide better services for people interested in wise democracy. My capacities are limited but could be greatly magnified with some help. With such help, I can imagine two (potentially related) initiatives we could offer that speak to what some of you asked for in the survey, but require a bit more commitment from all involved:

* COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE? We could convene people interested in forming an ongoing community of practice to explore what that would look like that would be exciting for them and inspire them to work together to manifest it.

* WDPL LEARNING/SUPPORT FELLOWSHIP? We could create a learning and support fellowship to help each other think about our projects. The suggestions and questions we offered each other would be grounded in - but not limited to - the wise democracy pattern language. This could take the form of a group of 6-20 people committed to convening regularly (e.g., once or twice a month) via video conference (Zoom.us) to spend 90-120 minutes reflecting on projects being worked on by one or two of their fellows, offering ideas and perspectives to help the focus people think better about what they’re doing and to make better progress. Participants would take turns being a focus person, while providing support the rest of the time. Past experience with such a fellowship showed us that everyone involved learns a lot during this process, even when their project is not the focus of everyone else’s attention. AND the effort produces a really tight online community - which is a really delightful bonus!


** KEY QUESTIONS FOR EACH PATTERN! **

At the instigation of a colleague exploring ever deeper and more transformational questions, I accepted the challenge to create questions for each of the wise democracy patterns. The questions are intended to communicate what each pattern is about even if those questions are the only information a person has about the pattern. The questions also invite the reader into active exploration of the meaning and application of each pattern or even give specific suggestions of how to use it. Here are two examples of what I came up with:

PATTERN 1 – ALL CONCERNS ADDRESSED
Does anyone have any concerns about what has been proposed here?
What’s your concern? Give it to me. (Used when one participant attacks the ideas of another. When they respond, listen and reflect/mirror their answer well to ensure they feel really heard.)
How can we translate the disagreements we have with them - and they have with us - into concerns we can all try to address together?
What could happen here that would address your very real concern(s)?

PATTERN 5 – CAPACITANCE
How can we increase our capacity to deeply see and feel the fullness of what’s happening in and around us, even when it’s unsettling?
How do you feel about the various ways we have of dealing with disturbance - like trying to figure it out or fix it up, turning away from it, just being with it? What else? What are the pros and cons of these various approaches?
Does it make sense to get more aware of what’s going on here before we react?
What’s the bigger picture of what’s happening that we might see if we just stopped, looked and really listened to the signals - both weak and strong - that are inside us, among us, and all around us…?

I also created questions for the “New Patterns Under Consideration” https://www.wd-pl.com/patterns-under-development/

Do such questions seem like a valuable resource? Why or why not? Should we post all the questions on the (already very big and complex) wise democracy project website?

Would you like to try to create a question or two for one or more of the patterns? If so, send me what you come up with at cii@igc.org. I’ll share your ideas in a future newsletter.


** WEBSITE NEWS **

* A lot more resources have been added to various pattern pages, so if you have favorite patterns, check their pages.

* Several new patterns have been added to the “patterns under consideration” page. Check out https://www.wd-pl.com/patterns-under-development/. There are a couple of dozen other patterns not yet adequately developed or reviewed that are not included in that page. As the saying goes: “There are lots more where that comes from!” :-) If we can form even a small community of practice, they could learn to do some of this pattern development work.

* My WDPL website colleague Martin Rausch has explored turning the pattern language inside out and listing which patterns are associated with various WDPL methods and approaches. Check out https://www.wd-pl.com/method-pattern-overview/ to see what I mean.


That’s it for now. Let me know your thoughts and where your energy is.

Coheartedly,
Tom

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