Flow / Value / Effort

@Toni Blanco I too had a "bottleneck" feeling when:

1. I thought about the sociocratic consent process.

2. I suggested that Alex and Josh each seed a thread to address the concerns/curiosities they wanted to explore.

3. You called out to Alex and Josh to respond.

I wondered how you all feel about making a conscious decision to give flow priority? What does that mean? If, for example, Toni and I are getting jiggy with words and, for whatever reasons, Alex and Josh do not have capacity to chime in ... we (Toni and I) keep flowing.

This could be safe-guarded with numerous signaling agreements such as:

1. If you feel you want to say something but don't have space to say it, leave a reaction ⌛(hourglass) indicating you are attentive but need time.

2. If you like where the conversation is heading and want to indicate that you are listening and to encourage that it continues even in your asbence leave a reaction: 🎧 (headphones) indicating I am listening and I love what I am hearing.

3. If you feel you have something critical to say but do not have space to say it, leave a reaction: 🍄 (mushroom) indicating mycelial-wisdom :)

4. If you feel the conversation is heading in a wrong direction, but do not have space to elaborate, leave a reaction: 💔 (broken heart) indicating ... well ... I will feel heartbroken if we go down this path.

5. If you are in a flowing conversation and feel input from someone is missing get on discord and signal them ... letting them know you would like their iinput.

These signals prioritize flow and presence anyone who cannot partake right now.

If you are in flow, keep flowing and be attentive and considerate to anyone who is absent.
If you are absent from flow drop in and give a signal about how you feel about the flow.

I love all of these suggestions Ronen!!

Maybe we are connecting with a key issue here. We all have (a lot of) previous experience, even with attempts of launching an intentional community. This is good because we have a lot of learned lessons, but also some scars as well. Even my choice for prioritization of flow has to do with it, so "no expression of concerns" can be related to scars. I think that when feeling unease, it is important 1) signaling it with little entry-cost (@ronen proposals sound good enough) 2) having time to better articulate our unease, (i.e. pointing out something more concrete about the unease), so we are sure we are not just dealing with ghosts from the past but things from the present. As always, I am thinking out loud, so PLEEEASE take my words always as a hypothesis.

The emoticon system is genius @Ronen Hirsch - Love it!
I'm using 👍 to indicate that I've read a post but the diversification of symbolic meanings is great

1. Am I simply too busy to give this time that I want to give it? If so, am I interested in tending to my busy-ness so that I can make time for this crew work? Is there a way in which the crew can support me in dealing with this?

In some ways, yes---although I also recognize different parts that want different things. I am following along very consistently and where I find limited capacity is for getting in here and making interventions in the asynchronous space---but I already feel this starting to get easier. One thing that would help would be if we could try to start building out the process that @Ronen Hirsch outlined so I can see what the audit log updates and Loomio signaling process looks like in practice.

1. Is there a gap between my spoken (and even intended) values and my defacto values? When I prioritize (consciously or unconsciously) other efforts I am involved in, does that match my intended priorities or am I consumed by priorities that feel beyond my control? If so, how can I tend to this gap? Is there a way in which the crew can help me to explore and address this gap?

I hear where you're going here Ronen and I feel very similar to @Josh Fairhead in terms of how he outlined his situation. Also, I want you all to know that the conversations we have here are already having really positive impacts in some of those other spaces, especially Bhumisparsha and Buddhist Peace Fellowship, where I'm doing most of my similar work these days. Maybe in the longer term life of this group we can make some space to share back with each other how these interactions with "other spaces" are playing out.

1. Do I have doubts about the true value of the work we are intending to do in this crew? Is it something I authentically believe is needed in the world (as I perceive and experience it)? Or does this feel like another "great idea" like so many others I've witnessed, that will come and go like the tide? If I have doubts, have I acknowledged them to myself, to the crew? Is there a way in which the crew can help me to express and address these doubts?

No doubts whatsoever. In fact I feel that my confidence in what is emerging here has a lot to do with what has helped me hold some of the anxiety about our currently slow pace of activity.

1. Does money affect my ability to be available to this crew, and if so, how? We've never talked about money, we've never connected the work we are doing to a discussion about income that can support us and enable us to continue to be available to invest in this work. Is this a discussion I'd like to have with the crew?

This has been an area where I think some more discussion among the group would be useful. Like, how are we all relating to money and how does it relate to this work? I know for me my "work hours" schedule is pretty full so I have been considering this "research time" for my work with Bhumisparsha in terms of my own self-accounting for work stuff. And like I said above it is very valuable in that context! But I would love to know more about how others are relating to these things and how we may be able to better coordinate meeting each other wherever we are at.

1. Are there other obstacles preventing me from engaging with this work? Have I shared them with the crew? Have I explored dealing them with the crew?

I feel like I've been pretty clear with everyone that making the space to dive into our Loomio-verse is a challenge given my current setup (raising a 1-year-old while working from home during a pandemic, etc.) but I think that some of the things that are already starting to emerge from this most recent flourish of activity will be very useful.

also LOL @ how breaking up the quote turned @Ronen Hirsch 's numbered list into a bunch of 1s. I guess they're all equally important!

I want you all to know that the conversations we have here are already having really positive impacts in some of those other spaces, especially Bhumisparsha and Buddhist Peace Fellowship, where I'm doing most of my similar work these days. Maybe in the longer term life of this group we can make some space to share back with each other how these interactions with "other spaces" are playing out.

This. THIS. This helps me to react properly to what @Josh Fairhead said about

"Time is my scarcest commodity, I simply can't afford to waste it"

I did not resonated at all with the wording or maybe the idea at first, but then I completely did when I read the rest of the answer:

I don't feel I'm doing this here or I wouldn't have spent the last two hours catching up, reading and writing posts to finish up at 01:30 in the morning, but please don't ever take our work for granted. I'll meet the energy where its at and take it as seriously as the group does.

I already said this in one of our synchronous meetings, but I write it here: IMHO every step/meeting/cycle we take should be worthy by itself. So in that way we will never feel that we are "wasting our time". So far it looks like we all feel every step was valuable for each of us and for the group. Sometimes in different ways, but valuable anyway. That is why I proposed to be able with no drama to stop and step back if we feel that we are heading a path that we think that does not worth the effort. I would feel terrible if I contribute to waste @Josh Fairhead time, and anyone else for that matter, because is (in general) our more scarce resource.

It is outstanding how generative this twist in the mandala (mathematical catastrophe, as @Alex Rodriguez just put in our Discord channel with exquisite sense of humor) has been, and I agree that all this should be reflected at the log. So, (and this is my personal positioning) I will not leave the crew/process when every step generates value as it does until now. I am even open to the possibility to "fail" in our initial purpose just because we end up building together something even more valuable of what we intended in the first place.

As is the case of @Alex Rodriguez, our work is also having a good impact in my other spaces. I do think that reflecting on and sharing the good impact of our work out of our group would be a excellent "fuel" to the process, and of course responds to @Ronen Hirsch interest on it.