The Winter Intensive: Wendy Ormiston

Submission by Intensive participant: Wendy Ormiston

It is now the third week of the 25th Process Work Intensive and I am honored to contribute this to the InProcess Newsletter. I offer the following reflections from my own subjective experience.
To my mind and heart, this year's Intensive is a study of what is possible when a group, already deeply mature in the democracy of its diversity, is placed within the context of a training program, at its current greatest incarnation of wisdom, practice, and simplicity.

For instance, our group members are heartily courageous in utilizing a strategy of expressing desire for relationship in fire moments. We branded this standard, demand, and challenge for immediate, experiential relationship in our first group process, emerging from our "not so simple" negotiation of confidentiality. One member expressed: "Even though I may be mad or hurt, for me, the relationship is assumed ~ I want to be connected."  I noticed that once such a relationship high dream was asserted ~ and seemed to be generally engaged by the group ~ it became easier for us to entertain more controversial topical positions. The original dissenting point was:  "Confidentiality does not actually make a safer world."  I am delighted to watch our group practically explore what I perceive to be a subtle, delicious truth in this originally marginalized, "outrageous" position.  Stimulated by such nimble intellectual creativity, our group relationships seem to grow even more attuned, and from this, even greater authenticity emerges:  people are "coming out" all over the place!  All of this:  commitment to relationship, daring creative thinking, and an aspiration toward authenticity, I do believe, make the world safer, and also even more exquisite.  

I believe each member in our group brings the qualities I've described, and that it is the Process Work paradigm and quality instructors that are making our inherent collective potential manifest.  There is nothing better than a great teacher and the ones in this community are something else.  Beyond their kindheartedness and smart points, PW Teachers' transparent use of themselves as models makes a powerful case for how one might use conscious dreaming to live a richer, more empowered and effective life.

Thank you to the whole Process Work Community for hosting such a special Intensive!