Theory U and You
The following poem was written at the Presenting Institute U-Theory Foundation Program in March 2017…
To move from a here to a there.
To go from a now to a then, without a rope ladder or a safety net.
But with Angel wings.
To move, pause, and look and listen and feel and pause again.
To discover things by finding their missing piece.
To go slow now to be ready, really ready, to act in an instant,
When truly called.
Going inwards to move forward.
Looking in a mirror to see the future.
A possible future and a possible You.
Planets viewed from space are beautiful
As is the unblocking of a teaching stuckness.
The journey is a journey down and a journey within.
To arrive at a resting place, not of sleep
But of revelation.
Or a glimmer.
To find a seed on barren ground
And to plant it in a wasteland Eden.
This is your Work.
To see the person who started reflected in the eyes of ancient children.
To climb up with more than you started and crucially less than you had.
To arrive at that there, then and now.
And to know that the end of this road is the beginning of your next path.
More ground upon which to be.
More ground from which to fly.
Tim Stanyon March 2017
Recent posts by Tim Stanyon
3 responses to “Theory U and You”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Thank you for this poem Tim. It resonates powerfully with some of my own efforts to connect ‘Theory U and You’. I offered a related workshop as part of the 2018 Fire Starter Festival here in Scotland. It is referenced here: http://ianwight.ca/uwork-your-you-at-work-explorations-in-the-application-of-u-theory/ and if you are interested I would point you to one of my co-facilitators (Caren Gilbert) poem on the experience – which she entitled, The Journey. Perhaps we will find other opportunities to explore our mutual interests. Cheerrrrs! Ian Wignt
Thanks for the comment Ian. I followed the link you sent – looks like a fascinating initiative. There were several folks from Scotland in the public sector on the Theory-U foundation course I did last year so I suspect some of them are involved.
I have been working with the U-process for about 10 years and went on the Foundation program to get refreshed which I did! The poem I hope reflected some of that energy and fragments of many of the heart warming and soul nourishing stories that were shared.
Do you have a link to the poem you referenced?
I hope our paths cross again on the journey.
Thanks for this Tim… the link to the poem by Caren, is embedded near the end of the fourth paragraph… I’m hoping all the links in the piece are working. If not send me an email and I’ll send you the pdf of her poem, The Journey. Cheerrrrrs! Ian W.
Ian Wight PhD FCIP GTB Senior Scholar, City Planning, Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba.
Leadership as Service – For Good, In Love, With a Smile
Email: ianwight1949@gmail.com