The International Leadership Council (ILC) has really enjoyed getting to know the two new members added this year, Joanna Kaczmarek of Poland and Mateja Vrhunc Tomazin of Slovenia. It's a great system we have, where some of us stay and some of us go each year. Though we never like saying goodbye, the hellos are wonderful. You can read an interview of Joanna in a News Feed from June at this link. Watch for an interview with Mateja in the near future!
MEETINGS WITH COORDINATORS
An important function of the ILC is to promote conversation among the Coordinators of The International Focusing Institute (TIFI), for the purpose of mutual sharing and support, as well as to ensure high quality education of those wishing to learn Focusing, Thinking at the Edge and the philosophy of the implicit. A couple of years ago, the ILC began to organize open meetings for all Coordinators and Coordinators-in-Training (CiTs), sometimes with an agenda to go over specific issues, and sometimes with a more open agenda. Those meetings always had translation available, usually to Spanish, Italian, French and Chinese.
Almost all of us in the ILC have English as our second language, and so we are very aware of what it's like to be in a meeting that is primarily in English. We can manage in English, but we can't always fully express ourselves. Also, even with the wonderful translators helping out so selflessly, we are often unsure if we are understanding the full meaning of what is being said. Therefore, the ILC has begun to invite Coordinators and CiTs to meet with us by language, where the primary language of the meeting is their language rather than English. That way, we are the ones who are listening to translation, and the Coordinators and CiTs can speak freely and easily in their language. Our primary purpose is to hear them tell us about their work, their goals, and their hopes.
So far, we have had two such meetings - one with Japanese Coordinators and CiTs, and one with Spanish-speaking Coordinators and CiTs. We were delighted with the response, and delighted to have the opportunity to connect in a new way with those who came. Thank you, Akiko Doi, for helping us arrange the meeting with the Japanese, and to Suzanne Noël, Florentina Sassoli, and our own Naty Calviño for helping us to arrange the meeting with Spanish speakers.
In both meetings, we asked those in attendance to tell us about what they've been doing, to share what they are proud of and happy about, and the ways in which they are teaching and spreading Focusing. We know how many of you out there are doing amazing things and we really want to know about it! In both instances, mixed in with hearing about what they were doing, we got lots of questions for us as well, which of course we were happy to answer to the best of our ability.
We are encouraged by the great success of these meetings, where the primary language is not English. We believe they are a great way of being in better touch with more Coordinators and CiTs. Of course, we plan to continue our regular meetings in English (with translation) as well, since those have also been very useful and enjoyable. We are delighted to have now added to our repertoire of meeting styles.