Hi everyone (and I do mean everyone on the list)

Back at my computer after a welcome break.

I sit with a mixture of sadness and deep regret. While I was out, I was reflecting on what a great loss it is that we have this list, with so many people in the gestalt community, and rather than it be a be a resource… a truly rich engagement of our community where ideas can be explored and grappled with in ways both lively and respectful, it mostly is not.

It’s a loss to me that Lynne has decided to leave, (and if you’re still here Lynne, to me your decision is both courageous and respectful). I take seriously her parting comment about understanding in a new way the hurt that people of color feel in engaging in our gestalt community. I see instances of this carelessness often, and sadly the cruelty remains in some corners of our community. I’ve long thought that a bind spot for us as gestaltist is our understanding of power, particularly the power dynamics that have structured our history and our practice. This for me is one more example of this.

How I long for an engagement with my colleagues that would allow us to engage thoughtfully, with all the combined wisdom of our years and practice, and with a welcoming vitality that would have new-commers to our community excited to join the conversation. Sadly this seems a rather desperate hope…

Leanne
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