Spaces for Growth Learning our way out of a crisis

In normal times we go about our lives oblivious to the structures, institutions, processes, and shared values that shape our behaviours. In powerful times like ours, deep structures of love, power, and justice are brought to light. International Futures Forum has been tracking three emergencies: a real emergency (the challenges we face in the world), a conceptual emergency (making sense of the world to take on those challenges), and an existential emergency (how all of this leaves us feeling). It is the existential emergency, the human consequences of living in powerful times, that dominates the scene. Together we need to support individuals, groups, organisations, communities, institutions, human beings in all formations to expand, to develop, and to grow, to rise to the occasion. This booklet proposes 3 steps: Section 1 explores the context of our times and how we can read the landscape more effectively, coming to feel more at home in it. Second 2 focuses on transformative growth, both what we need to develop in ourselves and how we can do so. Section 3 moves to transformative action that will shift our systems and patterns of activity towards our aspirations for the future.

Graham Leicester is Director of International Futures Forum. IFF's mission is to support a transformative response to the challenges of the times. Graham previously ran Scotland's leading think tank, the Scottish Council Foundation, founded in 1997. From 1984-1995 he served as a diplomat in HM Diplomatic Service, specializing in China (he speaks Mandarin Chinese) and the EU. Between 1995 and 1997 he was senior research fellow with the Constitution Unit at University College London. He has also worked as a freelance professional cellist, including with the BBC Concert Orchestra. He has a strong interest in governance, innovation and education, is a senior adviser to the British Council on those issues, and has previously worked with OECD, the World Bank Institute and other agencies on the themes of governance in a knowledge society and the governance of the long term. Maureen O'Hara PhD is Professor of Psychology, National University, USA; President Emerita, Saybrook University, San Francisco; and Director, International Futures Forum-US. She is a licensed psychotherapist in practice for over three decades and worked closely with Carl R. Rogers in La Jolla, California - facilitating encounter groups, large group events and training psychotherapists in many countries. Her recent work explores the present and potential future impacts of global cultural shifts on psychological development and emotional wellbeing. Books include Em busca da vida, with C.R. Rogers, J.K. Wood and A. Fonseca (Summus,1983); Ten Things To Do In A Conceptual Emergency, with G. Leicester (Triarchy, 2009); and the Handbook of Person-Centered Psychotherapy and Counselling with M. Cooper, P. Schmid and G. Wyatt (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). She is married to Robert Lucas with whom she resides in Carlsbad, California.

Introduction Outline Section One: The First Step Is Awareness Powerful Times “ We are always here” Three Emergencies Coming to our Senses Three Responses Three Literacies Section Two: Transformative Growth 21st-Century Competencies Expansion, Development and Growth We Are Already Competent Enabling Growth and Development The Core Stance The Facilitating Environment Spaces for Growth What Kinds of Space? Hosts and Guides Section Three: Transformative Action Moving Into Action Producing A Culture of Transformation The First Move Start Where You Are Appendix/Notes IFF Resources References