Well, I have attended quite a few PM Camps. And in some way or other, every one of them was different from all the others, yet they were always a great experience. Yesterday and the day before yesterday, we had the 6th PM Camp in Dornbirn. My personal perception was that – at least for me – it was even “better” than all the prior PM Camps. And I gained a lot of clarity as far as the model and the aim of PM Camps is concerned.
As I see it, clarity is one of the most important topics for social systems. It might even be the one most important factor for success. This is true for families, clubs, enterprises, communities, political units – in other words: for all kinds of social systems. Wherever you have a clear concept of what the system is and what tasks it wishes to accomplish, you are on a promising path.
Something that can help on the way towards clarity is theory – in particular system theory. Consequently, the “system theory” given by Gerhard Wohland (@GerhardWohland) in Dornbirn was very welcome. He gave two impulse presentations that, to me, seemed extremely important. In one of those, he introduced the term “resistance nest”.
This is how I learned that life, both in original societies and our developed society, is and has always been a huge resistance nest. Actually, you could call a human life an accumulation of resistance nests as they are lived by each of us both similarly and serially.
The term resistance nest is made up of resistance and nest!
“Resistance” as part of resistance nest means that there is a lot of resistance. That hurts and will consume a lot of energy. Once in a while, resistance will make us desperate. It can make us plummet deeply into crises. Which is something that can really make life hard. On the other hand, ideas are only born from crises. Without a crisis, you might have thoughts, but not real ideas.
In the middle of a crisis, it is rather easy to collapse, sometimes in such a way that you cannot get up under your own steam. That is where the term “nest” comes in. It means that fellow humans will help us to get up after we have collapsed. The term “nest” also means recreation and leisure!
In a “session” with Gerhard on exactly this topic, Stefan asked if maybe we should turn PM-Camp into a resistance nest? And how to do it?
That is when I had a moment of clarity. PM Camp is not a resistance nest, nor would I want it to be one. No! What I want is for PM Camp to be a nest where everybody feels comfortable. Since all the participants appreciate and respect each other (and also behave accordingly) and all of them are prepared to open up and share their experiences, we have a wonderful nest of leisure. As far as I am concerned, you can feel free to call it “comfort blanket zone” or some similarly derogatory name. I rather like “comfort blanket zones”!
After all, there are enough resistance nests in my real life. Sometimes there is more resistance than nest. Consequently, I enjoy having a leisurely time at the PM Camp. When I am there, I want to indulge in having my “intellectual and emotional spa”. I do not want to show people how well I can perform or even fight. I go there without any goals and I do not want to compare myself with anybody, let alone compete with others. All I want is enjoy myself and experience and understand new and different things in a very comfortable environment.
Consequently, emotions, too, were not forgotten at the #PMCampDOR. The hour with five times pecha kucha in the morning of the second day brought us “pure feelings” and was the ideal bridge after the – as always – intense party that had concluded the first day. And there were quite a few “sessions” that were real heart openers.
It was great! Many thanks to all those who were there and supported us.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
Here is the result of my session “Happiness“, I assume that my report will also follow soon in the IF Blog.
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