To all: My name is Dylene Cymraes--I am currently living in Maryland, but may be relocating to central NY this summer to continue building a project I have worked on for the last few years.
For those of you who have responded already, and those of you who have asked for more information, I figured it was time I introduced myself. I kind of came in the back door on this list, thanks to the kindness of Peg Holman--so here goes! I am the founder of a non-profit organization called Community at the Crossroads (CATC). The goal of CATC is to create a Greenhouse of Dreams for women who have survived a major life crisis--and in the crisis, have used up most of their resources. As we understand through OS, crisis (and chaos) are the places at which someone or something either falls apart completely, or re-organizes at a higher level. It is an interesting paradox that people tend to make life changing decisions after getting through a life crisis--death of a spouse, divorce, career redirection--and at this threshold, may choose to re-awaken old dreams of becoming. The down side of the paradox is that most of their resources--material, emotional, financial, spiritual--have been used up in the survival of the crisis. The ultimate goal of CATC is to provide a healing environment to help women unleash their own human potential--using Open Space as a philosophy, a tool, and a way of communicating. We are working on an Open Space conference to actually pull the pieces together to build the program and take it into reality, instead of just an idea. This is all coming in the wake of losing my business partner a month ago, to breast cancer--it was her belief that her cancer was largely due to un-healed issues in her life. By helping women heal and find their passions, we hope to create a dynamic model for living. The plans for CATC include a retreat facility for Open Space events and other training, to provide a partial revenue base for the actual CATC program. For those interested, I will include the mission statement in a separate post, so this one will not be so long. I have been a trainer, facilitator, writer, career counselor and jill-of-all-trades--I was a military spouse for 15 years (hence the patchwork of experience). I have experienced three open space events--and feel that I have finally found a place for my feet with it. In all the years of facilitation, I have never felt so much at home as I have in Open Space. I look forward to getting to know all of you! Dylene Maryland
