Unst+-+the+beginning

__Why Metasaga?__ //** “ **// //** The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step **.// //”// //Lao Tz//u

The idea of Metasaga came from Metafari  This is an extract from the online blog of the inventor of Metafar i, Leif Josseffson.  "As we plan for the Metafari in Tanzania it shows that the idea has inspired others in ways we could not imagine.  Kate Coutts from Unst, in Shetland heard about the Metafari. Suddenly we have the MetaSaga......"

Why Metasaga ?  Metafari belongs with the Massai. It is steeped in their culture, their heritage. It belongs in the landscape of Africa.  That is what gives it strength. Because the people, the land are one the impact of Metafari is deep and lasting.  To transfer the idea to Unst is to translate it in to the voice of the Shetlander. Here too, the Sea, the Sky and the  weather dominate. Our culture, our heritage surrounds us, shelters us, determines who we are. We are Norse,  Vikings, people of the North Atlantic. Our Myths are of Norse Gods, [|trows], giants and Finn Folk. Our Saints  are Olaf and [|Magnus]. It is only right that we name our experience Metasaga. //"What is told...". .Sagas are a narrative in poetry or prose, dealing with historica,l legendary and mythical subjects. //

The important thing is that the saga is narrative, it is the voice of the individual, the place. Metasaga is about using the landscape of Unst to provide metaphors to allow peple to explore their own story, find their own voice.

 __**UNST - the beginning**__

 //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.6pt;">**“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”** // // Henry David Thoreau // <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The Valsgarth Leadership Programme in Unst was to include an outdoor education, team building event. This took <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> the form of putting on a wetsuit, jumping off a cliff into the near freezing North Atlantic. Not my idea of fun and I was <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> not alone. Six others decided it was not for them. As the facilitator I had to offer another activity. Could I jump off my <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> own cliff and try the Metasaga out with a group? I had only used metasaga with an individual before. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> All of us had been engaged in professional and personal development in the classroom situation for two days. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Intensive learning and sharing. I felt people needed space to think at a deep level but also needed keys to unlock their <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> thoughts and feelings. Metasaga could provide activities that would allow this to happen. We were about to set off on <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> a journey in more ways than one. The white mini bus rolled up with our driver. <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">So armed with packed lunches, warm clothes, digital cameras and personal journals a small band boarded <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> the minibus. <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> Off to explore Unst ,but also our selves.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt;">Go Jump off a cliff **

“ **//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The longest journey is the journey inward.” //** **//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- //** **//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dag Hammarskjold //**

=<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Skaw - The beach at the end of the world media type="file" key="bluemull sound.mp3" width="240" height="20"__ = <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">//**"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open,**// <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> //**choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea." - **// //<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">**Anne Morrow Lindbergh** //

<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Skaw is the most northerly beach in the UK. The next stop to the north is the Arctic. It is a clear clean place where the horizon seems <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> to go on forever. <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Everyone was deep in thought on the bus .A heavy silence had descended. It is an uneasy quiet not a stillness. All of them needing space <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> to be with their own thoughts. Skaw gave them that space. As the leader I had to let them go off and explore. My only instruction was to <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> tell them to write a message in the sand. Let the sea carry it away. Let it go. <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> All of them reported writing words and phrases that the sea carried away. Only they know what they were. On coming back to the bus you <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> could see a change in them. The waves had soothed them, the beach had worked it's magic. Many of them made notes in their journal.


 * //“//****//I have seen the sea when it is stormy and wild; when it is quiet and serene; when it is dark and moody.//**
 * //And in all its moods, I see myself//** **//" -//** **//Martin Buxbaum//**

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**__Exploring relationship__s**

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">**//”//****//A place to spend a golden afternoon,//** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">**//To search ,like children, for a pretty stone,//** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">**//An ornament ,an aid to memory;//** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">**//And then to feel we are not alone,//** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">**//That there are others with us on this beach.”//**
 * //Vagaland//**

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">On returning to the bus I asked how many people had picked up a pebble or a shell. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Do you pick up objects when you walk on the beach? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Go back to the beach and collect some objects that represent people who are close <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> to you in your professional or personal life. Create a still life of your relationship to <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> one another. You can take a photograph. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> In 6 months will you create the same picture? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Now choose a pebble for someone or something that you want to remove from your life. Go down to the sea <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> and throw it as far as you can. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Now choose the object representing the person who is most important to you. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Place it in your pocket and carry it with you.

<span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">//**“A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles”**// //**–**// //**T.Cahillmedia type="file" key="bluemull sound.mp3" align="right" width="240" height="20"**//

=<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Skidbladner - the longship__ =

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Our next stop was the Skibdladner, a replica longship in Haroldswick. The ship was abandoned in Shetland <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> waters. It seems at home here. It is part of our Viking past. Vikings those barbaric raiders who laid waste to <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> anything they came in contact with. But Vikings were no better or worse than many other visitors to our shores. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Many were farmers, husbands, kinsfolk. Strong men with rough hands from oars and ropes and work. Now local people are restoring the [|longship], making it a focal point for tourists.

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__What do you do with your hands?__ ** <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> // “**A man who works with his hands is a laborer;** // <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> // **A man who works** // // **with his hands and his brain is a craftsman;** // <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> // **But a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.”** **- Louis Nizer.** //

Those rough Viking hands stained with blood, if we are to believe the history books, also created things of great beauty. Look at their carvings, their jewellery and their ships. What do your hands do? What things of beauty do you create? Is there a Viking in your team that has a bad reputation but underneath there is a different story? What is that story? How are the members of your team creative? The Skidbladner was built with care and passion. It was rowed here to Shetland with a huge amount of effort, yet it was abandoned. What have you abandoned?

**“** **Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm”****-** **Publilius Syrus**


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">__PURE windmills__ **

<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> A white metal container sits outside a normal looking shed. Beside the shed and container are two windmills. <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> The windmills have names " Birlin" and " Dirlin". The place looks deserted. Many folk drive past hardly giving it a second glance. <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> It is good to see renewable energy being used in this environment. The windmills must be used to make electricity to power the sheds?

<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Wrong!

<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Tucked away here on the island of Unst is a world leading development in the use of wind power to make and store hydrogen <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> which can then be used to fuel a car.

<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">This is the home of [|PURE] energy.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land// **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in// **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which// **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //we ought by right to hand down to them."// ****<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//—// ****<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Theodore Roosevelt// **

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">What sustains You? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> How do you renew your energy, especially when things are tough? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Where does the energy come from in your organisation? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Many people drive past PURE unaware of the significant work that is taking place there. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> What significant work are you failing to notice? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> What opportunity are you missing? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> How are you leading the field?
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__How do you renew your energy?__ **

**//“When you are in the valley, keep your goal firmly in view//** <span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face',helvetica,sans-serif;"> **//and you will get the renewed energy to continue the climb."//** **//-//** **//Denis Waitley//**

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; font-style: normal;">__Bobby’s Bus Shelter__

[|Geocaching - Unst bus shelter]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">This is about taking something ordinary and changing it into something extraordinary. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> It is also about a sense of fun and enjoyment. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Creativity comes in all sorts of ways. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> This bus shelter was decorated by a local family for their son , <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> who waited here for the school bus -a project that grew and is now <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> a major tourist attraction. You can even buy Bobby's bus shelter sweets. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Their website won an award. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> The group really enjoyed their visit. Laughing and joking, sharing the enjoyment. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Each of them signed the visitors' book.

//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">"**Creativity is inventing, experimenting ,** // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun. " -** //**//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Mary Lou Cook //** <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; font-style: normal;">__**Be creative - have fun.**__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">We have already discussed the way we are creative with our hands, but how are you creative in your work? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Who is the most creative thinker in your team? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Have you ever changed something ordinary into something extraordinary? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> How did you do that? Who was involved? What worked?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Having fun at work is really important. It is one of the major areas explored in [|FISH philosophy.] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> So how do you have fun at work? What event at work was really good fun? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Who organised it? Where was it? Which of your colleagues has the most sense of fun? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> [|Colours] and textures really impact on us. What is your work space like? Have you personalised it?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">**//“ A man’s character always takes its hue, more or less ,//** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> **//from the form and colour of the things about him.” – Fredrick Douglass//**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> The important lesson here is - Go on have some fun - be creative.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> **__Yoal Regatta - Pulling together__** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">All summer long ,in various locations throughout Shetland , <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> the yoal regattastake place. Each yoal represents their own district. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Teams are made up of 7 people and each boat has up to six teams. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> There are six people rowing and a cox to steer. The yoal rows out <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> for one mile before racing the one mile back to the pier, where <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> crowds of onlookers cheer them on. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> The yoals are built to specific designs and reflect the sixareens <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> traditionally used in Shetland for the Far haaf fishing. Here you see <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> a replica of an original sixareen ,that lies at the pier in Baltasound. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Our yoals and sixareens remind us of the loss of life in the Delting <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> and Gloup disasters, where whole communities of young men were lost in powerful storms. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Our Metasaga coincided with Unst Yoal Regatta so we joined the crowds at Baltasound Pier. Here the group <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> became part of my community, they experienced a community event.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 19px;">__**Pulling together**__

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Who is in the boat with you? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Are you pulling together as a team? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Who is the cox and what are they using to guide and direct you? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> What effort are you putting in? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Teams are made up of all types of people from under 16 years girls to veteran men.The skills are passed on. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> How inclusive is your organisation? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> What succession leadership do you have in place? What skills do you have to pass on? What group do you represent? Does that make you feel proud? Are you part of a community? Do you engage with community events? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Do you have a leadership position within your community, what is it ? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Is your organisation a community with common values?

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">What storms and disasters have you faced? What have you learned from them? <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> What positives can you take from them in to your present situation?
 * //“To pull together is to avoid being pulled apart.”// // Bob Allisat // **


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">__Church with a difference - St Olaf's__ **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">We moved on to Lund in the west <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> of our island. Beside the beach sits <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> the ruined church of St Olaf. This is the ruin of a rectangular <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> medieval church probably dating from the 12th Century. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> The church itself stopped being used as a place of worship around the <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> 18th century but the surrounding graveyard is still in use. Included in <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> the graveyard are the graves of two important Hanseatic merchants.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Bremen merchants,who moved to and lived in Unst in order to further <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> the North Atlantic trading link.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> The church has a leper's window. These windows were put in to allow lepers <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> and undesirables to view the service without mixing with the congregation. <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">This was our stop for lunch and the group could wander through the church and also

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> down on to the beach of Lund. A chance to relax, to for 10 minutes. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msobidifontfamily: Arial; msobidifontsize: 13.0pt;">Here is an arched doorway in the church. The special way the stones <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msobidifontfamily: Arial; msobidifontsize: 13.0pt;"> are arranged means they work together to support the arch and keep <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msobidifontfamily: Arial; msobidifontsize: 13.0pt;"> the doorway open. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">How is your organisation supporting you? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px;"> How are you supporting those around you in your team? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px;"> Are you keeping the doorway to change open? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px;"> Is there an open door ahead of you and are you wanting to go through it? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px;"> What can you see at the other side of that doorway?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">The undesirables were kept out of the church. Who are you excluding from your group? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Is there a voice that is not heard? Do you feel excluded? How can your organisation be more inclusive?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt;"> **“The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements,** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt;"> **but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, I was wrong.” – Sydney J. Ha**rris

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Lepers cannot feel, they are desensitized. Are you feeling? Are there things that you don't want <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> to go near because they hurt too much? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> The Hanseatic merchants moved to follow their trade. Have you moved to follow your profession? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> What did it feel like to leave your home? Where would you move to next? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> If we were to write the epitaph for your organisation what would it say?


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">__Lund - a beautiful western beach__ **

**//"Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean,//** **//so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience , which is going on around me. "//** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">**//Albert Schweitzer//** <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Lund is a beautiful beach facing West. The next stop from here is the USA. <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> We had done a lot of deep thinking and once again folk needed <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> space to be and think. All of them had their journals with them and they <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> could use this time to write in them. <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> We had a packed lunch with us and we all enjoyed the fresh air and food. <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> There were no deep questions here. We all need time to heal and have peace. <span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> My only question to you reader is " Where do you find real peace?"

<span style="font-family: Palatino,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"> **//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> D //** **//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">eep peace of the running wave to you. //** <span style="font-family: Palatino,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"> **//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Deep peace of the flowing air to you. //** <span style="font-family: Palatino,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">**//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Deep peace of the quiet earth to you. - Celtic Blessing //**


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; font-style: normal;">__Bordastubble Standing Stone Lund__ **


 * //<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">" What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments,[[image:VLeadersL_012.jpg width="284" height="212" align="right"]] //**
 * //<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> but what is woven into the lives of others." //**
 * //<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- Pericles //**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">It was time to head back north to Saxa Vord but there will be two more stops before the end of our tour. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> We headed away from the coast past the supposedly haunted house of Lund and on to the moor.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> We parked the minibus and walked to an impressive standing stone, said to be Shetland's largest standing stone. Some say that when this stone is paired with the nearby Burragirth stone they plot a lunar alignment.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Who knows what ancient geometery, astronomy or mystery these stones hold?


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.” – Neil Armstrong **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> What we do know is that these stones have survived for a very long time. What stories could they tell if they could speak? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> How many people have touched them?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> ………………………………………………..More questions than answers.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> **What is your legacy?**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> This standing stone is a lasting legacy. It was put here by a team of people working together.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> What is your legacy as a team? What is your legacy in work? Is your work lasting and sustainable? Will it endure?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> You can see a lot of this stone but many standing stones have deep foundations.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> What do you hide beneath the surface? What are your foundations like? What do you point to? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> What or who are you aligned with?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> Standing stones are mysteries, puzzles that leave us with questions. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> What questions do you have?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">//"**Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far into the future,you will gradually, without even noticing it,**// <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> //**live your way in to the answer?"**//
 * Rainer Maria Rilke 1903**

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;"> __**Boat Haven - the final stop**__

I was very aware that the group had been together in a small minibus for nearly 4 hours. They had been asked some very deep questions and been given space to think and reflect. Up until now they had been given clear directions. Each stop had beencarefully planned and questions prepared. Now I had to give them some choices. We pulled up beside the Boat Haven This museum is dedicated to the maritime history of Shetland boats. The boats are all traditionally built for use under oar or sail. It is well worth a visit. I gave them the choice : Visit the Boat Haven Visit the nearby Bistro and indulge in coffee and chocolate cake Walk back to Saxa Vordabout a mile away. Some folk did all three. The important thing here was about making choices. Deciding on what really met your own needs at this time. It was important that they each chose their own ending or was it the beginning?


 * //"THE END.........//**
 * //Or is it the beginning of a new Journey//**
 * //that stretches out before me,//**
 * //an uncharted sea." - Liz Babbs//**