by Ada Luz Gonzalez

Hosting a Café is following a passion and a calling
with a heart full of joy, light, and gratitude.
It is taking people on unpredictable paths of discovery –
moving forward, walking together in collaboration –
until thoughts are ready to spread their wings and fly. . . .

It is exploring and discovering new ways to grow;
it is tending, nurturing, and sharing in relationship,
creating together ongoing conversations
that move like the rhythm of the waves,
bringing change and new meanings in their wake.

It is building a supportive structure that encourages
transformation, expansion, and new possibilities.
It is looking at the context that surrounds us
to consider what discourses are reflected.

It is listening with care to what is said,
always looking for ways to expand the conversation,
to pause, to reflect, to question, to listen, to engage.

You should focus on the strengths that give the courage
to climb higher, to look deeper, to walk farther . . .
gently teasing, bringing humor, walking lighter,
and in dreaming, acting rightly.

Collaboration between equals is the goal,
respecting needs, agendas, values, choices, timing . . .
never as an “expert” never truly “knowing,”
always curious, always ready for surprises.

Nurturing conversations uses all of me,
my full humanity. . . .
And in living true to self, in being real,
I become a clean vessel, for great wisdom
to flow through, illuminating others.

Ada Luz Gonzalez is a nurturer of transformative conversations facilitating change through dialogue and collaboration. She holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, and has extensive training in systems thinking and different forms or dialogue. She is also a licensed psychotherapist. For more than 20 years she has worked in Latin America and USA with individuals, educational institutions, and organizations, helping leaders lead change through transformative conversations. More information about her and her work at www.growth-coach.com

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