Normally death cafés take place in church halls or function rooms: we put on our cafés in a yurt.
There’s something intimate and gentle about a yurt.
My experience of being involved is that when you initiate a group conversation about death, the mood becomes more solemn and intense.
People reveal things that surprise you. The normal filters which we use to judge each other are swept away. I find out things about others I could never have guessed.
The setting and the subject matter make people more articulate, respectful and attentive.
Laughter tends to be sharper in this context.
There are some heavy silences. And there is a sense of how powerless we all are when facing terminal diseases and when we lose relatives and friends.
When it’s over, you may find yourself sighing. It can be a profound and draining experience, but you’ve had a ‘real’ conversation.
Video: BLU Lesson 4: What I learnt as International Czar by David Gurteen
One of six BLU lessons on what I learnt about knowledge management and getting things done in my days as International Czar for Lotus Development by David Gurteen.
In April 2005, BLU, the UK's Business Link University which no longer exists hired Fifty Lessons to produce a series of video stories for them to which I (David Gurteen) was invited to contribute. This is one of those stories.
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If you are interested in Knowledge Management, the
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Conversational Leadership
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