Diane - I think all of us facilitators have experienced a conversation along
these lines:
Person A: What type of process do you lead?
Facilitator: A Family Constellation.
Person A: I've never heard of it. Tell me about it. It sounds very
interesting.
Facilitator: A Family Constellation is ..
As you explain, there comes the moment when you realize Person A has tuned
out and is thinking about something else.
I think once you get into the principles section, you are going to lose your
readers. I subscribe to your list of 7 first principles, but I don't think
readers of an alternative health magazine are going to be able to comprehend
them in the way you intend. They are too easily confused with a new list of
"rules" to be accepted or rejected. The presentation is too dense.
Here's an article from Spirituality & Health magazine that follows a proven
formula for introducing innovative ideas to popular audiences.
http://www.family-healing.com/Spirituality%20and%20Health/Spirituality%20and
%20Health%20article.pdf
It lightly mixes technical information, expert quotes, and human interest
content.
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of DIANE YANKELEVITZ
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:44 PM
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ConstellationTalk] article
Hi everyone, I have been asked to write an article for Natural Life News
which is circulated throughout Montana. I'd like to hear your feedback to
improve it.
Diane Yankelevitz
www.WisdomHealing.com
Systemic Constellations for Family and Business
Our families give us life and define our lives. Most families are
dysfunctional to some extent owing to traumatic events in their own lives or
the lives of their ancestors (including parents). These traumas include
wars, injustices, crimes, abandonment, adoption, premature death, missing
persons, death during military service, famine, emigration to another
country, lost fortune, severe or chronic illness, physical or mental
disability, suicide, abortion, miscarriage, and stillbirth, And all of our
families have been affected by at least one of these.
In my own family, all four of my grandparents were born in Eastern Europe
and came to this country as children in the late 1800's. Two of my
great-grandfathers were killed in ethnic conflict. My father's mother was 4
years old when her father was killed and she and her mother emigrated to the
US. Her mother's heart was broken and she must have withdrawn because my
grandmother was very closed. She never hugged her grandchildren, so I can
only imagine what my father's upbringing was like. I do know that he, too,
closed his heart when his mother almost died, once from a severe car
accident, and later from lockjaw. When asked about his childhood, those are
the only two stories he would ever tell. I also know that the family was
very poor and moved so frequently in search of work, that my father attended
at least 14 different schools and never made friends. He did the best he
could, but the result was that I was trained to stuff my emotions and was
very angry. I have since learned ! better, but it took a lot of trauma and
help. Just understanding what my grandmother went through showed me a
different way to appreciate my father. In fact, it wasn't until after a
Constellation that I was told that two of my grandfathers had been killed,
and my grandmother had a sister who died of tuberculosis at age 24.
During a Constellation you get to see the origin of your experience in a
different light and are able to accept what is, and find peace. After this
shift, you become more able to change your life and your relationships with
family, partners, children, and co-workers.
Principles that are required to allow healthy relationships to flourish are:
(1) Everybody in the system belongs equally (including children who died at
birth, or an uncle who became insane); (2) Each person has his rightful
place in the system (including a parent's first love, or a deceased or
divorced first spouse); (3) Whoever enters the system first has precedence
over those who come later; (4) Those who come later take from those who came
earlier, whatever the price; (5) The order of precedence between systems
needs to be followed (a new family system takes precedence over the families
of origin; a second marriage assumes precedence over the first); (6) Parents
give, children take; (7) In a relationship between parents, the giving and
taking needs to be balanced.
Business Constellations are similar to Family Constellations in that they
are guided by similar principles: (1) Everybody in the system belongs
equally; (2) Each person has his rightful place in the system; (3) Those who
came later respect those who have seniority; (4) Managers give, employees
receive; (5) In a relationship between managers, the giving and taking needs
to be balanced; (6) Guilt and merit belong with whoever earned them.
But a business is not a family. The emphasis instead is on performance,
role-playing, and competition. There is a hierarchy, which has to be
acknowledged, and there are two of them -- one based on seniority and one
based on position -- that sometimes conflict with one another. People who
have worked for major corporations know that the organizational chart and
the reality of the way things work are often not exactly the same, because
of personal relationships.
Everyone in the business has a job to do to further the goals of the
company, from the CEO to the janitor. If someone is not doing his part, or
is not treating others respectfully, this will affect all the other members
of the company in both visible and subtle ways.
When people get fired or laid off, when there are company mergers or major
conflicts, the company system becomes unbalanced. When people who have
founded or contributed to the company in other major ways are not honored,
the business system becomes unbalanced. If customers are not buying, if
product development is stuck, if the way forward is not obvious, a
constellation can help point out the problems, and solutions.
In a business constellation, the hidden dynamics are brought to light so the
person doing the constellation -- usually a business owner or CEO -- can
then have the information needed to improve the function of their business
organization. It can work for one-person, or multi-division organizations.
The Systemic Constellation approach originated in Europe in the 1990s and is
rapidly gaining recognition and acceptance in the U.S. In a Constellation
circle, one person presents an urgent personal issue, and, guided by a
facilitator, representatives are chosen for the people involved from the
group, and through their perceptions a resolution is found. Constellation
circles take place in an atmosphere that is safe, confidential, and
supportive. Everything that comes to light is held in the strictest
confidence.
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