Dotting

Created: 13 Apr 2023

---

Dot, Dotting, Dotted

verb
To name what you, and the people with whom you're in conversation with, are noticing in relation to the topic around which you are convening.

When you are "dotting" you are actively working to:

1. Relieve/empty yourself of the observations, thoughts, ideas, questions, feelings, experiences, etc. that you are holding
2. Bring clear enough "shape" to each of those "observations, thoughts, ideas, questions, feelings, experiences, etc." for another person to be able to see the broad "landscape" of dots and the shape of each individual one
3. Resist the reflex to relate, categorize, respond to, or otherwise take action on any dot

Dot

noun
An observation, thought, idea, question, feeling, experience, etc. that you are trying to make sense of.

You are likely encountering a "dot" if it is not intuitively clear:

1. How – if at all – you will respond to it
2. Where you will "place" it in relation to a broader and more stable theme, objective, question, need, decision, etc.

---

i. I'm using "conversation" here to refer to conversations of varying sizes (e.g. you + yourself, you + another person, you in a group of people, etc.) and power dynamics.