Listen to the musn'ts child...

Listen to the MUSTN'T's, child
Listen to the DON'Ts
Listen to the SHOULDN'Ts
The IMPOSSIBLEs, the WON'Ts.
Listen to the NEVER HAVEs
Then listen close to me,
ANYTHING can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

Words of Wisdom

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

~ Maya Angelou

Every Child...

"Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine-cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets. And any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education."

— Luther Burbank (American horticulturalist and botanist, 1849 – 1926)

Turning to One Another

There is no greater power than a community discovering what it cares about.

Ask "What is possible?" not "What's wrong?"  Keep asking.

Notice what you care about.
Assume that many others share your dreams.

Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.
Talk to people you know.
Talk to people you don't know.
Talk to people you never talk to.

Be intrigued by the differences you hear.
Expect to be surprised.
Treasure curiosity more than certainty.

Invite in everybody who cares to work on what's possible.
Acknowledge that everyone is an expert about something.
Know that creative solutions come from new connections.

Remember, you don't fear people whose story you know.
Real listening always brings people closer together.

Trust that meaningful conversations can change your world.

Rely on human goodness.  Stay together.

~Margaret Wheatley

Gratitude

Today I am thankful for...

*A fire in the wood stove,and snow falling outside
*A new book waiting for me at bedtime (The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent - I will let you know!)
*An 8 year old boy who sometimes feels too old for kisses, but still says "I love you Mama" when I am least expectign it
*The papa-build snow fort in the back yard that is now two stories high
*A fresh tray of brownies on the kitchen counter, and a tall glass of milk waiting
*Bed time stories that I enjoy, too - C.S.Lewis' The Horse And His Boy
*A little break in my hectic work schedule to catch up with the people that I love
*Finding a $25 gift card in my wallett that I forgot I had
*My Charlie who still snuggles up to me at night, and touches my cheek before going to sleep
*A work training retreat that included a 2h hour silence exercise
*A new week coming filled with new opportunities for the whole family

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
~Thornton Wilder

A Good Indignation

A good indignation brings out all one's powers.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote of the Day

If we have not been helped to see how our life can be useful to the world beyond ourselves, we fail to harvest the full return on our labour.
~William Coperthwaite

Silence

Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation... tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation.
~Jean Arp

Quote of the Day

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
~Albert Einstein

Words of Wisdom

Tim Hortons is like an invasive species.

William (this afternoon, as Mama pulled in to buy a cup of tea.....)

Quote of the Day

If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.

- Mitsugi Saotome

The Song My Paddle Sings

I had forgotten how much I love this poem, until our exploration of Aboriginal culture brought it back to memory. Pauline Johnson was a poet born in the early 1800 on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario - the daughter of a Mohawk Chief and a non-native mother. At a time when most young women her age were getting married and raising families, Pauline made a living for herself as a writer and performer.

The Song My Paddle Sings
-E. Pauline Johnson

West wind, blow from your prairie nest
Blow from the mountains, blow from the west.
The sail is idle, the sailor too;
O! wind of the west, we wait for you.
Blow, blow!
I have wooed you so,
But never a favour you bestow.
You rock your cradle the hills between,
But scorn to notice my white lateen.

I stow the sail, unship the mast:
I wooed you long but my wooing's past;
My paddle will lull you into rest.
O! drowsy wind of the drowsy west,
Sleep, sleep,
By your mountain steep,
Or down where the prairie grasses sweep!
Now fold in slumber your laggard wings,
For soft is the song my paddle sings.

August is laughing across the sky,
Laughing while paddle, canoe and I,
Drift, drift,
Where the hills uplift
On either side of the current swift.

The river rolls in its rocky bed;
My paddle is plying its way ahead;
Dip, dip,
While the waters flip
In foam as over their breast we slip.

And oh, the river runs swifter now;
The eddies circle about my bow.
Swirl, swirl!
How the ripples curl
In many a dangerous pool awhirl!

And forward far the rapids roar,
Fretting their margin for evermore.
Dash, dash,
With a mighty crash,
They seethe, and boil, and bound, and splash.

Be strong, O paddle! be brave, canoe!
The reckless waves you must plunge into.
Reel, reel.
On your trembling keel,
But never a fear my craft will feel.

We've raced the rapid, we're far ahead!
The river slips through its silent bed.
Sway, sway,
As the bubbles spray
And fall in tinkling tunes away.

And up on the hills against the sky,
A fir tree rocking its lullaby,
Swings, swings,
Its emerald wings,
Swelling the song that my paddle sings.

Woman Work

Woman Work

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.

~Maya Angelou

Disorder

One advantage of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
-A. A. Milne

Everyone is Gifted

Everyone is gifted. This means that everyone has something to give. A person who does not feel gifted is lost in a pit of oblivion and confusion...The question is: what happens when what you do does not align with who you are? It means you are betraying the very vitality that defines you.....

-Malidoma Some

Simplicity

Nature is what we know - Yet have not art to say - So impotent our wisdom is To her simplicity
-Emily Dickinson

Sir Ken Robinson

I think that, somewhere here, I have linked to another talk by Sir Ken Robinson about creativity. Here is a continuation of that talk about creativity and the need for a Learning Revolution.

"We are educating people out of their creativity..."

Sleep in Peace

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.

~Victor Hugo

Why To Believe In others - Viktor Frankl

If you ever want to read an inspiring book, read Viktor Franlk's Man's Search For Meaning. I can't remember when I first read it, or how I came to pick it up, but it is one of my favorite books, and I re-read it every few years when I need to help myself get back on track. Viktor Frankl is a Holocaust survivor and phychiatrist who wrote about his experiences in Nazi death camps. He wrote about the differences among his fellow prisoners, and his observations that many of the people who survived in spite of those horrible conditions were not those who were the youngest, physically strongest, or who got more to eat, but rather those who were able to find some purpose, some meaning in their lives. For himself, it was the vision of leaving the camps at some time in the future and being able to share his theories with the world.

I came across this snippet on Ted Talks (thanks, Karen, for the new addiction!) and wanted to share it with you. In it, Viktor Franlk speaks to youth in the 1970s about why it is important to believe in others.

Why To Believe In Others

Water and Trees

Last night I went to hear a wonderful talk by Robert Bateman at our local community centre about growing greener kids. Although there was nothing new or earth-shattering in his speech, it was still a wonderful talk. Mr. Bateman is a fabulous, personable, and very funny speaker. In a nutshell, his message was this - unless kids spend time in nature, unless they know it, and love it from their own experiences, not from books or lessons, they will not do anything to preserve it. He echoed the many studies that have showed the positive effects of spending time in nature for kids and adults - reduction in rates of: obesity, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, stress, suicide, and ADHD, and an increase in health, happiness, and academic achievement.

We tend to spend a fair bit of time in the woods anyway, but the beautiful weather today and the message from last night still fresh in my mind called us out today. This is an area that we have never explored before, even though it is right beside one of our favorite places. We will definitely be back.










Robert Bateman on the state of the environment:

It is like we are in a canoe going through rapids. We have a choice to stear, or not to stear. We do not have a choice to get out.