March 2012
61 posts
Day 146(C): Standardized Failure
We received this year’s results from S and J’s standardized tests. According to the results, S is struggling with adding and subtracting whole numbers. On the other hand, she’s a whiz at adding and subtracting fractions and decimal numbers not to mention her solid scores in multiplication and division.
Obviously, S must be proficient at adding and subtracting whole numbers if she can perform the...
Day 146(J): Stop the Insanity!
Upon arriving home from school today, S confirmed (unbeknownst to her) my answer to the question that I raised in my post yesterday.
My question (regarding my daughters’ education) was: At what point does the risk of staying put with the status quo exceed the risk of embracing the unknown, uncertain, off-the-map possibility?”
My answer was: The risk of their golden compass [a/k/a “intuition”]...
Day 145(C): My Life-Long Battle with Math
“I have nothing against your Mr. Bockel, but that kind of problem has nothing whatever to do with what I’m interested in. Do you want to know something? Most genuine mathematicians are bad at sums. Besides, they have no time to waste on them. That’s what pocket calculators are for.”
—The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
As I wrote about before, in college, when it was time to...
Day 145(J): Honor the Golden Compass
S and J’s school offers a week-long class trip away from home in April as part of their science curriculum. Since the deadline for the student’s commitment to participate and parental consent are this Wednesday, we asked our daughters to confirm their interests in going on this trip. They had their first class trip to a different location last year, which was a bit shorter than this year’s trip,...
Day 144(C): Not-Just-For-Profit
There are many words which Jung and I feel are central to Soul Play Family. To list a few (in no particular order): awareness, consciousness, action, creativity, joy, soul, authenticity, humanity, integrity, art, beauty, acceptance and diversity.
An overriding theme in all of those words, and in our writing, is oneness. We believe that we live in a world where everything and everyone is much more...
Day 144(J): No One is Extra in Our World
As Charles wrote previously, he and I have been reading Seth Godin’s ebook, Stop Stealing Dreams. In this 30,000 word manifesto, Seth Godin expresses his views on the question of “What is school for?” and puts forth his call to action in his usual insightful and incisive way: “One thing is certain: if we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’ve been getting. Our...
Day 143(C): The School of Your Dreams
Sitting at the kitchen table with my coffee, I look out the window at the precipitation coming down. I wonder what to call it. It’s coming down faster than snow, and yet it’s whiter and slower than freezing rain. Is it, “snain?”
I’m not sure what it is, but it’s fun to watch something unusual and out of the ordinary. Jung often marvels at the food we eat, wondering at the miracle of such diverse...
Day 143(J): Gratitude Abounds
At breakfast, it was snowing outside. Beautiful, white snow flakes were dancing outside, as we shared the gluten-free banana muffins that Charles baked, and a plate full of apple slices and orange wedges. I marveled at how food of all different varieties, that we consume for our nourishment, comes from the Earth. Gratitude abounds.
Charles read the draft of his blog post for today to S and J...
Day 142(C): Do the Energy Dance!
When I began writing my blog post about Prismatic Art, I knew I wanted to use that as an example of awareness fueling action. However, even though I knew what I wanted to write about and why I wanted to write about it, I had a lot of trouble getting started. What I eventually determined was that I was stuck because I wasn’t dancing with my energy.
That day I was in a bit of a funk. It wasn’t...
Day 142(J) - Cultivating Happiness
“Training your brain to be positive is not so different from training your muscles at the gym. Recent research on neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to change even in adulthood—reveals that as you develop new habits, you rewire the brain.” ~ Shawn Anchor
A Harvard Business Review article containing the above passage came across my screen via Happiness Initiative’s Facebook page feed. The...
Day 141(C): Unorthodox
If you’ve read even a fraction of our posts, then you know that practicing awareness has become central to Jung’s and my life. In addition to being aware of our own language, feelings, and actions, we try to “hold a mirror” up to each other when necessary. What this means is that when one of us seems to have become unaware of our words or behavior, the other will “reflect back” what we’re doing in...
Day 141(J): Being Written by (vs. Writing) My Life...
When Charles and I started this Soul Play Family 365 Experiment, we wanted to chronicle our journey — of exploring, experimenting, experiencing, and expanding our lives as we seek to create work that will feed both our souls and our family — for the first 365 days after I ended my corporate employment, and share our journey publicly. That was the main objective.
After having been at...
Day 140(C): Prismatic Art
Last week I saw something in my Twitter stream that caught my eye: “Prismatic Art,” a fantasy hero art project which is headed for Kickstarter. Not only is it a fantasy hero art project, according to one of the people spearheading the project, Tracy Hurley, “Prismatic Art Collection is a free library of art representing heroes of all backgrounds.” I knew that S and J (as well as Jung) would be...
Day 140(J): It's Time to Link Life and Education
S was not in a good mood this morning. She didn’t want to go to school. One of her complaints involved an assignment she was given, “to write about what was wrong with her.” My curiosity was piqued. When I asked her to talk more about it, she said she needed to write about her “shortcomings” in each class to prepare for next week’s teacher/parent conferences. Charles and I were informed that the...
Day 139(C): Mr. Fixit
Take the time to be sure that whatever it is you are doing, especially if you are doing it to yourself, is amplifying inherent genius, talent, and power, not attenuating it.
I wrote the above in my post yesterday because it is a lesson which has taken me a long time to learn, and I have repeatedly seen first-hand examples of how important it is. All the same, I have still not yet fully...
Day 139(J): Finding Kind in Courage and Beauty
The documentary film Finding Kind about which I wrote my post yesterday revealed to me how much we need powerful and healthy feminine energy, images and voices in our society. Not only for girls and women, but also for boys and men, so that all of us can enjoy a community where love, wholeness, and vitality thrive, while we banish the fear, shame and blame that are rampant in many places,...
Day 138(C): Don't "fix" it, amplify it!
As Jung mentioned last Thursday, early last week I had the opportunity to play on a 1922 Steinway Model O piano which had just come into a local piano dealer. Their piano technician hadn’t had a chance to tune, voice or regulate the piano yet, but the saleswoman there thought I might like to give it a try.
I had been at the dealer for a while by this point, trying different pianos and I thought I...
Day 138(J): Ignorance is Dangerous
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Last Friday evening, March 9th, S and J’s school had a parent screening of the documentary, Finding Kind, in which two filmmakers (Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson) travel the country interviewing women and girls about their lives and experiences. The film reveals their...
Day 137(C): Sunday Night Haiku
This day, rich with play, Ended too soon for us all. Weekends are too short!
Day 137(J): Juicier Life
I feel that weekends are too short. I may have felt it all the more so today because we “lost” one hour due to the start of daylight savings time. After dinner, all four of us, Charles, S, J and I, expressed our unanimous sentiment: “We wish we had a three-day weekend.”
Come to think of it, it’s been like this every weekend for the past few months or more.
I recall having the same sentiment on...
