There’s a part of us that wants to find peace from all the chaos in our lives, all the busyness and distractions and complication and stress and overwhelmingness of it all. We want to get away from it all, or get control of everything and create order out of the mess. We want stillness, we want rest, we want peace.
Tag: curiosity
Curiosity Is the Enemy of Conceit
Through the lens of curiosity, self-promotion and conceitedness become pretty boring alternatives to learning more and engaging with others. I’ll spend those first few minutes of conversation asking the questions. If my life story comes up as something valuable, I should know how to use it. But if I hardly speak a word about myself at a networking event or other gathering, it’s not such a great loss.
The Myth of Institutionalized Learning
This weekend conversation exposes the deep, underlying myth in our culture that children cannot learn unless they are systematically taught. Whether in school or school-at-home, children can only learn when they are directed by an adult, when they follow an established curriculum, when they are prodded and assessed. How could a child possibly know how to identify plants if it wasn’t part of a school-like lesson?
Feminism or Masculinism? Neither…
In light of the many and varied types of unfairness that both men and women endure today and have endured throughout history, I can’t say that one gender has been treated more unfairly than the other. Both are and have been treated like shit for the benefit of others. But maybe we can agree that the one group of people that is and has been treated the most unfairly… is children.
The Values and Traits Behind My Best Relationships
What are the values you most look for when forming relationships? Great question! Any answer I give here will be incomplete, but I have come to notice some patterns in my most valuable relationships. Certain values and traits also help me quickly pick out people I want in my “tribe.”
She Spat, Then I Spat
My three-year-old is full of life and has a great, fresh sense of humor. Her favorite word, if you ask her, is “fuck!” She uses it quite often, much to the delight of myself and her older siblings. A few weeks ago, she started spitting. This doesn’t seem uncommon for little kids. They eventually discover the process and she found some joy in it. So much so, that she thought she’d share it with me, and spit right on my face.
What is Voluntaryism?
I was, in fact, challenged as to “What is a voluntaryist?” I will, from time to time, read a piece, in the SIG for Writers to which I belong, where I will claim to be a “voluntaryist.” Although curiosity will kill the cat, someone decided to query how and why I was using the word, “voluntaryist.”
Use a Rule of Improv To Co-Create Great Adventures with Friends
My night went from ordinary to extraordinary due to the combination of saying yes to the randomness and building upon it. I built upon the momentum life gave me (forgetting to register, the lecture) by engaging with curiosity (talking to the stranger) and involving more friends (hanging out afterwards) in the game.
An Unschooling Snapshot
“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” ~ Ansel Adams How does unschooling actually work? What does it really look like? How do children learn without being…
One Simple Shift to Turn Life Into an Adventure
When I was young, I would run barefoot through the jungles of Guam, being chased by bad guys, imagining I was on an Indiana Jones-style adventure. The world was filled with possibility, excitement, discovery, exploration, and a delicious sense of danger and the unknown lurking in the darkness. It was fun, play, and curiosity. Adulthood and the responsibilities of family and work all did their best to beat out this sense of adventure, and create a sense of routine and discipline in me. But I’ve always still become lit up by a sense of adventure.