What I Believe

My little family of three has been talking about what we believe, spurred on by this TED talk, which was brought to my attention by a homeschool teen that I am mentoring in relation to environmental protection (thanks Gabby!): Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action. My almost nine-year-old son, Colson, distilled his beliefs down to a pretty simple idea: “Kids should do what they love.”

Well, heck, if kids should do what they love, shouldn’t grown-ups? And how can we prevent kids from drifting away from doing what they love and to what they are supposed to as defined by our wacky, overstressed, overstimulated society?

With that in mind, I believe we should: 

1. encourage our kids to do what they love, regardless of how well they are compensated.
2. encourage our kids to be innovative and take risks.
3. encourage and allow our kids to enjoy the present and relish in it. The present is where life happens, not the past or future.
4. remind our kids, if they forget, that there are do-overs if they don’t succeed or if they develop new interests.
5. remind our kids, if they forget, that life is cyclical and there are high and low points along with steady times.
6. remind our kids to be flexible, grab onto opportunities and move around obstacles without sweating it.
7. remind our kids that resting is ok. There doesn’t seem to be much resting these days.
8. teach our kids that life isn’t about the stuff, it is about the experience and relationships.

I believe that kids know how to live better than almost any adult. There doesn’t seem to be much need for adults to teach about happy living because kids know what to do. We just need encourage and remind when our crazed society pushes them off course. 

The title of my blog and the synopsis of my beliefs is Moving Strongly Forward. While I believe that moving strongly forward is valid, my understanding of it has grown thanks to my son and the teens that I mentor.

Finally, it occurs to me that my beliefs are largely out of touch when considering families whose basic needs are not met, and I believe we should all do something to help them out.

P.S. I believe a lot more, but this is where my focus is today.

Comments

[Maria Droujkova]

Thank you for being a wonderful mentor!!!