The paradox of growing up is we often feel we don't have a choice. We are subject to our parents' will and are told what to do, what to read, where to live and what to think. But what would the world be like if we taught our kids that they do have choices and that those choices grow with them? Would the victim mentality in our society plummet to nil?
It might.
Once you know something, it's hard to unknow it. Once you learn how to make powerful choices, guess what? You keep doing so because the alternative is to deny what you know. That choice is ours for the making. Every single day.
I recently sat down for a Skype chat with educator Kendra Delano, an expat first grade teacher living in Mexico. While she wore a sleeveless blouse, I froze in my long-sleeved Germanic garb. Such are the differing lives of two Americans living elsewhere.
As you all know, the Power of Slow was born in an ice cream parlour with a mind-boggling assortment of flavors. I made the choice to walk at the pace of an ice cream-licking three-year-old when I saw that rushing created unhappiness (not to mention indigestion!). It got me to thinking about all things time and space and child-like wonder. The next thing I knew I started to question everything, including how our contemporary pace of life isn't sustainable.
