25 Mar The Space to Breathe – Planning in some Rest and Recovery
YES. This is edition 28! The fourth in our cycle of seven. And a reminder to each of us to preemptively program(me) some rest and recovery – those restorative 21st-century skills. Read more in the ‘rest’ editions 7, 14 and 21.
Am I the only one advocating this concept? I saved the following quote from the March 10, 2022 edition of James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter.
“I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A day when one has not pushed oneself to the limit seems a damaged, damaging day, a sinful day. Not so! The most valuable thing one can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room.”
Poet May Sarton on the importance of rest. Source: Journal of a Solitude
A number of our newer Tilt partners have been taking Write of Passage (WoP) alongside me – and finding their voice as they write on topics as varied as edu-parenting, crypto and religion. As I exercise my essay editing muscles I am exposed to wonderful new ideas and perspectives. It has been a particularly busy time as WoP is an intensive 5-week class loaded with in-person teaching sessions, the iconic crossfit, many mentor sessions and daily writing and feedback gyms.
So it is nice to catch a breath. Parents’ weekend is a forcing function. I am typing this around the intoxicating aroma of coffee beans and pastries – and people – at Tatte’s in Harvard Square. A combo that can only truly be appreciated post-Covid lockdown. This seventh-edition recap is well-timed so that I did not have to produce a new essay. What great planning. (Believe that and you will believe anything) A ten-hour drive from Toronto to Boston, wandering the campus, meeting my son’s friends and tutors, watching his energy surge as he shares all that he is learning – this is my perfect version of “living in the changing light of a room”. Photos in next week’s newsletter.
Digest of the past few issues:
A new set of prompts in WoP was the inspiration for the 21st-century skills focus in the more recent newsletter editions:
- Permission not to know it all – my internal conversation around overwhelm. Inspired by Richard Feynman’s 12 question, this essay explored why we are particularly attracted to specific ideas and topics.
- Self-confidence is a 21st century skill – thank you to the many readers who have reached out via LinkedIn, email, text, phone to offer me your perspective on the value of confidence. I am looking forward to our calls, and to writing the longer version of this essay.
- To imagine, challenge, story-weave. And hope. On President’s Day weekend, I was invited to be a panellist in the MBK challenge, selecting the best of many great group projects serving the broader community.
As always, I want us to talk about climate. With a focus on hope rather than doom.
- Getting innovative around water – Innovations around water excite me. I invite you to subscribe to Kathleen Martin’s Sea Turtle Scoop. This week’s newsletter has the wonderful news that Rihanna has given birth. (Rihanna the leather back turtle, not the famous singer who is still pregnant)
- Like Queen Anne’s lace – was an observation of melting ice as I walked about knee deep in snow in Ontario
And last but not least, I celebrated the one year anniversary of becoming an author with an excerpt from my book Contours of Courageous Parenting – Tilting Towards Better Decisions:
Still testing out my visual messaging. I pulled this phrase from a presentation I did last year titled “The space to dream. The space to imagine. The space to believe.”
The difference between the words Impossible and I’m possible is minuscule. It is an apostrophe … and the S-P-A-C-E … to breathe between the words.
That is what we offer our children. It is in THAT space that hope lies. And we are going to need a serious dose of that enthusiasm and hope.
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