Good morning! This mornings' pondering brought to you by the school system.
The phrase that came to mind was "The systemization of children"
The compartmentalizing of human potential.....
And then it wrapped back around to something that was shared earlier this week by my friend Chris ....it was heartfelt and brilliant. I have been "chewing the cud" on this one most of the week. The observation of how we have moved into the practice of "recognizing" ourselves through external statistics and what I refer to as "markers" of validation....instead of digging a little deeper within to discover/witness/experience and understand better who we are.
So I expand on that spark of insight....VALUE! As I lay there this morning in silence, a script started forming of me speaking and sharing about value....I began by describing what it is that myself and the hubby are in the business of....how others have freely given to us because we put things to good use, or find them a home with someone who will. But our truest "market" is in human experience and the gift of human connection. I describe constantly in the "We" because it is OUR life together and because of my relationship with him, I have been refined even further into what comes forth as beneficial into the world and lives around us and for him it is the same. We have a wholeness of value in and of ourselves and because of the gift of one another. 
And none of it was by means a way of boasting or bragging about how great we are....it is simply recognizing the value we are in just us being here in this life we are living.
So back to the statement, ""The systemization of children"....the conversation that has been swimming around the masses lately is around trying to figure out what is missing from our schools. Well, first, lets observe what much has been gained....the constant push to separate into "classrooms" individualized focus on this subject or that subject. They get to move in an orderly fashion with their bodies and we hope in their minds as well, from one compartment (sorry, classroom) to the next. SUCCESS! We are creating a model of habit for society and society's next patrons with the day in and day out of system. BUT, the thing that stands out for me (and this includes from my education in Education) is the disconnect from emotional intelligence. I remember as a child how our teachers would get excited when we discovered an understanding of ourselves beyond JUST the material that was being taught. My music teacher was happy when I could play the ukulele and recorder smoothly, but I got the gift of experience of being recognize for how I put ALL things together....my personal value was recognized.
So for today, can we take some time to observe the children around us...and maybe even share a positive observation or two of the ways in which they are "being" in this life that inspires you?....And then look around to the bigger "children" and do the same...we could use less compartmentalizing and separation into boxes and MORE recognition of a fuller, heartful experience.
