LifeWays
June 24, 2018 My soul is in the sky. ― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream We are at the time of the year when we in the Northern Hemisphere celebrate the sun, with the longest of days being the Summer Solstice on June 21st. More commonly in Europe and other parts of the world, there are …
June 17, 2018 My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. -Clarence Budington Kelland As we work to break down gender stereotypes, one finds oneself pondering the question, “Is there really a difference between mothering and fathering? Isn’t it all simply parenting?” I remember an illuminating …
June 10, 2018 School’s out, and for many of us that means family vacations. When I was a kid, our vacations mostly involved driving long distances, a forced togetherness that often induced squabbling but also created lasting memories. There is an openness and a vulnerability that accompanies leaving one’s home and familiar routines to encounter …
June 3, 2018 “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. – Annie Dillard The Living Arts are nourishing practices that help us meet the developmental needs of the young child. They are comprised of what LifeWays’ founder Cynthia Aldinger categorized as: practical tasks of the household like cooking, repairing, sweeping, polishing, and washing; social …
May 27, 2018 Love does not dominate. It cultivates. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Some of you know that I run a small farm education program in Wisconsin. I’ve been thinking a lot about growing lately! The baby chicks that hatched at the beginning of May are already gawky, awkward teenagers. The tomato seedlings on my …
May 20, 2018 All real living is meeting. -Martin Buber Quantum entanglement describes how particles in the universe are connected in indescribable ways. Pairs or groups of particles interact in ways in which the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently, even when they are separated by large distances. Albert Einstein called it …
May 13, 2018 This is the mother-love, which is one of the most moving and unforgettable memories of our lives. -C.G. Jung As I was doodling the other day, the above image appeared on the page. It seems like a good image for Mother’s Day, because it represents (to me) the mother archetype. She …
May 6, 2018 By seeking and blundering we learn. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Head down, eyes keen, I walk in silence searching for morels. The trickster mushrooms resemble every leaf on the forest floor, hidden from view of those who don’t have their “morel eyes” on. Some people are gifted at finding morels. They …
April 29, 2018 We are the opening verse of the opening page of the chapter of endless possibilities. – Rudyard Kipling o·pen·ing ˈōp(ə)niNG/ “an act or instance of beginning” As I write this, my mind is more focused on “ending,” such as, “Will this winter ever end??” I am stranded in New York City as …
April 22, 2018 Are you a human being or a human doing? As a hobby beekeeper, I continue to learn a great number of lessons from the humble honeybee, the most profound being, well, “bee-ing.” Spending time observing the bee go about her work, so simply and selflessly, yet with a sophisticated consciousness humans …