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In the Winter Woods
This story for three-to-seven-year-old children charmingly illustrates how much we can benefit from mutual support. When three denizens of the woods — Fox, Mouse, and Crow — can't find enough to eat during the winter, they turn to squirrel for help. But Squirrel protests that what he has stored is barely enough for him and "Squirrels will be squirrels — we are not willing to share."
Hungry himself, he is therefore mortified to realize that he can't find his food stashes and must ask for help from these same creatures he turned away. But after his previous treatment of them, will they be willing to strike a deal?
German visual artist Daniela Kulot, the story's author and illustrator, brings us the perfect balance of stark forest scenes and adorable characters. Without seeing the book in its original German, we can't say whose brilliance shines through most brightly here: that of Kulot or the translator, Elisabeth Lauffer. We suspect both, upon reading sentences like these:
"Mouse crawls from her hole and looks around. Gosh-double-deer-dung-darn-it, she is so hungry!" and
"As for Squirrel? Holy hazelnuts, he is so hungry!"
The ending, which we won't give away, is as satisfying as a meal to end a winter fast. Kulot could not have chosen a better time in history to remind us all that meeting the needs of others can be our surest protection against our worst enemy: our own self-centeredness.
Charming encouragement for mutual support in hard times.
Deliberate Selfishness
"After a while, the gap between my social behavior and my real behavior got so large, it troubled me. I told my problem to a teacher at Zen Center, and he encouraged me to begin a selfishness practice to see where my true generosity might lie. So for the next several months, whenever cookies were served at tea, I was always very careful to take the largest one. Whenever anyone asked me for help with something, I always said no. This was very hard at first, but eventually I got into it. After some months, I felt so personally nourished that I found myself spontaneously offering to help someone almost without realizing it. I thought about it later and realized that I finally felt completely taken care of, that I was full to the brim, and so I was willing — even eager — to share my bounty with others. This is the internal revolution that turns the social convention of courteous helpfulness into genuine and unstinting generosity. In the realm of helping or nurturing behavior, charity very much begins at home."
To Practice: Be deliberately selfish for a period of time; then examine whether your willingness to be generous has changed.
An account of practicing selfishness until generosity and kindness spontaneously overflow.
The Face of God
"Once upon a time there was a little boy who had been going to Sunday school for years. After hearing about God for so long, he decided it was time to go look for God himself. He thought the journey might be long, so he found an old gym bag that was his father's; he stocked up on root beer, granola bars, and Snackwells; and then he set off, without telling his mother he was going. He was about six years old. Well, he hadn't gotten very far when he got tired and decided to rest a while.
"There was a park right there, and he cut across the grass to a bench. There was only one other person in the park, an old, old woman who was sitting on the bench. He climbed up beside her. The two sat there and didn't say anything for the longest time. Then he turned to her and asked her if she was thirsty. She smiled at him and nodded. Out came the root beer. They shared and sat in silence. Then they ate the cookies and granola bars and finished the root beer. They were together about an hour, and she didn't say anything at all, just smiled at him every once in a while. So he talked. He told her stories of his mom and dad, brothers and sisters, first year at school, his pets, everything.
"Time passed and he thought of his mother at home. He realized that she'd be furious at him for going off without telling her, so he decided he had better go home. He got down from the bench and picked up his empty bag. They had finished everything. He said goodbye to the old woman and turned to go away. He took a few steps and stopped. He thought to himself, 'She has such a lovely smile. I want to see it again.' So he turned around, ran up to her, put his arms around her, and gave her a big hug and kiss. Her face broke out into that magnificent smile. He smiled back and headed for home.
"His mother was waiting for him at the door, frantic. She grabbed hold of him and shook him, 'Where were you? I told you never to go off without telling me. Where have you been? I've been worried sick.'
"He looked at her and smiled broadly, 'You didn't have to worry. I spent the afternoon in the park with God!' Momentarily stunned, his mother was speechless. He continued thoughtfully, 'You know, I never thought she'd be so old and so quiet . . . and thirsty.'
"Meanwhile, the old woman had gotten up very slowly from her bench, picked up her cane, and headed for home. Her son, about forty-five years old, was waiting for her, frantic. 'Mother,' he said, 'how many times do I have to tell you not to go off on your own without telling me? I've been looking for you everywhere and was just about to call the paramedics and the police again. You can't just go wandering off. Where have you been?'
"Her face was radiant. She smiled at him and said, 'Oh, you needn't have worried. I spent the afternoon in the park with God.'
"Her son was stunned and thought to himself, 'Oh, dear. She's much worse than before.'
"But she continued, rather thoughtfully, 'You know, I didn't expect him to be so young and so talkative . . . and to love root beer!' "
To Practice: Look for God in the people you encounter this week.
A teaching story a young boy told Megan McKenna after one of her workshops.
This Bus Is For Us
Children can get around in lots of different ways as shown in this picture book – by bike, car, train, horse, little boat, and big ship. But nothing beats the joy of being on a bus with others!
Sometimes girls and boys can hitch a ride on their imaginations and travel on the back of a fish, sit in a cloud, fly in an air-balloon. or ride a bear. But there's still nothing than can match the wonderful togetherness of being on the bus side by side with others.
In this convincing tale written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Gillian Tyler, we are caught up in the magic of sharing an experience together as if we were one big human family. We don't know where we are going, and we haven't got a clue as to when we will get there, but it makes no difference: all we need to know is one thing: "The Bus Is for Us"!
A picture book that proves that while having solo adventures is okay, communal activities are better.
Oh! What a Surprise!
Suzanne Bloom, author of A Splendid Friend, Indeed, has a knack for presenting both the delights and the challenges of friendship. Goose, Bear, and the Fox return as the three main characters in this spunky tale about gifts, giving, and surprises. Writer and illustrator Bloom has aimed this picture book at children ages 2 - 6 years of age.
Fox visits Bear and finds him busy making a gift. He hopes that it is for him but it isn't. He assures Bear that Goose doesn't like surprises but he does. Fox finds his other friend making a surprise gift for Bear and now is really upset to be left out. So he decides to create the ultimate gift which will rock Bear and Goose and enable them to see him more clearly.
We love the three inimitable characters in this series of children's books. They help kids see that friendship blooms when it is watered by patience, generosity, and wonder.
A spunky children's book about the delights and the challenges of friendship.
Curation Nation
At one time, the word curator referred to a highly trained person who made a selection of objects of art for a gallery or museum. But now the word has been transformed and popularized to include anyone gathering and organizing data or information in a way that is enlightening, entertaining, and appealing. While computers can aggregate large amounts of content, it takes the experience, knowledge, and creativity of a human being to select, organize, and present the information in the best possible way.
Steven Rosenbaum is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, and digital curator who believes that "curation is an exhilarating, fast-moving, evolving idea that addresses two parallel trends: the explosive growth in data, and our need to be able to find information in coherent, reasonably contextual groupings. No one doubts that we're shifting from an era of content scarcity to one of content abundance." The author has interviewed more than 70 people and put together a fascinating overview of this digital phenomenon.
Rosenbaum begins his history of curation with pieces on Reader's Digest Time magazine, and cable TV as purveyors of content for the American public. He moves on to "Big Time Curators on the Rise" where he comments on Huffington Post, MSNBC, and Newser. What have they accomplished? According to the author, they have revealed curation as key to the future of journalism. He also sees it as the future of conversations with consumers.
Rosenbaum salutes the democratization of curation where Facebook users see themselves as community curators offering links, images, media, and music to their friends. He then provides a guide to turning curation into a business. This ambitious work also covers material on networks and micronets, Twitter, tools of the trade such as RSS feeds and YouTube, and the hot issue of privacy.
Throughout Curation Nation Rosenbaum presents insightful commentary from movers and shakers in the fields of business, media, and the Web. After reading this book, you will agree with his assessment: "Curation is the 'new magic' of the connected world — fixing the signal-to-noise problem and making the world contextual and coherent again."
A fascinating and edifying overview of curation as a major phenomenon of our time.
Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom
Mystery seems to have the power to comfort, to offer hope, and to lend meaning in times of loss and pain. In surprising ways it is the mysterious that strengthens us at such times. I used to try to offer people certainty in times which were not at all certain and could not be made certain. I now just offer my companionship and share my sense of mystery, of the possible, of wonder.
Mystery seems to have the power to comfort
Su T'ung-po , What Would Buddha Do?
The sound of the valley stream is His long, broad tongue;
The form of the mountains, that's His pure body.
During the night I heard a thousand verses chanted;
Now how can I impart them to others?
How can I impart them to others?
Pema Chodron, Emotional Alchemy
What is so profoundly transformative, is the courage to look at yourself and not to give up on yourself when you see negative qualities. In facing these things we develop a compassion for our shared humanity. When we are willing to expose our defects, we expose some kind of heart to other people.
Curiously enough, people respond more to our honesty about our imperfections. People resonate with the bravery of someone who is courageous enough to express their pain.
Having the courage to look at yourself is transformative
Michael Berg, The Way
Kabbalah teaches that transformation means becoming a being of giving and sharing. This refers to more than acts of sharing. It means connecting with the Light, becoming one with the Creator, and making your essence and the essence of the Creator one and the same.
Transformation means becoming a being of giving and sharing