Exploration

The crazy of the holidays is falling behind us and after three long weeks, the tots go back to their normal school/daycare schedules. "Arctic Blast" '08 hit our area the week before school let out for the holidays resulting in a full week of snow days . . . turning a two week break into three weeks. It's beginning to wear a little thin around here. Big D is trying to establish some sort of control over his environment and Sis is just being her 2 year old self. It'll be good for all of us to get back to a routine. 

Despite travel, family and all that comes with Christmas, I managed to read a book that has inspired me to try new things. It is entitled A Whole New Mind: Why Right -Brainers Will Rule the Future by Pink. You  may have heard of this book in an interview that Oprah did with the author both on her program and in the O magazine. His basic premise is that for some time, left-brainers (knowledge workers  such as engineers, programmers, professors, accountants, doctors and lawyers) have been at the top of the food chain but now with automation and outsourcing, these professions (at least in part) can be managed overseas for less. He challenges readers to rethink the value we put on right-brain attributes and strengths and to find ways to develop them, ultimately so that we can find a new place in the changing economy. He makes a compelling argument and fortunately for me, I am in a right-brain field which are defined as those that are service based, help others seek meaning/happiness, creative, design-based and able to synthesize apparently disparate ideas into something new or original. This is not an adequate explanation of the book so I would recommend it -- to anyone, really. It is making me think about what I want to see emphasized in the education of my children, how I want to conceptualize my own private practice (when I get around to getting that started!) and challenging myself to develop more of the right-brain senses which Pink defines as design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. 

More to come!