I am an overly critical person. It seems that just about any input that comes at me is run through the good/bad/in between filter in my brain. Unfortunately, this habit runs across my whole life. I am constantly critical of those around me, and since my family sees me more than anyone else, they get the worst of it. It is something I am very aware of and am constantly working on.
However, critical thinking is a good thing. It is an important skill to be able to look at something, break it apart, and make new and better ideas out of it. Finding that balance is the ever elusive goal. How can we be content and happy with what we see and experience, but also still think critically about those very same things?
Back to those 5 or six month ago thoughts about critical thinking: I did a search on this topic and came up with the article, Less Critical Thinking: More Learned Appreciation.
I don't even remember what any of that article said now, but I love what I came away from it with.
Critical thinking is necessary, but it must be tempered with Learned Appreciation.
I have taken from it that all of life must be learned from and appreciated for what it is and what it offers. We can be unhappy or discontent. We can critique; we can wish things were different, but we can't grow until we appreciate it all, until we appreciate the struggle of figuring it all out.
I said recently that I think I am going to need a thicker skin if I am going to make it through the parenting in the adolescent years, and I think I am getting one. I think if I can appreciate all of this for myself, and continue to enjoy the process of parenting, we are all going to come out of this as unscathed as possible.
It is especially nice to know that I can turn to the wisdom of others from time to time for a reminder that we are never alone in wanting to be as loving and nurturing as possible to our children, no matter what age or temperament they may carry.
Meg from the blog Sew Liberated wrote something the other day that has stuck with me, and turned over and over in my head many times. It stuck becuase it was such a simple truth. From her blog entry titled Peace, she reminded us,
"Imagine what your reaction might have been if, as a child learning how to ride a bike, your parents and older siblings got frustrated with your constant falls and eventually told you firmly, perhaps even yelling, that falling off your bike was not allowed, and that you were a bad person for having done so. . .Now consider the child who is learning to express and control her emotions."
The whole entry is beautiful, and well worth the read. (Meg writes about teaching Montessori, sewing, creativity, inspiration, and life as a beautiful thing.)
And being the kind of person who is in constant search of inspiration both new and old, I'll leave you with this version of Feeling Good by the ever wonderful Nina Simone:
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