Simple, warm and homey

Any moment or memory that is simple, warm and homey is a success.

Peaceful moments can be very simple.

SandraDodd.com/peace
photo by Caroline Lieber

Breathe like you mean it

People breathe all the time. People are not always conscious of it, though, and so their breathing simply keeps them alive.

Beyond basic function, there are heights of mindfulness and awareness you can reach up to with conscious breathing.

Breathe before you act. Breathe before you speak. Breathe before you play. Breathe before you work. Breathe before you sleep. Breathe when you wake up. Breathe when you think of your child.

Breathing and Safety
photo by Pushpa Ramachandran
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A thousand or three choices

If there are a thousand choices, or even three choices, how do you choose? Some people like to live without choices, so they can say "I had no choice."

So how do you choose? You decide where you want to go before you decide to turn left or right, don't you?

Just like that.

The way to know the right direction is to identify the wrong direction.

How to Screw Up Unschooling

original, on Always Learning, April 2009
photo by Karen James
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Invisible growth

You can't see what a child is learning. You can't know for sure what she knows.

She probably doesn't know what she's learning either, but all the little pieces will be connected to new information as time passes.

I don't usually know what I'm learning, until I look back and see how my thoughts and experiences crossed, connected and unfolded to bring me to today.

You can't see it all
photo by Elaine Santana
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An outpouring of growth

Schuyler Waynforth wrote:

I am often struck by how much of an effective method unschooling is. Maybe effective isn't the right word, but it feels right, or apt. I don't know of any other approach to people that helps them to feel more themselves, more powerful, more generous, more capable, more loved. And what an outpouring you get in response. And I feel so much better as this parent than I did as the parent I used to be.

—Schuyler Waynforth

SandraDodd.com/substance
photo by Cass Kotrba

Travel, or memories

This is not the greatest travel season of the century, but some families are able to go, a bit, to camp or hike.

Memories, or sharing stories and photos, might be the best substitute for a while. "Armchair traveling" might make a return, though Facebook and Youtube, films and documentaries can make it more interesting, and vibrant, with music and voices.

Pleasant thoughts while only looking at photos of distant places are better than grumpy thoughts, no matter where. Happy travel will return someday.

The photo above was taken in Kansas. Scientifically, is Kansas flatter than a pancake? There is a graph here: SandraDodd.com/science
photo by Karen Lundy

Something completely different

Business, an offer, excuses, a thank-you:

If you're expecting e-mail from me, ever, save this: aelflaed@gmail.com and put Sandra Dodd on it, in your address book. Because of the dismantling of my old site, moving it all out of and away from yahoo small business and photobucket storage, my main/default e-mail is now my gmail address. Sorry.

To encourage people to save and try that out, if you want a Christmas card from me, or a post card (if you'd rather), send your mailing address to aelflaed@gmail.com

I have finished ten years of Just Add Light and Stir. If you're reading this on the blog, there is a randomizer and it says

Another Good One
of over 3500 posts

Ten years mighta shoulda yielded 3,650 posts, but I'm short. I have 3,552. Sometimes I was traveling, or fell asleep, or both. A time or two I was sick. A few, I deleted because they were business posts a bit like this one (but not JUST like this one!).

Here is what I look like this week:

Several people sent donations, for which I'm grateful. I would like to send notes, but if they come from the e-mail address up above, they might go into spam folders so please elevate aelflaed to a known entity. Thanks!

I want to thank Vlad Gurdiga, again, for the time and ability he offered freely to rescue so much unschooling writing over the past year. He's a hero; remember his name. He moved my entire website to another hosting company, and found a way to enable me to edit online as I was used to doing. He figured out the mystery of how to move all my many photobucket folders (from three accounts) to my site, too.

When Yahoogroups said they would no longer maintain the archives of groups, Mr. Vlad Gurdiga, my hero, rescued archives from Always Learning, Unschooling Discussion, and Unschooling Basics. You might have noticed links to some of those, where they reside on my site, as I have come across great quotes in there to share here. It's too much to read through, and there's no good "next," but things come up in site search now [sometimes]. It is wonderful.

The entryway might be prettier someday, but feel free to poke around. Watch your step!

SandraDodd.com/archive/

To lead you to peaceful things, here are some posts with photos of water in them.
I'll be back tomorrow with a regular post, most likely!