Empathy & Essentials

Today I'm thinking about empathy.

It's one of my favorite traits to stretch in kids, and

I find I'm learning more about it every day.

Turns out maybe it goes deeper than just imagining.

To celebrate Pay It Forward Day, I treated myself

to two Zoom connections to stretch empathy, 

one in Australia with some fourth-grade learners,

and another in Florida with these fifth grade students.

Always a joy to challenge kids with the Empathy Switch.

It's really hard at first; I can see the struggle in their eyes.

But since repetition is the key to fluency, I get to

encourage them to practice until they get good at it.

Then, I snagged this Tweet that made my heart sing.

You only have to look at this page from our book to see why.

Big. Heavy. Joyful. Sigh.

I'm feeling so incredibly blessed; looks like I'm likely to get

a proof copy of Mr. Quigley's Keys in the mail later this week!

Later, on my walk, I was listening to Bob Goff

on a podcast episode interviewing Greg McKeown,

the author of Essentialism, and it got me to thinking

about the word priority and what is essential in life.

That word is fascinating to me; Jim Collins from

Good to Great fame says that if we have more than

two priorities then we don't have any priorities.

Which makes sense, right, given that priority means

the fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important.

So how do we decide what's more important, especially

when society applauds a life of busy-ness?

Ah, the million dollar question.

Pretty sure the answer has to do with healthy boundaries.

And until recently, I've not been very good at saying no.

In fact, I'm horrible at it, even though I know that

every no is a potential yes to something else.

Or some down time for me and an opportunity for someone else.

For me, it has to do with people-pleasing and perfectionism.

But now, in this season, I'm thinking a lot about what's essential,

like what really matters, not just to me, but to you.

And how do I make sure to prioritize well 

while ridding myself of the non-essentials

that I used to think mattered, but really don't?

If you've got a strategy for pruning or purging,

do drop it in the comments; I'm determined

to simplify and downsize in the days,

weeks, months, and year ahead.

Until then, happy Wednesday and thanks for connecting.