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Jan 17, 2007

"When we let go of yearning for the future, preoccupation with the past, and strategies to protect the present, there is nowhere left to go but where we are. To connect with the present moment is to begin to appreciate the beauty of true simplicity." --Jack Kornfield

Children Learn What They Live

"Children Learn What They Live", an unassuming poem that is at once simple and profound, is today something of a child-rearing anthem, posted on refrigerators around the world. Perhaps no one was more surprised by its success than its own author, Dorothy Law Nolte. Nolte was on deadline in 1954 for a newspaper column in California; she wrote the poem in her kitchen, sent it off, and thought no more about it. Its simple message went on to be passed around, eventually translated into more than 35 languages and even becoming a best-seller in Japan, where the Crown Prince revealed that he hoped to raise his daughter by it. Nolte passed away a couple of years ago, but her poem still continues to inspire.