Development Pathways

We trust others as we trust ourselves.

One of the greatest gifts we can give to the youngsters in our care is trust. It starts with having a deep trust in oneself, in the deeper parts of oneself. Before you can extend genuine trust to others, especially the children in your care, it’s got to be a living quality in you first, right? So that’s a good thing to reflect on for starters.

Young children, really young children don’t have “trust issues” do they? They are near to the creation cause of a natural and totally inherent deep, deep trust. It seems we are meant to have the feeling that we can trust life, trust ourselves, trust each other. But… so much human experience seems to contradict that, doesn’t it?

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Here follows a true tale which further opens up the question of leadership for our time. It takes place in a very unique circumstance. But the dynamics are universal. It could be a classroom, a school, a family, a tribe, a nation…any community. This story offers a helpful magnifying glass on a subject that too often leads to polarization and conflict. As with so many things the question of leadership needs to be radically updated inside a new context. Here is a story which prepares the ground beautifully…

To give a little background…
Imagine a village of about 180 people living in the rainforest foothills of the Venezuelan Andes. This village was one of many in a unique region of Venezuela founded by exiled African slaves. The region is called Barlovento. The people living there spoke a beautifully African nuanced Spanish dialect, lived by the rhythms of their drums and call and response songs, danced and sang stories nearly every night in the village center, made their living farming Cacao, played a lot of bocce ball and lived in mud thatch huts.

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To engender respect in young people is to grow respect in the world. All relationships can only benefit by the mindful presence of respect. It begins, as is true of so many things, with you! Respect in oneself to oneself.

Respect is to love something for what it is!

It is allowing someone or something to be itself. It is the wish for things to be as they are meant to be. It is a state of mind, an attitude, a stillness, watchfulness and sensitivity.

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