“If you’re really listening, if you’re awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break; its purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold evermore wonders.” ~ Andrew Harvey
It’s a wonderful gift to allow children to play with wonder! But to the degree that we lean on the left hemisphere of the brain, we will love our “logical conclusions” more. There are no endings, however, in the realm of wonder. Only forever exists there.
And tell me, what do children love more – endings or never-endings; conclusions or forever and ever more?
There is wisdom in their desire, for while the left logical mind may perceive from the place of divided parts and pieces – beginnings and endings -, we live, as the right brain knows, in unbounded presence. Three month-olds know this, for there is no separation between them and their mother, toy or food. All blends into one. They know, they feel, the deeper place of existence, the peace that transcends all pieces.
So invite children to question more and expect them to get the “right’ answer less. Engage in open-ended teaching methods and conversation instead of closed-ended ones. Nurture the wonderer in them that longs to wander forever.