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A Good List Clears The Mind
As parents, we Moms and Dads spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about whether we are doing the right thing for our children. This ranges, as the years go by, from whether we are changing diapers frequently enough, feeding our offspring the right stuff, or discouraging unhealthy behaviour (like eating sand in the sandbox) and encouraging acceptable behaviour (like not talking with your mouth full ). Later on we agonize over whether we should intervene in school disputes, encourage blue or purple hair, pierced body parts or motorcycle riding. And through all of this self-doubt and uncertainty, we live together as a family, enjoying each other's foibles and generally getting along with the growing up -- of the children AND of the Mom and Dad. We don't pay too much attention to the day to day stuff -- the small things which help get the jobs done . . . like making lists! What a wonderful and unexpected surprise it was to find that my lovely daughter attributes her ability to keep organized to the lowly, but very helpful habit of making lists, learned from her Mom. Even today, her Dad frowns on this habit, firmly declaring that it weakens the memory -- one should strive to remember all the details, as a way of exercising the memory. Could be. However, as a firm believer in the value of lists, I would argue that a good list clears the mind of the daily clutter of unimportant things. Sweeps it clean! Frees you to get on with the really important thoughts of the day: Do I dare to eat a peach? Should I wear my trousers rolled? (as T.S. Eliot would say). In our multifaceted lives, we need a space to think the unthinkable, cogitate on the infinite and fly away on the wings of fancy. That list in your back pocket makes this possible. Judy Thomson continues to check things off at her home on the beautiful shores of Georgian Bay, Ontario.
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