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Taking the Worry out of Making Decisions © Beverley Paine I used to think that we only get one chance at getting things right and that the decisions we make today are set hard, as though in concrete, and would take a jackhammer to change, with resulting chaos and mess. But life has taught me otherwise. At the age of 50 I can easily see that most of my decisions - both big and small, insignificant and important - are nowhere near as critical as I think they are at the time of making them. Life generally dictates what needs to be done, as well as how it is going to be done. It is best summed up in Reinhold Niebuhr's 'Serenity Prayer' (original version sourced from answers.yahoo.com): God, give us grace to accept with serenity Living one day at a time, For most of my life I've been working hard to accept that each and every moment of my life - the things that I encounter and the situations in which I find myself - are there to teach me valuable lessons about life and how I need to live so that I can be a better person, both for myself and to and for others. I sincerely trust that mistakes are simply learning experiences - in fact, they are positive learning experiences. By learning to see the very important lessons that can be learned and taken forward from each 'mistake' I feel that I am acknowledging that I am on the right path, that each step and decision I make will ultimately lead me where I need to be... It's a self-correcting process. This also means that I don't fall into the trap of blaming myself for screwing my life up. Sometimes I slip and lose confidence and start blaming myself, but it is mostly for things that are clearly way beyond my control - both back in the past when I made decisions and right now when I feel the urge to 'fix' things. Often it's only my perception that says they are broken or not right in the first place - they aren't really! This practice of accepting the fallibility of my decisions from the outset, of being open to quickly adapting to better ideas - of being able to take advantage of changing circumstances and not making decisions rock hard - has meant that I have yielded to a higher wisdom than my ego. I've learned to let go of my need to be in control all the time. I can now see that I am not responsible for how everything turns out - there are lots of factors at work over which I have no control and don't even know about in the first place! It is definitely like this with the future - even the near future. I also like the saying by Alexander Graham Bell that goes: "When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." With our own homeschooling I have found this to be the case many times. For sure, I would have done things differently if I had the hindsight I had now but would the outcome have been that much different? It is too hard to tell. Often I think how my children have turned out is due to something I did or didn't do, when in fact it is a product of who they are, and that, amazingly enough, is largely genetic. We give them the tools to make the most of life - they decide how best to use them. Was this article helpful? Was it worth $1.00 to you? Your gift of $1 or more helps to keep this site operating offering encouragement and reassurance to families wanting better outcomes for their children. Beverley Paine with her children, and their home educated children, relaxing at home. Together with the support of my family, my aim is to help parents educate their children in stress-free, nurturing environments. In addition to building and maintaing this website, I continue to create and manage local and national home educating networks, help to organise conferences and camps, as well as write for, edit and produce newsletters, resource directories and magazines. I am an active supporter of national, state, regional and local home education groups.
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and Learning without School! We began educating our children in 1985, when our eldest was five. In truth, we had helped them learn what they need to learn since they were born. I am a passionate advocate of allowing children to learn unhindered by unnecessary stress and competition, meeting developmental needs in ways that suit their individual learning styles and preferences. Ours was a homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning family! There are hundreds of articles on this site to help you build confidence as a home educating family. We hope that your home educating adventure is as satisfying as ours was! Beverley Paine
The information on this website is of a general nature only and is not intended as personal or professional advice. This site merges and incorporates 'Homeschool Australia' and 'Unschool Australia'.
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