My granddaughter Sydney, Manjari’s daughter, came for a visit last weekend. One of the activities was going out to pick the early daffodils that were starting to open up. Later there will be an abundance of blooming flowers but we were just getting the varieties that are the earliest to take to the temple to the Deities.
Sydney got right into it and was as productive as an adult. I am sure she would have eventually gotten bored with it but for the time it took us to get what was ready she stayed excited.
Vidya had an early Easter egg hunt since she won’t be here at Easter and there was a full day of other things for Sydney to do as well.
In the evening we went to the local roller skating rink. That is mostly a tween type crowd, and Sydney, at almost 6, was the youngest skater there but that didn’t dampen her enthusiasm.
I know that she will eventually be a great skater because she has balance and determination. She kept at it in a very focused way, and although she would accept a helping hand from time to time, mostly she was pushing herself on her own. Sshe is not afraid to fall and no matter how many times she went down she got herself back up and kept at it.
I have always said you can learn how to skate and not fall, or you can fall and learn how to skate. She is not afraid to fall. Falling means you are pushing the edge of the learning curve and that is required if you want to improve.
I had hoped to be able to demonstrate better than I was able to because if you can see someone else can do something, it makes it easier to do it yourself. The mental barrier of knowing it can be done is breached if you can see someone else doing it.
That is why the principle of association is so important in religious and spiritual life — if you can see someone performing strong sadhana, spiritual practices, you know it can be done, even if you yourself are struggling to improve.
I was trying to do an aerial but the best I could manage was a 180 degrees, I couldn’t pull the trigger on a full 360, something I used to do routinely. I just don’t get skating often enough to do some of my old tricks. plus the energy it takes to pull some of them off is lacking.
Still, I was able to do a lot of moves and hopefully she will have a few memories when she gets older of me being able to skate.
View From a New Vrindaban Ridge 
March 23, 2012 at 4:52 pm
“she has balance and determination. She kept at it in a very focused way, and although she would accept a helping hand from time to time, mostly she was pushing herself on her own. She is not afraid to fall and no matter how many times she went down she got herself back up and kept at it.” ~ the very essence to living a fruitful life.
“I was trying to do an aerial but the best I could manage was a 180 degrees, I couldn’t pull the trigger on a full 360, something I used to do routinely. I just don’t get skating often enough to do some of my old tricks. plus the energy it takes to pull some of them off is lacking.” ~ Energy level completely understandable, but in light of the situation you are kicking my tail. I see you failed to mention age as a possible culprit. Still 43 and holding, huh?
March 23, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Guess it’s going to have to be 1dharmabum from here on out. I don’t know why WordPress is making me login every time I reply…never did that in the past.
Gregg
March 24, 2012 at 7:27 am
Lots of ginger and freshly ground flax seed, I stil have agility and balance, just very little stamina.
March 24, 2012 at 4:50 pm
I completely get it about the stamina. I’m wiped out, and I’m just at base camp of this trek. Can’t imagine how it must be for you. Recent lumbar fusion took away my agility like a thief in the night…it’s a challenge to even put on my socks. I may just stop taking them off. :)