Magic Possibility Weeks

The span of weeks between school's Thanksgiving break and Winter/Christmas break could be the most unpredictable time of the school year.

Kids are either celebrating or loathing the three week return. Teachers either have kids on a grueling project/test schedule and are cramming in all of the didn't-get-to-it material or they are showing "educational videos" and not assigning homework. Administrators are usually administering standardized testing while navigating the dozens of class parties, events and field days. Parents are slightly frantic, often overwhelmed and regularly grasping for moments of beauty.

The school environment becomes an orchestra of expectation, emotion and intention playing a song of Chaos. It is during these moments of chaos that pockets of fortuitous possibility emerge.

The three weeks between Thanksgiving and Winter Break are a time-warp of possibility for change for humans. In the midst of the chaos- in relative anonymity- a child might decide to be a New Person. Maybe be more kind... or more protective of themselves... or more studious... Equally so, adults might decide to be New People. Maybe more generous... or more demanding of themselves... or maybe they shift their priorities...

During these weeks of Chaos, there is a valuable opportunity for humans to try out a New Way of Being. Test how their New Approach will work with others. Refine the Approach that is Working and discard the Approach that Not Working. No one notices these changes during the Chaos. No one latches onto the Wrong or Right of these things, during the three weeks of possibility. Change is just dismissed as sign of the times.

If your child is thinking of making a change...

• If he wants to stand up for himself more

• If she wants to be more brave in social situations

• If he really wants to see if doing homework will raise his grades

• If she wants to see how changing her appearance will impact her relationships

If you are thinking of making a change...

• If you want to be more consistent

• If you want to be more forgiving (always of yourself first!)

• If you want to shift your attention toward the kids, the job, the spouse...

Now is the most perfect, most potentially exciting, most advantageous time of the year to Try On That Change. Encourage your child to Get It. Say It. Do It. Be It. Show them how it's done, by Getting It. Saying It. Doing It. Being It.

And, if it feels good, Keep it.