The price of such defenses is isolation from others and from the fullness of everyday experience. The other little girls are trying on funny dresses, but this little girl is content to rock back and forth slowly, while feeding her child. I feel a warm burst in my chest, a small connection with this girl, and I sense within myself a desire to be held- and healed. As our experiences begin to naturally sort themselves out, our subtle anxieties begin to fall away and acceptance of ourselves gradually dawns. With less need to be concerned about ourselves, we have more energy, interest and dedication to others.
Teaching becomes more selfless and effective.
It is actually a relief to attentively relax into the moment of observation. With practice it is effortless because we are using more than our analytical faculties to apprehend. In being fully present we trust whatever our response is, whatever our ways of knowing that arise in the moment This student paper reflects glimpses of this kind of sacred knowing and the seeds of compassion. When I did my observation at a Montessori school, I was feeling a lot of pain on a physical level, in my back, head and neck. All these questions I heard myself asking.