I received yet another great teaching from the team in Kantolomba.
As you have likely read, they decided to commit to reading 52,000,000 words along side our 52,000,000 steps.
When I received the first photo with the banner announcing the number of words read for the first week, the Life reaction was Joy! Those sweet, beaming faces. Immediately behind that was an “Oh, no.” The number was 96,753. By my calculations they needed to be reading about 1,000,000 words (at least!) each week to achieve the 52,000,000.
In looking at how to talk with Theresa about “the issue,” I stopped and stood back. What issue? Is there really an issue here? Every communication I get from Theresa via email, phone, and photos indicates the children and grown ups alike are LIT UP! She tells me the game has added a whole new element of fun and motivation to the already thriving reading program. And these children (and adults—there are members of the cooperative well into middle age learning to read for the first time!) are reading books like: The- cat- sat- on- the- mat. And they read 96,753 words!!!! Phenomenal!
The truth is I am not even sure Theresa has her eye on the final “goal” at all. And I aspire to that. The goal is simply a tool to assist us in staying present to the process, to the fun and the enthusiasm. How easily conditioning can talk us into the final “result” being the whole deal, and we completely lose the joy of the process. Once again, we learn from Kantolomba the value of practicing what we want: how to play all out without needing to have conditioning “keep score.”
Gassho,
Jen