small + slow
Guidance for our attention
I’ve been paying attention to my attention and sensing into what’s needed as nourishment for our collective attention.
Again and again, I receive the same guidance:
small and slow.
See this. Be this. Honor this. Teach this.
This is where I place my attention:
small and slow—
deeply rooted,
divinely guided,
connected to children, play, and delight,
humbly attuned to how we create a beautiful world for all beings
(and not distracted from this).
I am not distracted.
This moment is too important in its imprint of what we are creating.
Our attention is currency.
Curiosity is wealth.
Simplicity is truth.
Delight is connection.
How we attune is what we create.
Small is a portal.
Not trite or fanciful or stepping-stone.
Small is ocean of wisdom in a glance of your grandmother’s eyes, endless gardens in a bee’s rejoice of nectar, skies of wonder in a child’s attention to a slant of shadow on the ground.
Small is immense as it is, for all it is.
Slow is a portal, too.
Its access is always available within the boundaries we set—
when we say yes or no, where we look, what we buy, how we listen.
Slow is in the less of what we do and say,
the less of our designs for learning and living.
Small and slow are ancient, wise friends inviting us to practice, again.
Again and again, as we remember what we know.
Again and again, as we return to our connection with each other and all beings.
Again and again, as we reclaim our attention and create a world rich with curiosity, liberation, and love.
I’m grateful to be here in this moment of our collective transformation and to be a guide for how we practice—how we teach, lead, listen, engage, reflect, and trust in the small and the slow.
I welcome you to explore some of the new pages on my website… perhaps you’ll find a morsel that resonates and invites you to play.
Curriculum is…
process, playground, conversation, daydream, remembering, spiral, inside you.
Slow Attention
In a landscape saturated with AI, algorithmic engagement, cryptic influences, and endless pop-ups trying to tug, train, and captivate our attention, it takes grounded, aligned intention to protect and nurture our attention and the attention of our children.
Notice to Wonder
It’s not complicated. The essence of learning is to notice and wonder. It takes commitment and rigorous curiosity to allow the simplicity of notice to wonder learning—to do less and be willing to engage with all that arises within the less.
Listening to Children
Explore deeper states of wonder and not-knowing, connect with expanded fields of frequency, feel playfulness and joy in listening, deepen your capacity to be present in everyday moments, and attune to the wisdoms of children.
Resee School
As we reimagine schools rooted in liberatory learning, we must release “school” from our bodies and mindsets. Deep exploration for those working to reimagine learning and willing to engage in rigorous personal excavation of the latent logics that live within themselves.
Reach out if you find something you’d like to explore further and grow a conversation about how we might learn and play together. I’d love to hear from you.
as delight, Melissa
Button Snail Hum
On Monday, Button Snail Hum will be complete with a final morsel placed in its archive of 40 small practices of nourishment. It’s free to subscribe. It’s been a labor of love and I’m grateful to be able to offer this free resource library of care for those who care for others. Access here.
Three songs of nourishment for the small and the slow:
Thanks for being you and for sharing your attention with Noticing Matters. I am grateful for our connection.
