Dreams are Simply Future Accomplishments

More Insights of a Ten Year Old Philosopher

This isn't the my first post boasting about my ten year old's insightfulness, and I'm quite sure it won't be my last.

I am constantly amazed by her wisdom. She is a voracious reader and a very gifted writer. She is a better writer at 10, than I was at 20. That is for sure.

But I am especially inspired by her philosophical thinking. She is always asking questions and forever seeking answers to life's greatest mysteries.

When she was about 3 years old she asked me how "things got their names." I began telling her the story of why we named her what we did as I naturally thought she wanted to know the origin of her name. But that wasn't what she was asking me. She was trying to understand why a tree was called a tree or a leaf was called a leaf. She was trying to grasp the evolution of language. At three years old.

At ten, she is questioning less and reflecting more. She is formulating her own theories and sharing them with me. She is quickly transforming into my teacher.

She reads this blog every night. And she is always eager to suggest new blog post topics.

The other night she proposed that I write about conflicting perspectives of "time".

She said, "There are two expressions concerning time that are in complete contradiction of one another: all in good time and there is no time like the present. "

"The first one", she said, "seems to imply that we should wait, but the latter suggests taking immediate action." Then she wanted to know which one was correct.

"You can't just ask me an algebra question," I joked. If only life was as simple and absolute as calculating unknown variables in a math equation.

Anyway, the more I pondered her question, the more I came to the conclusion that both expressions are correct, for they are not mutually exclusive.

We can be practicing patience while simultaneously taking action. Come to think of it, aren't we doing both on a regular basis? There are future accomplishments that I believe will one day be realized (right now they are called, dreams), but only because of steps that I am actively implementing today (otherwise known as efforts).

When my daughter gets home from school today, I am going to tell her that there is no time like the present to work on putting her dreams into action.

12 posts down - 353 more to go. Good thing I have a little philosopher to fill me with topics.