When I was six I remember ….

… that my maternal grandmother lived in a small town where the milkman brought milk in reusable glass bottles.  Once a week she would put the empty bottles with money in the milk box – a mini two-sided, carefully carved hole in the wall adjacent to the back entrance - and later that day, raw milk, where the cream rose to the top, was delivered into that box. 

… my dad would pay me a nickel to walk to the local store to pick up essentials including smokes for him. 

… doctor Connley would come to our house when someone was sick, little black bag in hand, and would discuss what we ate, what was happening in our environment, and typically prescribe rest and some kind of natural modality.

….my dad mixing cement to build a walkway to the front entrance of our house while my mom finished up sewing a dress to then tend to the roast and vegetables she was making for dinner.

… walking just under a kilometer to school – with my sister, or not - where we did lots of reading, printing and counting. Printing was my favourite. Not sure if it was the communication aspect or that I loved creating something visual with a tool in my hand.  Either way, it stirred something meaningful.

I started my business before faxes and computers, when we actually got in a car and visited a customer, wrote letters and confirmed orders over the phone.  Yes, business moved slower but when you were done work, you went home and enjoyed your personal time. 

Some might look at my memories and wonder if I also saw dinosaurs in my backyard, too.  Others would cite the simpler times sensing the peace that came with it.  But me? I can’t help but feel that the current generation is being robbed.

Those were the days of trust, community, independence, when people knew how to build and repair things, when we supported local businesses and everyone had a celebrated trade or skill.  It was a time when people were resourceful. 

What are today’s humans being robbed of?  One thing for sure: thinking for themselves.

For instance, research on handwriting and the brain tells us that typing activates around nine neural pathways. Printing activates roughly 37. Cursive? Hundreds. The hand and the brain are in conversation in ways a keyboard simply cannot replicate. Expansion is minimized. 

Aha! ~ Every skill you hand to a device is a capability you surrender. And with it, a piece of your confidence that you were capable at all.

You see, we didn't just lose the skills. We lost the proof that we didn't need anyone to do it for us. It’s like that rite of passage slipped away.

Every skill you practice is a vote for the person you are becoming. Every time you figure something out without asking Google, you send yourself an, “I’ve got this” message.  Every time you sit with a problem long enough to solve it yourself, your subconscious reads that you are capable…that you don’t need rescuing.

That’s not nostalgia. That’s sovereignty. 

“The sovereignty of one’s self over one’s self is called Liberty” ~ Albert Pike

There is a level of efficiency by including technology but let’s remember that we’re far more intelligent than anything man made.  Let’s talk more at 5:00 EDT Wednesday.  Email me [email protected] for the link to join!