Today’s Daily Groove
I am always trying to advocate this idea to everyone I meet. I talk about being authentic to yourself and your child. Honoring the authentic needs and abilities of those around you. I’ve mentioned being authentic to my homebirthing clients’ needs. I hope that one day we can all learn this ability and rebuild our ‘tribes’ for the sake of everyone’s wellbeing.
THE DAILY GROOVE ~ by Scott Noelle
www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove
:: Rethinking Sociality ::
We humans are social animals, and for the vast
majority of humanity’s time on Earth, human societies
took the form of *tribes*.
Modern civilization has undermined our innate
sociality in many ways. For example, the “virtue” of
self-sacrifice for the collective good defies our
natural pleasure orientation.
In a healthy tribal society, where everyone is
emotionally *attuned* with everyone else, individual
and collective pleasure go hand in hand, for there is
more pleasure to be had when one’s choices serve both
oneself *and* the collective.
But in our society, with its complexity, alienation,
and legacy of “dominator” values, it takes an
extraordinary kind of consciousness for one to
re-create that interpersonal attunement in a way that
actually feels good.
Think about the things you say and do in order to “be
social” — especially around your children and other
parents. Do you ever sacrifice your authenticity to
appear “good” or “nice”?
You may notice that being socially appropriate (i.e.,
doing/saying the “right” thing) frequently requires
you to be INauthentic.
For example, in certain parenting situations you may
feel social pressure to *control* your child when
you’d rather be relaxed and accepting.
Quite often the real purpose of “being social” is
to protect others from their own small-mindedness.
Such is the case when mothers are pressured to
avoid nursing in public.
So being authentic — even when it seems “anti-social”
– may actually be *more* social, because it creates
opportunities for others to question their limiting
beliefs.
When you honor Who You Really Are — *and* you
look beyond others’ disempowering beliefs to honor
Who THEY Really Are — you contribute to the greater
good of society.
Today, whenever you choose authenticity over
conventional sociality, decide that you *are* being
social… They just don’t know it yet! 
http://dailygroove.net/sociality
Feel free to forward this message to your friends!
(Please include this paragraph and everything above.)
Copyright (c) 2008 by Scott Noelle
