Book Corner: The Magic Pillow

Have you ever sought for wisdom? Would you like to know the future? My questions sound like a cheesey advertisement for some snake oil for divination of future events. The charm and straight forward Chinese folk tale told by Demi talks about being happy with what you have and who you are.

A poor boy gets lost during a snow storm and stays at an inn. At the inn there is a magician. When evening comes, the magician and the boy have a discussion about wealth and the future. The magician tells the boy, "The greatest gift of all is having wisdom for with wisdom you can find the Truth!" The magician then offers a magic pillow for the boy to sleep on to find wisdom for himself.

When the boy wakes, he dreamed about what it would be like to have wealth, "It is a wonderful gift indeed, and it has given me great wisdom. Now I know what it would be like to be a great man and have money, power, and fame. And now I know that I am happy just the way I am!"

As I read this book, I thought of what I could be doing instead of being a Domestic Goddess. (Domestic Goddess definition is a women who in plain terms is a stay-at-home wife and mother. It goes on the tax forms as occupation.) In my meditation I found that there is nothing so precious as wiping peanut butter off faces and walls, finding my child with the maple syrup bottle drinking the syrup like it is a Capri Sun, reading the same book over and over again, playing cars on the floor, or snuggling tears or a sleeping child.

I am grateful that I am who I am. Over the past few months, I've been sorting through how I may parent better. Not in a casual everyday I can improve on that aspect of what I do sort of way. It has been more of an in-depth look at if I am preparing my children for their future lives and what do I need to change in me so they will be better.