your daily rock : serendipity

May 29, 2013 in Daily Rock, General

My daughter, Tess, has a tough time with expectations and transitions. It’s a hallmark of some kids with Asperger’s, and now that I understand it, I can help her with it, but when I didn’t realize, things were sometimes very tough.

If we said we were going to the garden after school, she expected to go, even if it was storming. If plans changed for any reason, she would respond with what looked like rage.

Our neighbor and autism expert, Catherine Faherty, suggested we create a sheet or little booklet with three columns:

What We Expect to Do Today / Did We Do That? (check Yes or No) / Serendipity

That last column was the magic: Serendipity. What fantastic thing happened even though you weren’t able to do the thing you expected to do? Tess would fill out those forms with great passion, and together we would discover that even if it was storming and we couldn’t go to the garden, there was magic to be had.

Serendipity means the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it.

English author Horace Walpole coined the word serendipity, by which he meant making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which you are not in quest of….

Be open to finding good, making discoveries, loving the accidents that sometimes take you in a different direction.

Love,

(These beautifully painted rocks are created by Kim Mailhot, aka The Rock Fairy.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

1 comment to " your daily rock : serendipity "


OceanPrincess

May 30, 2013 AT 2:10AM

Thank you for passing along this goodness, Patti. I forwarded this to my sister, whose son is lovely and similar to Tess. I also took it into my own heart and will be creating a three column booklet for myself tomorrow. xoxo.