Peace and the Lesson of Tooth Brushing

There was a father who was in conflict with his young son because he seemingly without cause refused to brush his teeth. He just flat out refused and, for a week, his father tried to figure out why but he couldn't make sense of it. And for a week this father tried to force his son to brush his teeth but it just didn't work. And then one night without any judgment at all, the father watched the whole scenario in full openness. He heard his son yell No! and saw him stamp his feet and then felt the toothbrush as it landed on his foot. And as he, without any resistance to any of it, looked down at the toothbrush a new thought came to him - a thought that had never occurred to him before….

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So he turned to his son and said, "I see this is a toothbrush mom bought for you and the toothpaste is a flavor mom picked out for you so what do you say if we just forget about the brushing tonight and then tomorrow we go to a store that you choose and you pick your own toothbrush and toothpaste?" He saw his son smile slightly and then another new thought occurred to him. "And since you really enjoy making videos for grandma would you like to make one of you brushing your teeth with your new toothbrush?" The son's eyes then lit up and he said, "And maybe someday Katie can watch it. I know she just got her first tooth last week but one day she'll have to learn how to brush them - right?" They smiled at each other and then the son said, "I guess I can brush my teeth one more time with this old toothbrush."

To see new solutions we really need to see differently. 

Open, fresh eyes easily see creative solutions which allow peace and harmony while eyes of resistance and judgment are locked into seeing what is old and stale and continue to give the same tired, ineffective results.