Fred Rogers: A Tribute to Kindness

A statue was unveiled today.

A friendly likeness of Fred Rogers now looks over the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is depicted smiling in kind greeting while tying his shoes.

When I saw the news about it, I felt compelled to write, to rejoice, to share, and to feel immense gratitude that he had the courage to offer himself so honestly to the development of children everywhere.

For those of us who grew up in the United States, his is a familiar face. More commonly known as "Mr. Rogers," Fred was a youth minister who left his vocation to become a children's television host.

It didn't matter what kind of day you might be having. Watching Mr. Rogers changed your outlook. His program was a safe, gentle oasis of love and learning. He taught many types of things—most notably how to honor yourself and others for unique differences. We were immersed in his gentleness and grandfatherly feeling.

Sadly, Mr. Rogers left this world in 2003, after having touched many, many hearts since his program debuted in 1968.

This is the remarkable part of his story...

Fred Rogers' gentle television personality was not a television personality. It was who he was. He was gentle and kind when he was off-camera, at work, and at home. He was a simple man. He believed in goodness. He believed in listening to people from the heart. And he believed that children deserved respect and love.

For those of you who may not know Mr. Rogers, here is a little video clip that was made to introduce his lifetime achievements at the Emmy Awards for daytime television in the US.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBt8keQTPb0

When Fred stepped up to receive this award, he did so—so, so, so very humbly. He used that one moment in the spotlight to honor not himself, but others—all those who helped those in the audience and those viewing from their homes—achieve their highest potential.

Here is that clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upm9LnuCBUM

As children, Mr. Rogers used to sing a song to us. Yes, admittedly, to all the millions—but I think that his intention was that the message be received by each one of us so that we would feel like the one special one he was speaking to...

I'm Proud of You

I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you.
I hope that you're as proud as
I am proud of you.
I'm proud of you.
I hope that you are proud

And that you're
Learning how important you are,
How important each person you see can be.
Discovering each one's specialty
Is the most important learning.

I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you.
I hope that you're as proud as
I am proud of you.
I'm proud of you.
I hope that you are proud of you, too!

By Fred M. Rogers
© 1970

I just want to thank you, Mr. Rogers. For caring for all the millions, and for showing us how to be good parents and teachers when it came turn for us to pass on this message to the next generation.

It's our turn to look into a child's eyes and tell them how special and unique they are.

Next time, I'm in Pittsburgh, I'm going to come and give you a hug.

Gratefully,

Pamela


p.s. Mister Roger's Neighborhood is still available for children. Here is their web site:
http://pbskids.org/rogers/index.html

Photo credits: (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) People attending the dedication mingle around the statue of the late Fred Rogers of the PBS television program 'Mr. Rogers Neighborhood' in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009. The statue by renowned sculptor Robert Berks depicts the children's television pioneer changing his shoes as he had done in the beginning of his show.

LIVE TweedleWink and Wink Training in Kuala Lumpur—October, 2009

Hello, everyone!

It is autumn in Asia.

As I write, I look outside my office window and see lush Malaysian rainforest mountains. Several years ago, our office looked out on the snowy peaked Rocky Mountains of Montana. Quite a change!

I'm quietly reflecting about how this method has traveled over the whole world—East and West.

I am in awe and so grateful to see others feel the joy of right-brain learning. It is so incredible to see people shining with inner joy -- both children AND parents and teachers.

I'm so pleased to say that Level 2 LIVE training is now available!

We are open for registration.

RIGHT BRAIN KIDS
LIVE Parent-Teacher Training Event
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

TweedleWink: Level 2 • Wink: Level 2
October 9-11 (Fri-Sun) • October 12-14 (Mon-Wed)

REGISTRATION

Click here to learn more.

http://www.rightbrainkids.com/level2training/
(Prices, materials and how to register are included.)

Please join me for highly personalized training. I am hoping for a small, intimate group for both courses. A high level of nurturing can occur with small groups.

And if you cannot come, please be at ease: these courses will be videotaped and packaged for future students at a later date.

We will also have teams trained to teach it from our new training center! (Yes, one is being established here in Asia!)

If you would rather have live, one-on-one training with me, then sign up now.

I'm so honored to help anyone who comes.

Kindly,

Pamela

Please note: This live training is NOT advertised in our store or training center.

If you have NOT taken Level 1 yet and really, really, really want to attend, then just go for it!

Sign up for Level 1 now. Download the 10 hours of audio, put it in your MP3 player or iPod, listen to it on the plane! Where there is a will, there is a way.

I've made a prayer for all who come to this small gathering be here at the right time in their lives for significant positive personal change.

We can change the world, one heart at a time.

One Heart at a Time

After all these years, I'm just so very proud and grateful to be able to present:

Right Brain Education
Changing the World One Heart at a Time

It's a wonderful introduction to what Right Brain Education is, how it can benefit you and your family, what TweedleWink and Wink are, important teaching and parenting tips and how you can get started very simply—no matter what age or learning style.

The book is being shipped to our distributors around the world, so please look for it. It's on the way to you!

I don't mean for this to sound like a commercial, though. I'd really like to just take a moment to say "thank you" to the many people who made this possible.

It doesn't seem fitting that only my name is on the cover—while they are my words, so much more than text is put into a book.

A dash of inspiration
The idea for this book was bubbling in the ethers for years. Parents and teachers who've read the manuals asked us to release them in book form. They wanted to share this method with family and friends. We created e-books and other digital products to meet the need. But, as many people say, there's nothing like a good book. It wasn't until just this year that our RBK president and resident visionary, WENNIE SUN, gave it a great big push! She's our literary "midwife!" You know how nice it is to have that someone who believes in you and makes it all happen? She is the one who does this for our company. She's just amazing. She inspires us to keep moving forward with a great vision of raising the level of education for children around the world.

Mindful collection
LINDA BRANSON (key founder of The Soul Learning Company) expertly fit together foundational information and stories from the classroom from our many e-books, training manuals and newsletters. She tabbed places where fresh material was needed. So, when I received the original outline of the book, not much work was needed on my end. Linda is an artist. She is connoisseur of fine art, classical music, good books, wholesome food, roasted coffee, and all aspects of nature. She sees life in a way that not many people do. It's so high. It's this level of "seeing" and patient diligence that brought the material together so nicely. I feel so blessed to have her energy in it. She is awesome.

Loving artistry
The characters drawn over the years were designed to make reading our materials more inviting... and more friendly! We had to include them! But when we went to insert the drawings into the book—we were shocked to see that they were all greatly pixilated (blocky). (The originals were created in MUCH earlier versions of Mac.)
"Da tada da..." HELEN HUANG to the rescue! Helen poured over each of the nearly 100 drawings with such care. She and her trusty assistant (my son FREDERICK, age 15) spent hours and hours and hours to smooth out the bumps to make them sparkle and shine! They did a fantastic clean-up job which required a childlike, playful quality of heart. The figures smile at you as you flip from page to page. They cheer you up! Thank you both.

Shining light
At the final push, we realized we needed a foreword. I couldn't think of anyone more appropriate to comment on this work than my beloved mentor, DR. CELESTE MILLER. Celeste is a dynamo in action. She is a mother of six, and a grandmother of 4 or 5 (I can't keep count!) and a lover of all things that raise human consciousness. Without any advance notice, she received the draft, and wrote an incredible foreword in record time. I know the academics will look at the book and see her praise as noteworthy, but truly, I look at it and feel the praise—okay, I'm trying not to cry as I write this—I'm so sappy sometimes—but I look at it as high praise from a mom who earned her Ph.D., has guided schools, written books, inspired teachers across the globe and raised six incredible talented, loving, well-balanced children... all as a single mother. When you get the thumbs up from a soul of this caliber, it's pretty amazing.

The finishing touch
JEFFREY (Wennie's husband) prepared the files for press. And I DO MEAN p-r-e-p-a-r-e-d! His eye for detail helped bring everything together—formatting, text, graphics—so that the final product is truly professional. It's breathtaking, and extremely respectful of the childlike qualities that would bother most professional editors. It is now able to stand on its own amongst other books on the bookshelf of a Borders or Barnes and Noble bookstore.

True love
Some of you may know that our family is in Asia for a time in order to support the schools and other projects that need to happen on this side of the globe. In order to make this commitment, our family has had to be separated for over a year. MARY (5), GEORGE (10) and FREDERICK (15) are here with me in Asia. WILL (18), who is about to enter college, is with my husband, BRENT, on the other side of the globe in the United States. It takes a lot of sacrifices to make a commitment like this as a family. When the earliest draft of the book was complete, I excitedly sent it to my husband and son in New York. I text them to ask how they liked it. They text back: "We're still reading..." :-) A half-day later, I had an e-mail with glowing praise and a list of typos to correct! (A truly "whole brain" response!) I want to thank my husband for being daring enough—and sharing enough—of me and my mission that he would be willing to let me follow my heart to serve others in this manner. After 22 years of marriage, this is really true, true love.

The power of a close family
I have to say that a program like this takes a lot of love and support to develop and maintain. And as you go through it yourselves, I hope that you are surrounded by authentic souls—people who simply love you because of who you are. It fuels you. It lifts you up. And if you feel surrounded by love yourself, it's easier to extend it to others. For their unconditional love and support over the years, I have to send the greatest love and gratitude to my amazing mother and step father, Jim and Susan Evans; my father, Dr. William Fielden Nelson; my brothers and their families: Major Scott, Sue, Jessica and Madison Nelson and Christopher Nelson and Maria Abraham; my beloved sister and her family: David, Sara and Jon O'Brien; and to the entire Hickein family led by Fred and Eleanor Hickein, whose lives are a constant inspiration. Thank you.

Back to the book...

You know, its amazing.

I think of all the endearing moments with the children, the inspired thoughts, the heartfelt instinctive direction and techniques that are encapsulated now in a bound book... it's a just little surreal for me. I mean, the classes are so simple, so delightful. Anyone can do it. So, why does the method seem so groundbreaking? My hope is that parents and teachers will soon figure out that it is not earthshaking material—it's easy. It is natural. It's in you already. As you feel that, and connect with it, I hope that the passion for teaching this way will be contagious and inspire others. The rush of joy that comes when a child learns something new or breaks through a learning barrier or fear or hesitancy to pull out their genius, can affect your whole day!

When we take the time to see and know our students, we connect our heart energy. We make a difference. Both teacher and student—parent and child—walk away with renewed spirits.

Does it sound corny or idealistic to think that we can change the world, one heart at a time?

Not anymore.

With so many people across the globe learning and teaching Right Brain Education, it feels possible.

It's happening.

And thank goodness for that.

Thanks for joining us! :-)