We Choose Respect ParentCast Starring Jared Stone
Year of the Cow
Perception. It can be a tricky thing.As a someone who presents motivational magic shows at schools around the country, I understand that I can manipulate the way my audience perceives what is happening on my stage.
One of my favorite illusions is my levitation illusion. The folks in the audience see a board laying on top of two folding chairs. I invite a young girl to sit and then lie down on the board. I then remove the board from beneath her body, then remove the chair from under her feet. She is left balanced on top of the remaining folding chair in a way that is…well, pretty unbelievable.
I love the illusion because it is, as we say in the magic biz, pretty much angle proof. You can look at this illusion from any angle and still be amazed. The initial perception doesn’t change. But ask the kids what they saw an hour later and you won’t believe the kids were at the same show together. Some will tell you the girl was floating around the stage.
Sometimes we perceive what we want to perceive.
Last year my family and I had the pleasure of sharing our home with Sophia, a wonderful young woman from Shijiazhuang, China. Having Sophia in our home was an education in perception.
When she first arrived I asked her if she lived in a big city. “Oh, no, not at all” she said. We did a google search to find some pictures of her “hood” and learned that Shijiazhuang has a population of over 10 million people. That is almost double the population of the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts! “But Beijing has 21 million people, so Shijiazhuang is small.”
Sometimes what we see depends on our experience.
Sometimes we can change our perception by changing our point of view or our focus. In one of the first episodes of the ParentCast Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of “Pay It Forward” told us “when we look for beautiful things we live in a beautiful world.” Click here to check out Catherine’s appearance on the ParentCast
In this episode of the ParentCast Jared Stone, author of the new book “Year of the Cow” wanted to change the way he looked at the food he was eating. His transformation began by purchasing an entire cow, a 420 pound free range, grass fed steer, (“enough to fill a Prius”) to feed himself and his family for over a year.
In this hilarious interview Jared tells us about some of his favorite, “chuck
roastiust” recipes, a couple of meal mishaps, (oh boy did he mess up on Valentine’s Day), “the dish that tastes you back” and what he learned about food and himself from the experience.
And what he learned himself is fascinating. I was really blown away when Jared explained how the experience motivated him to think about how he was going to “honor” the sacrifices made by others that went into each meal. You are going to love meeting Jared Stone.
And you are going to love today’s musical guest Rocquette and their song “By The Time You Get Married.” As their press kits tells us Rocquette is a “female fronted, kick ass rock band” based in Austria. (I told you the ParentCast is worldwide!!!) You are going to love their sound.
Click here for the official “Year of the Cow” author web site
Click here to visit the official web site for Rocquette
Click here to find out about my totally interactive school assembly program
