when you offer an idea, pretend you have taken it out of your head and put it on the table in front of the group.   Whatever their reactions are, remember that they are not reacting to YOU, but to the idea..   You yourself may find that you no longer agree with the idea you first presented, but that’s OK, because it is something separate from you personally, out there on the table and no longer inside your head.

From Karen on the Reggio Emilia list 2008

Karen wrote this about how the Italian teachers discussed Ideas. Americans tend to either battle for their ideas or agree to disagree. There are other approaches. I intend to put this idea into practice. It seems like you would feel more comfortable putting out of box thinking out there if you don’t have to defend it. You can just pluck ideas from the universal pool and place them in the arena for observation, evaluation, and dissection if applicable. I hope to make many more little adjustments like this in the coming year in order to make my life make more sense. I feel I am always battling my moods and coming out worse for wear, and much of it has to do with not allowing myself enough distance from my thoughts and feelings. I need to observe myself more and actually get out there and take risks. Risks are a lot easier to manage if you are not throwing your whole sense of well being into the mix when you take them. I don’t know if any of this makes sense. Maybe tomorrow I will read this and say, “Huh? What the hell was I thinking.” But, right now this feels important to put down in writing so I can come back to it later to get a little deeper into it. I feel like I have just dented the surface of this thought. More denting and scratching will be needed to get to the bottom of this, and I have my blunt and gnarly tools ready for excavation.