When small stacks keep growing

Some day ...

This is what my desk looks like right now. And the pile is growing! 😬

Books and articles I keep meaning to get to. Some of them have been there for a while. Some are newer. A few I’ve started and then put down, thinking I’d come back to them when I had more time. 🕰️ I’m genuinely interested in all of them. And, at the same time, I know I probably won’t get to most of them anytime soon.

👉 What I’ve been noticing lately isn’t just the pile itself. It’s what the pile represents. There is always more to read, more to learn, more ideas to take in. It’s easy to feel like staying current means keeping up.

Sitting. Revisiting. Rethinking.

Recently, I’ve also been finding myself pulled in a slightly different direction. Instead of reaching for something new, I’ve been returning to things I’ve already read…or ideas I’ve already written about…and reconsidering them. Letting them unfold a bit more over time. 🤔💭

I find myself thinking back to those early psychology concepts—assimilation and accommodation—and how our understanding shifts gradually as we integrate new information. That process usually doesn’t happen quickly.

In sessions, this has been showing up in small but meaningful ways.

Staying with something a student says a little longer than I might have before. Coming back to an idea the next week, and looking at it again from a different angle. Introducing a new (to me) concept and hearing a young autistic adult say, “That’s my experience exactly!" 😲💡

So often, realizing that something that seemed clear at first reveals additional layers. 🍰

It’s a quieter kind of work.

🐢😌 Slower perhaps, but also more connected.

I think some of this has been shaped by time with my two-year-old grandson. We’ve just started to bake together, and there’s no rushing.

✨ No screens, no hurry, no AI.

When we made muffins recently, he stood by the oven for the full 17 minutes, watching and waiting. Observing in a way that felt completely natural to him. It was a simple reminder that learning often unfolds in that kind of space. 🧁⏳

I’m still interested in everything in that stack. But I’m feeling less urgency to move through it quickly, and more curiosity about what happens when I stay with things a bit longer.

Reflection

Is there something you’ve been meaning to come back to, but haven’t yet? What might make it easier to return to it now?