LINEAGE
Timeless wisdom lived through fatherhood
DAILY PRACTICE
SUMAK KAWSAY
Good Living Is Sustained Together
Story
The kitchen was a mess. Cutting board out. Vegetables half chopped. Something already spilled on the counter. I was moving fast trying to finish before dinner. My daughter walked in. Stood there for a second and asked if I needed help. I could’ve kept going. It would’ve been faster. I slowed down. Cleared a small space and let her step in. Uneven cuts. Pieces too big. We kept going.
In the mountains of Peru with the Q’ero community, we were preparing a meal. That day, they were going to sacrifice a young llama. Not something you see every day. It wasn’t the act that stayed with me. It was how they did it. No rush, no disconnection. No indifference…there was respect.
Before anything happened, there was silence. A clear acknowledgment. No one moved out of impulse. There was a shared awareness: that life was sustaining theirs. Afterward, everything was used and nothing was wasted.
When you are in Sumak Kawsay, this is the Andean way of “good living” no one sustains the system alone. Each action connects to the rest. When someone is left out, the balance shifts.
In the Andes I understood this: no one “does his or her part” in isolation. Everyone participates in sustaining a splendid living.
Shift
It’s not about getting it done, it’s about who’s part of it.
Action (Today, With Your Children)
Today, during a routine task:
Choose an everyday activity you usually do alone, for example, preparing food, tidying up, fixing something at home or cleaning.
Invite your children to participate from the beginning, not just at the end.
Give them a real part, even if it’s small. Show them how it’s done, and allow them to do it their way.
Avoid correcting immediately; stay attentive so they feel part of the process.
When it’s done, don’t praise the result. Acknowledge that it was done together.
Good living is not that nothing is missing. It’s that everyone is part of what exists.
You’re receiving this as part of a daily fatherhood practice
Thank you for being here
PASS IT FORWARD
They can suscribe and obtain this daily