I hadn't intended to write anything this morning, but I have been
receiving birthday wishes from people literally all over this globe. How you
all knew is beyond me, but it is, to say the least, gratifying. Thank you.
And, your warmth has countered some of the chilly responses I've received
off-line lately to my reflections on happiness and feeling "Seuss-ish." It was
as if I unintentionally had been hitting a raw nerve. I put those sub-zero
messages into four categories. There is the disbelieving "Surely you get
discouraged by it all." There is the accusing "Oh, Louis, now!" There is the
limiting "Be reasonable, you can't get to them all." And, there is the
rationalizing "You can only do so much."
They're wasting their time. By sheer coincidence, my word for living
today is "warm." I am so grateful for what I have in my personal and
professional lives, I have no space in me for negatives and limits. I fill my
heart with love and thankfulness for all that I now have; I fill my mind with
thoughts of the very best of what is possible; I fill my your spirit with a
bright, sparkling vision of how good I know life can be; I fill my soul with a
sparking faith of what each student can be; and, I fill my eyes with sights of
my Susan. And, doggone, at 70 I feel so young of heart and soul and mind,
like, as Susan's birthday card said, an "18 year old with 52 years of
experience." I don't and won't let the disbelieving, accusing, resigned,
frustrated, fearful, cynical, and immobile define me.
You know, those people, who want me to feel guilty about enjoying life,
about always smiling or telling people to smile, or about celebrating what I
do, sadly don't seem to understand. If life is not to be enjoyed, enjoyed to
the fullest, then how would it be possible to enjoy anything? It is how we
dance and sing in the rain that reveals most of who we are. All that is
within each of us constantly works to meet the expectations we set for
ourselves, our relationships, and for our classroom. We each will see, and
hear, and touch, and taste, and learn, and achieve whatever we expect, and our
expectations become our reality. What we expect most sincerely and
persistently, we experience. Expectation compels us to find or avoid a way or
deny there is a way.
We're alive, and life moves; it doesn't want to stand still; it doesn't
let us remain stagnant; change is natural and all around us. We have only one
directive in life: do something! We're built to look, listen, feel, imagine,
create, dream, choose, act. So, why do we immobilize ourselves--and students?
You know, we--and students--are human beings. And, human beings are not
designed to be passive and compliant. They're not supposed to lie dormant.
They're supposed to be active and engaged. You see, when you get involved, you
feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are
working to make things better. That's why we humans learn best and retain most
when we're doing something, when we're on the move, when we have our hands on,
when we are involved, and when we are "down and dirty." So, what's so wrong
about appreciating the good things while I have them, to see beauty in everyone
and everything, to love feeling the love, to be aware how striking it is to be
aware, to intensely experience experience, to find adventure in working through
challenges and difficulties? It's not egotistical or even masochistic to find
real joy in the great variety of ups and downs we all have to deal with, for it
is in overcoming the downs that gets you up; it is to know what it means to
live and enjoy life; and, the more we enjoy and give meaningful purpose to
life, the more joy we have to give to the lives of others. Let me tell you
something, I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged or
pessimistic. You can't build with negatives. No, on one hand, I've learned to
make disappointment make me even more determined, to learn from it, to let it
move me forward, to empower me, and to help me change and grow. On the other
hand, making optimism and enthusiasm my ways of life keep me alive and young,
and maintain my faith in myself and what I'm doing. It's a proverbial win-win
situation.
So many of us don't do or attempt to do or even want to do by
rationalizing that there are limits. It's that paralyzing and atrophying "You
can do and give only so much" or "You can't get to them all" thing. My
answer is "How much is 'only so much?' and how many is less than 'all?'" Is
there a limit to how much love my heart can hold? Is there a limit to how much
beauty I can behold? Is there a limit to how much joy I can experience? Is
there a limit to such things as kindness, hope, faith, belief, passion,
purpose, encouragement? I don't think so; I haven't found so. I don't think
there are limits to what really matters. Those limitless things are the things
I treasure because I have discovered that the most difficult work, the
greatest challenges, feels easy and flow easy when I let them flow from my
heart.
No, it's stasis stemming from resentment, disappointment, resignation,
frustration that is sand in the cogs, that makes things feel unsatisfying,
unpleasant, disagreeable, and difficult. They make troubles only feel more
troubling; they only bring you down even more; they're the things that wears
you down. Enjoyment doesn't do that. When I enjoy something, when I'm having
serious fun, it's invigorating, a joy and it's fun. And, I do a heck of a lot
better job of doing it. Faith in possibilities is what drives the fulfillment
of those possibilities. Someone said, that the deeply lived life always
expands beyond itself. So, I don't see limits to the sense of accomplishment,
fulfillment, and significance they are bring to me. And, so, I can give much.
No, I don't and won't feel guilty about anything I do.
Thank you once again to all you well-wishers. It was so kind and
considerate of you, and I truly, truly appreciate your thoughts and words.
Make it a good day
-Louis-
Louis Schmier http://www.the
randomthoughts.edublogs.org
Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\
/\
(O) 229-333-5947 /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ /
\
(C) 229-630-0821 / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \
/\ \
//\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/
\_/__\ \
/\"If you want to climb
mountains,\ /\
_ / \ don't practice on mole
hills" - / \_
---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected].
To unsubscribe click here:
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6156
or send a blank email to
leave-6156-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
