65 degrees outside this morning. Brrrrr! I didn't know that our South Georgia thermometers went down that low. As I was engaged in my mobile mediation of walking the pre-dawn streets, I thought about how this week I've begun to feel it. My senses have been going on full alert. I've been slowly going deep inside myself in a kind of meditation, getting into the groove, and putting on my game face. The Lilly-North experience is next week and I'm getting myself ready to learn. I always get this way about week before a Lilly. Anyway, I guess that is why what happened yesterday happened. I was writing my one word of how I felt on the whiteboard as I and each student do each day. As I wrote the word, "alert," I was acutely aware that the wet pen was going dry. I looked at it and then glanced at the faded, barely visible, red scribble on the board. I stared. "The ink has been used up from use and the pen is now almost useless," I thought to myself.
Suddenly, a question dawned on me. Actually, now that I think about it, it was more of a riddle: What can be used in the classroom constantly and unconditionally without being used up? Answer: kindness, wisdom, faith, hope, trust, strength, love, belief, integrity, respect, truth, honesty, compassion, empathy, In fact, the more you use these "things," the more you'll end up with more of them. Think about it. Are there limits to how much love your heart can hold, how much beauty you can admire, how much joy you can experience, how much kindness you can show, how much faith you can have, how much hope you can offer, how much goodness you can you imagine, how much support and encouragement can you provide, how much generosity can flow from you? No! The proverbial sky is the limit. And, it doesn't cost a red cent! Unlike the ink in that pen, some of the most powerful, significant, valuable, influential things in teaching and life are never depleted. In fact, the more you use them, the more you live with your heart and spirit, the richer, deeper, more abundant, more profound, more meaningful, more amazing, more energized, more beautiful, more significant, more dedicated, more committed, more fulfilling, more satisfying, more joyous, more complete, fuller, the more miraculous your teaching and life in general become--and the more positively and inspirational infectious they become. After all, as someone--I forget whom--said, the curve of a smile always sets things straight. One last word. Think this all is touchy-feely fluff? Or, just a bunch of snappy sayings? They're not. They're the application of the hard science stuff of Teresa Amabile's "positive feeling," Carol Dweck's "right kind of praise" and "growth mindset," Martin Seligman's "resilience," Peter Sense's "fifth discipline," Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's "flow," and Richard Boyartzis' "resonant leadership"--not to mention Daniel Goleman's emotional and social intelligences. Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org<http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org/> Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com<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=12708 or send a blank email to leave-12708-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
