I could easily make a long list of all the things that make distance learning frustrating and impossible but it wouldn't really change things except maybe to make me feel crankier and more annoyed. A friend of mine was recently commenting on a project he was assigned to at work. Being perfectly honest he said "I don't really like it... but I realize I don't like being unhappy even more." Wise words. Wiser perhaps than he even realized.
We have a choice. There are many things we can't control. This may seem more true now that ever before. Or maybe we're just realizing how little control we've always have. Either way there is always one thing you can control - your attitude. How easy, how seemingly rational, even how socially acceptable it is to blame our state of mind and our emotions on the current circumstances. But as Yogananda says, "Conditions are always neutral, it is how we react to them that makes them seem good or bad." This is a deep and sometimes difficult teaching. We want things to be good but very few of us have developed the level of self control required to really control our reactive process in this way. It's much easier to find someone to blame and unfortunately our culture tends to support this.
A long time minister here at Ananda who has been meditating for decades was once asked by an audience member in India "You've been meditating a long time. What powers have you developed?" In India, with its long history of mystics and saints, there is an understanding that one can develop extraordinary powers (levitation, bilocation, manifestation etc.) through consistent meditation practice. This minister at first said "None," but then he thought a moment and added "Except for one. The power to choose to be happy."
So, despite the circumstances and the overwhelming urge to complain and criticize and lament and despair (old habits die hard) I'll make a list of the highlights of this distance learning experience. In this moment, I choose to be happy!
- connecting one on one with some of the students in ways that wouldn't have been possible in the classroom
- supporting and communicating with parents in new ways - they're trying so hard!
- finding lots of new resources and tools for teaching
- reading Stuart Little (even if no one is listening!)
- being able to connect with the school director more deeply (i.e. without 30 children running around us screaming)
- clarifying and deepening my understanding of Education for Life through my communications to parents
- Zoom scavenger hunts, jokes, Pictionary and madlibs
- Every day is pajama day!
- increasing flexibility and curiosity
- getting to see what else is possible with learning and teaching
- being outside the usual routine and gaining perspective
- deepening my appreciation for all that happens in the classroom
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