remember who you are

Today I'm feeling so quiet and still. There are dishes to be washed, books to be read, walks to be taken and yet all I want to do is just be. Not even meditate, just sit silent and still and do absolutely nothing at all. Of course then come all the thoughts: I should be using this time wisely! There's so many things on the list! What will I have to show for this day? But I've noticed that there are days of high energy, flow and productivity where a sudden burst comes and then there are days like today where it seems like nothing happens. It's okay to let this be a moment of rest. Again and again I seem to be learning that we are not what we do.

One of the most powerful lessons I've learned about Education for Life is that it's not about what you do, but about who you are. It's not about what your students do (or don't do) it's about who they are. Not merely their personalities but their soul-self, their highest and best selves. In the classroom there is something so magical about the safe and sacred space we create together that allows each of us to be ourselves. I miss being in that space and I miss creating that space with the children and for the children. It's not that we're all perfect in that space. There are mistakes made, there are apologies and forgiveness. But there we can be real. We can let down our guard. We can start to remember who we really are. I wonder how we can create a world like that...

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look for the light

Some might recognize this quote from the movie Pollyanna. I recently rewatched this movie and was deeply inspired by the way Pollyanna looked for the good in every situation and especially in every person. The people in the town were transformed by her perspective. Our thoughts and expectations can be more powerful than we realize. What struck me is that it wasn't merely positive thinking. Pollyanna genuine looked for the good in each situation, even if she needed to stretch a bit and she felt the benefit of that effort. Then gradually those around her began to feel the effects as well. They weren't instantly won over but with a bit of persistence, they began to see and feel the benefit of the "glad game" as she called it. I still remember taking the first course in Education for Life through the online training program . The instructor gave us our homework assignment the first week: look for the light. We were to look for moment of lightness and childlikeness, moment...

our potential

I think that sense that you have, when you’re caring for a child, that this individual child — just them, just because of who they are — is the most valuable thing in the world — not because they are particularly smart or particularly pretty; it’s just them; they’re incredibly valuable — I think that’s when we’re seeing people clearly. That’s when we’re actually understanding what human values are like. -Allison Gopnik from On Being podcast This is from an interview with Allison Gopnik, a professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at U.C. Berkeley. She studies the minds of babies and children to help us understand ourselves and what it means to be human. This entire interview was very moving but this part hit me so deeply today that I had to try to share. In the interview, after the above quote, she goes on to say how she and her sisters joke about their grandchild being best. I think, even if we haven't had kids, we all can think of someone special that we...

what's trying to happen?

The unknowns seem to multiply by the day and the questions outnumber the answers. It's an interesting time to be alive! I just finished up a staff meeting via Zoom where we continue to discuss possibilities for the future of our little school, our classes and our community. This "great pause" and the gradual transition back toward movement and activity is giving us an opportunity to rethink how we really want to do things and envision new possibilities. There are many ideas and opinions but as we often ask here at Ananda, what's trying to happen? It's a deep question that gets tossed about a lot but how do we really go about answering it? First, we have to take our opinions, our expectations, our likes and dislikes out of the mix, which is harder than it sounds. Or perhaps just as hard as it sounds! We have to be willing to put those things aside, to consider that there is a bigger picture beyond simply what we currently see or have known. We have to expand beyo...

Live From Joy

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