To continue.
"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life"
Viktor Frankl tied hope and meaning together. He said that without hope there is no meaning and without meaning there is no hope. To that, I would add faith and love. So, I wonder what lies asleep within us waiting to be awakened. If nothing else, we should be, like all that exists, in a state of perpetual transformation. We should abandon rigidity so we can live up to our truest selves. We shouldn't settle for being "settlers." We should search for ways to become "searchers." In the classroom, especially, we should live a supportive and encouraging faith, hope, and love with a robust loudness and a passionate, almost ferocious, commitment that makes the everyday into something radiant; we should see the amazingness in each student. When we really are intensely attentive, when we are in a state of mindfulness, when we're really there, we can't help but connect with other people. There's something about being mindful. As someone once told me, it's like calmly and kindly talking with someone while you're folding clothes. It's a reminder of what too often too many of us forget: our identity actually depends on how much attention we pay to others and to which others. We each are shaped by our connection or disconnection with others. Too often we do not think about what classroom connection or disconnection means, what it does to our spirit, how it impacts on our enthusiasm and joy, and what it does to how we do things. "Aloneness" and "strangeness," as well as community and connection, has an alchemical discouragement or encouragement reaction. So many of us are careful of our bodies and minds: eating properly, physically exercising, staying mentally alert. But, do we pay attention to forging a sense of community? I submit that John Donne was right, "no man is an island," that connectedness is a commitment to knowing each other, that community is a dedication to transforming ourselves and others. I also submit that connectedness rests on faith, hope, and love. And, again, faith, hope, and love are choices we make from moment to moment; that while they be "heavenly," we have to want them, seek them, work on them, build them, and build connection and community moment to moment. They must be in our tool belt, for they neutralize a sense of futility; they help us realize that no small effort is small, that each is an essential step in a great journey, and that each is both a beginning and continuing.
"Watch over your heart with all diligence, from from it flows the springs of life."
Make it a good day
-Louis-
Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org
203 E. Brookwood Pl http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Valdosta, Ga 31602
(C) 229-630-0821 /\ /\ /\ /\ /\
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