This week, we started our meetings in preparation for the year ahead. It was wonderful to see my colleagues and set off on a new adventure. On Tuesday, we had a retreat. During the retreat, we spent a lot of time in different forms of prayer. The first designated prayer time brought me more peace than I have felt in a very long time, possibly ever. We went out and found our own places to focus on a centering thought, clear our heads, be still and be quiet. We could choose our own word to focus on that would bring us back to the point of stillness and quietness.
I grabbed my picnic blanket from my car and found a place on a small grass area in the sun. Sitting in the sun always brings me some peace in itself. I sat, closed my eyes, and worked to become quiet and still. The word I chose was the word that has been the focus of some of my book writing this summer and is important in many aspects of my life: LOVE. I could hear people coming and going from the parking lot and cars driving down the nearby street. I knew I would have to tune all that out. I used my word. LOVE. Love. love. I grew quieter and more still. Then I heard birds. I chose one bird to focus on as a centering thought entered my mind. Do all things WITH and IN LOVE. [If I do all that I do with love and in love, then the world is a better place.] As I focused on the sound of one bird singing, everything else dropped away. Stillness surrounded me. I entered a place of peace like never before. A breeze came up and blew across me bringing me even more peace. I appreciated this time. I needed this time. More happened during the retreat and interestingly, much of it had to do with love. Love. LOVE. The leader of our retreat ended later in the day reminding us that we are called to be both Mary and Martha. We pray, we function as disciples, and we also serve, and take action. The other prayer times had different types of prayer for us to try. Still, the first of the day set my heart and mind right where I needed it and it is the type of prayer I want more of in my life. A goal: I will work to incorporate more still, quiet, prayer time in my daily life and work.
After leaving the retreat, I was about halfway home when I realized that this icky anxiety was creeping in and it made no sense. I was at peace. Thanks to some recent conversations with S, I could recognize what it was. "Get behind me Satan," I said out loud. "You have no place here." And I turned my thoughts back to God. The anxiety started to melt away. I shared this story with S the following day when she shared her own experience of recognizing Satan's attempt to infiltrate. After this conversation with her, I entered a meeting for the Raise the Roof event I am helping co-ordinate at church and we had a productive, focused meeting. The event is now just a week away. We need to be ready. We are. We will be. It will rock. We will Raise the Roof and it's not "my" event or even the church's event. This is God's event.
Flashforward to more days. I recounted this whole story to my mom. I talked to her about my conversation with S, but focused primarily on my experience of the retreat day. I repeated a couple of times about telling Satan to get lost. And added, "I know it's not that I'm more vulnerable, but it's more like I'm a target." As we are. When our faith is strong, when we find peace, Satan will fight to get to us. Someone who lacks or chooses not to have a strong faith in God is of little to no interest. After this conversation with my mom, I set out on my day. I had a big day ahead, much to do. I had rearranged my day and felt good about how it was shaping up. I entered the day with confidence. After finishing some errands closer to home, I set out on my drive to work. I had some things I needed to get done there. Partway there, my car started acting funny. I called my dad. We decided together that I needed to turn around and bring the car to my mechanic. I chose to use a safe place to make this turn around rather than using a smaller country road. As I turned into the parking lot of a gas station, the car just quit altogether. I felt anger, frustration, fear but I acted out of love, patience, and strength. My worries subsided as I found everything would work out ok and I knew I would have time to get the work done I needed to do. I got towed back to my mechanic. He had the car fixed and ready to go within a couple of hours. In the midst of this, I re-focused. I kicked out the anger, fear, and frustration and focused on what I could do. I posted this status update:
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Ashton Kutcher nails it: "Opportunity looks a lot like hard work"
Here we are nearly a month out from my last post. I've worked quite a bit on building up my review blog this summer. I committed to expanding it and reaching out to do more reviews. It has felt really good to work on it, too. Additionally, work has been well underway on the actual book that S and I decided to write. This blog started as a place to organize thoughts and re-start my writing. I come here to collect thoughts. I have had to work on gathering that collection of thoughts and work on putting them into the book. We still have a lot of work to do, but what we have accomplished this summer has been simply amazing. I am proud of S. I am proud of myself. I am proud of what we are doing. We also started Project 60. It started as little under-the-radar Facebook group. We still work to ensure the privacy of our participants in the group. But we are working on taking Project 60 to a new level. One step taken recently is the launch of the Project 60 website. Check it out here.
What brings me back to writing here tonight is an incredible speech Ashton Kutcher gave at the Teen Choice Awards. This is something parents should watch with their children and teachers should watch with their students. He said some incredibly powerful, important things that young people need to hear.
OPPORTUNITY = WORK
I have always believed this. Unfortunately, I am sure there are many (if not most) of us who know at least one person who believes that opportunity will just come. They sit in their living rooms waiting for opportunity to knock on the proverbial door. They complain when it doesn't. What seems to go unnoticed is that while they were waiting for opportunity to knock and let itself in, opportunity just kept on walking down the street. I believe that hard work pays off and I believe that opportunities come to those who work for them.
Last spring, as I wrapped up the school year as a half-time teacher, I also worked on rebooting my writing career and I spent hours upon hours filling out job applications. As a teacher, right now at this point in my life, I need to work full time. Applying for jobs can be a full time job in itself. It takes creativity in scheduling when you are working, but you do what you need to do. I branched out my search. I looked nightly. I lost track of how many applications I submitted. I hoped for interviews that never came and I learned to accept rejection letters. As the end of summer neared, I found peace. I knew that I would be ok with continuing to work haltime while writing in my "free" time. I love to write, writing projects are underway. I'll use the time I have for writing. Then I decided to follow-up on one last job application. Apparently my application packet had been misplaced. It was a good thing I looked into it. I ended up with a job interview scheduled for 48 hours after my call. It was awesome. The interview went well. I celebrated. I felt joy. Yet, something still felt a little off. You see, I love my school. I think that love for this school conflicted with my desire to work full time. I again reached a point of peace. I knew I would be ok whatever the outcome of that job interview. It felt so good to feel so at peace. The next day, a call came.
~~~
The call came from my current principal. An additional teaching opportunity had opened and I was the right fit. So, I get to stay at the school I love and I get to teach full time Bonus is that I know I will still have time to continue with my writing projects. Weekends and early morning hours will be key. But I had gone above and beyond as a half-time teacher, so I know that I will commit a lot of time as a full time teacher. I know it will work because I will work to make it work.
OPPORTUNITY = WORK
"I've never had a job in my life that I was better than," Kutcher said, "I was always lucky just to have a job."
No one is too good for any job. The only thing anyone is too good for is wasting their talents sitting around, limiting their searches, and failing themselves by not trying. No job opportunity is a waste. Every job opportunity is just that, opportunity! Take it. If you feel you are too good for it, then you are failing yourself and you are failing others. It may not be your dream job or you ultimate career goal, but work is work.
The second thing Kutcher addressed is sexiness. He declared that being smart is sexy. More young people need to wrap their minds around this. They deserve to know that they are sexy just as they are. Intelligence is a beautiful trait.
Kutcher's third strong point came in the form of what to do with life.
"Build a life, don't live one."
I believe in living life to the fullest and not allowing a single moment pass by. But, he is exactly right. Each and every one of us must build the life we want and need. No one can build it for us. As parents, teachers, grandparents, friends, counselors...we all have a responsibility to help build the foundation on which young people will build their lives. They deserve that. They deserve our best. The least we can do is help them see their beauty, embrace their intelligence, and help them choose to grab every opportunity that comes from their hard work. I network in different ways because it's worth it. I build relationships because each and every relationship has a benefit. I build a career because I want it and my children deserve to see the payoff of hard work and dedication. Persistence, tenacity, patience, diligence....it all pays off.
The point Kutcher made I wish to end with tonight: "Be thoughtful, be smart, and be generous."
We would all benefit from every individual choosing these three things. Imagine what the world would be like. wow!
To see the entirety of his speech (and you should all watch it if you haven't already):
What brings me back to writing here tonight is an incredible speech Ashton Kutcher gave at the Teen Choice Awards. This is something parents should watch with their children and teachers should watch with their students. He said some incredibly powerful, important things that young people need to hear.
OPPORTUNITY = WORK
I have always believed this. Unfortunately, I am sure there are many (if not most) of us who know at least one person who believes that opportunity will just come. They sit in their living rooms waiting for opportunity to knock on the proverbial door. They complain when it doesn't. What seems to go unnoticed is that while they were waiting for opportunity to knock and let itself in, opportunity just kept on walking down the street. I believe that hard work pays off and I believe that opportunities come to those who work for them.
Last spring, as I wrapped up the school year as a half-time teacher, I also worked on rebooting my writing career and I spent hours upon hours filling out job applications. As a teacher, right now at this point in my life, I need to work full time. Applying for jobs can be a full time job in itself. It takes creativity in scheduling when you are working, but you do what you need to do. I branched out my search. I looked nightly. I lost track of how many applications I submitted. I hoped for interviews that never came and I learned to accept rejection letters. As the end of summer neared, I found peace. I knew that I would be ok with continuing to work haltime while writing in my "free" time. I love to write, writing projects are underway. I'll use the time I have for writing. Then I decided to follow-up on one last job application. Apparently my application packet had been misplaced. It was a good thing I looked into it. I ended up with a job interview scheduled for 48 hours after my call. It was awesome. The interview went well. I celebrated. I felt joy. Yet, something still felt a little off. You see, I love my school. I think that love for this school conflicted with my desire to work full time. I again reached a point of peace. I knew I would be ok whatever the outcome of that job interview. It felt so good to feel so at peace. The next day, a call came.
~~~
The call came from my current principal. An additional teaching opportunity had opened and I was the right fit. So, I get to stay at the school I love and I get to teach full time Bonus is that I know I will still have time to continue with my writing projects. Weekends and early morning hours will be key. But I had gone above and beyond as a half-time teacher, so I know that I will commit a lot of time as a full time teacher. I know it will work because I will work to make it work.
OPPORTUNITY = WORK
"I've never had a job in my life that I was better than," Kutcher said, "I was always lucky just to have a job."
No one is too good for any job. The only thing anyone is too good for is wasting their talents sitting around, limiting their searches, and failing themselves by not trying. No job opportunity is a waste. Every job opportunity is just that, opportunity! Take it. If you feel you are too good for it, then you are failing yourself and you are failing others. It may not be your dream job or you ultimate career goal, but work is work.
The second thing Kutcher addressed is sexiness. He declared that being smart is sexy. More young people need to wrap their minds around this. They deserve to know that they are sexy just as they are. Intelligence is a beautiful trait.
Kutcher's third strong point came in the form of what to do with life.
"Build a life, don't live one."
I believe in living life to the fullest and not allowing a single moment pass by. But, he is exactly right. Each and every one of us must build the life we want and need. No one can build it for us. As parents, teachers, grandparents, friends, counselors...we all have a responsibility to help build the foundation on which young people will build their lives. They deserve that. They deserve our best. The least we can do is help them see their beauty, embrace their intelligence, and help them choose to grab every opportunity that comes from their hard work. I network in different ways because it's worth it. I build relationships because each and every relationship has a benefit. I build a career because I want it and my children deserve to see the payoff of hard work and dedication. Persistence, tenacity, patience, diligence....it all pays off.
The point Kutcher made I wish to end with tonight: "Be thoughtful, be smart, and be generous."
We would all benefit from every individual choosing these three things. Imagine what the world would be like. wow!
To see the entirety of his speech (and you should all watch it if you haven't already):
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)