Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there!  And also to all the grandmas, aunts, and godmothers, and to all the women who want so much to be Moms.

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”~ Elizabeth Stone

Resonance

I saw this quote in a book several years ago and it has stuck with me. 

“I have found that the very feeling which has seemed to me most private, most personal and hence most incomprehensible by others, has turned out to be an expression for which there is a resonance in many other people. It has led me to believe that what is most personal and unique in each one of us is probably the very element which would, if it were shared or expressed, speak most deeply to others.”
– Carl Rogers

The Goose Story

I was looking through some old files yesterday and came across this essay that was published years ago by an unknown author.  I loved reading it again.

* * *

The Goose Story

Next Fall, when you see Geese heading south for the Winter flying along in a “V” formation you might consider what science has discovered:

As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of having to go it alone and quickly gets back in formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed in the same way we are.

When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.

It is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs with people or with geese who are flying south.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

What do we say when we honk from behind?

Finally, and this is important, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunshots, and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection.  They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies; and only then do they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their group.

If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.

–Author Unknown

She says yes

I checked out the original BBC version of “Shadowlands” from the library.  It is a sad movie but has some of the most touching dialogue I’ve ever heard.  And I absolutely loved Jack’s marriage proposal.

“Will you marry this foolish, frightened old man who needs you more than he can bear to say and who loves you even though he hardly knows how?”
– C. S. “Jack” Lewis, Shadowlands

Teaching Thursdays #17

I loved Mr. Rogers.  I watched his program well past the point of young childhood, and I think I appreciated his work even more as an adult.  He lived the values that I want to embrace completely in my life, highlighted by compassion and grace.

I recently found this quote and knew I had to share it here:

“The two most important ingredients of education are: knowing that we’re valued, and being in the presence of people who want to share with us something of this world that they love.”
– Fred Rogers

Teaching Thursdays #9

In between my first and second years of teaching, I read two books by Parker Palmer, a veteran teacher who writes beautifully about the inner work of being a teacher. His words hit exactly the place in me that needed to know that all of the overwhelm, frustration, and mixed-emotions I had about teaching that first year were normal. His openness in sharing his experience is such a gift.

These are two of my favorite Palmer quotes (that really are as much about life as they are about teaching):

“Each time I walk into a classroom, I can choose the place within myself from which my teaching will come, just as I can choose the place within my students toward which my teaching will be aimed. I need not teach from a fearful place: I can teach from curiosity or hope or empathy or honesty, places that are as real within me as are my fears. I can have fear, but I need not be fear—if I am willing to stand someplace else in my inner landscape.”
- Parker Palmer, from The Courage to Teach

“I will never be a good teacher for students who insist on remaining wallflowers throughout their careers — that is simply one of my many limits. But perhaps I can develop enough self-understanding to keep inviting the wallflowers onto the floor, holding open the possibility that some of them might hear the music, accept the invitation, and join me in the dance of teaching and learning.”
- Parker Palmer, from Let your life speak