Merry Christmas!

Our family has been a bit under the weather and we had a nice and well deserved relaxing Christmas at home.   Presently everyone is asleep and I'm sitting here typing this with some television going in the background and the reflection of my Christmas tree to my right.   Ah... it's nice.

This is my current read and of course it just so happens to be from Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.   I can't help myself.   I simply love these authors.  I find myself walking away from each read feeling something new... or maybe something familiar that was once unfamiliar and is now back again.   The Zen teacher is something I'm considering leading off with Teresa for a Voxer book study come February.   We haven't gotten a chance to talk it all out yet, but man, my PLN is a blessing.   Truly.  I've been growing on a monthly basis thanks to the wonderful individuals I am meeting.   It's a beautiful feeling.

The Zen Teacher had captured me immediately... technically before the book even started... with these words by Franz Kafka:

You need not leave your room.

Remain sitting at your table and listen.

You need not even listen, simply wait.

You need not even wait, just learn to be quiet

And still and solitary;

The world will freely offer itself to you

To be unmasked.  It has no choice;

It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Zen saying:  "The Goal is the Path."

- "In our profession, the movement is not up, but out.  Our influence in the world has a ripple effect, like concentric circles on the surface of a lake."  

^^^^
YES!   Seriously!   Yes!   I think too often in education we get so caught up in the day to day that there are times where we seriously need to stop.   Just STOP.   Take a moment and BREATHE.   Understand that while education can easily be defended as a business, it's more so a work of heart than anything.  We have the unique honor and blessing to be impacting the lives of others on a daily basis!   I'm not talking just about our students.  That's a given.   I'm talking about them, their families, the other individuals in our buildings.  We need to be spreading joy and modeling class.

Zen Teacher Assignment Page 16

Question 1:  What do you love to do?
Above all, I love to laugh.   And you're probably thinking, what on earth??   But seriously, if you were to ask any student in my class - you would know that even on our roughest days... we laugh.  If you were to ask my husband - even in our darkest times (hello, PCOS and Hashimoto's), we have laughed.  To me, laughter is a great blessing.  Humor can be a game changer.

Question 2:  What activities do you participate in when you often lose track of time?
Conversation... paired with laughter.  Writing.  Enjoying the company of others.  Reading.   Making memories.  Making moments count.

Question 3:  What if you engaged in them regularly and used them as vehicles for peace and focus?  
I try my best to do just this.  It's difficult sometimes to find a happy on a rough day, but it's there.  I think my biggest struggle right now is wondering where others are on their professional journey.  In particular, my co-workers.  As a school community, are we in community?  Is this a topic for open conversation?   Or is that a private question?