Seeing Only the Negative & Listening to Your Body

“How am I supposed to teach my students to run when they can barely crawl?”

This is the comment that caught my eye today on Twitter.  It was from a fellow teacher who is obviously experiencing the same issues I am – having to meet state standards when the skill set of our students seems to be too low to meet them.

Well, of course the short answer is – that is impossible.  Anyone who is involved in education knows that teachers are quite frequently asked to walk on water – even if we don’t even know how to swim yet.  However, I couldn’t let the comment made out of frustration go unanswered.  I know other people believe that teachers can walk on water.  So if they think that, then, by golly, I am going to try to make it look like I can!

Many of you know the quote, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  Confucius said that.  Some people say he was a pretty smart guy.  So I thought of using that.  But the problem with that is that her students can “barely crawl.”  Of course the first step is to become a fairly proficient crawler, right?  Before you can take a step?  But of course I didn’t think of that before I responded.  I said, “Teach them to stand first. ;-) ”

Side note:  Have you ever noticed how much adding emoticons helps to get your point across the way you intended?  If I’d left that wink out of there, it may have been taken differently than was intended.

I did receive the desired response. “That is great advice,” she said, “I will try to do that!”

I am just as guilty of seeing the negative in things as the next person.  I am getting better, and I strive to limit my own negativity as much as I can.  When I do this, the reciprocal happens, I increase my positivity.  Actually, now that I think about it, it doesn’t quite work that way.  The way it really works is when you increase your positivity, the reciprocal is that your negativity decreases.  So you don’t really have to worry about reducing negativity, you have to strive to increase positivity.

When others are negative, it is easy to fall into the trap of commiserating with them.  “Woe is us!”  Don’t let yourself fall into that trap!  Stay away from these kinds of people!  Surround yourself with positive people, and you will start to feel more positive.  Don’t believe me?  Just try it.  Ask to regularly spend lunch with the positive people with whom you work.  If you don’t start seeing a change in your own behavior within a month (unless you scare them off with your negative talk – now that would be counter-productive), I would be very surprised.

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Just one last thing today.  Listen to your body.  Your body is a phenomenal communicator.  When you are digging yourself into a hole that will be difficult to climb out of, your body will tell you.  Some people believe that it is necessary to fight their body in order to succeed.  Fight through that stress, fight through that illness, fight, fight, fight!  Yesterday, I said that I learned that success means caring more about what you give than what you receive.  This is true.  However, it is also true that you can overdo the giving – or at least not do it correctly.  Remember, the giving has to be from your authentic self.  Not from someone you are not.  Not from someone you cannot be.  Knowing the difference between giving and being taken advantage of is a pretty thin line.  When in doubt, assume that you are giving.  But if your body begins to tell you differently – listen to it! It will tell you when you are going to far.  Having the courage to say, “Hey, I really want to help, but I am just not in a position to do so right now,”  will really go a long way.  Especially if you are known to be someone who is very giving.

I have a friend that is about as giving as anyone I know.  Sometimes I feel like the word “no” just is not in his vocabulary.  He recently said “yes” to something that required some very heavy lifting – a task that was probably better handled by two people.  Unfortunately, he badly injured himself and he was knocked out of commission for at least two weeks.  By always saying “yes” at the expense of your own health and well-being, who are you really serving?  Find that balance.  Like I said, it is a thin line, but your body lets you know where it is – if you learn to listen to it.  Don’t push the extreme limits!  Don’t keep saying, “I can do this, I can do this,” when your body is saying, “No you can’t, no you can’t!”

I have a lot of information on listening to the body.  I will provide more information on that in a later blog.  I have become astonished with how well the body communicates, and how listening to it helps to change your attitude.  By the way, you can do the same “listening” with Mother Earth.  She is speaking to us loudly and clearly, and too many of us are just not listening.

Namaste