The Art of Openness

I've always hated the saying, "Ignorance is bliss." This couldn't be further from the truth. Not knowing or understanding shouldn't consider this blissful. In fact, it's the complete opposite. Continuing to be ignorant and not open to learning more is a disservice to ourselves and those around us. Instead, we should be open to the opportunities to learn and grow.

The idea of "openness" has been following me around the past few weeks. I am in love with learning, and it's impossible to do so without an open mind.  Along with that comes admitting when we are wrong. The times when I've learned the most are when I was way off base in the first place. In education, we call these "teachable moments." We haven't necessarily set out to learn about something; it just happens. I can promise you that these rich opportunities don't come with a closed mind. Open minds help to dissolve ignorance and improve the possibilities of learning. The art of openness.

By opening our minds, our eyes and hearts are not far behind. If we are willing to learn more, we begin to see things differently. Everything becomes a possibility rather than just another mundane part of life. Slowing down and really seeing life is pretty amazing. It bothers me that people think they need to walk beaches in the Caribbean or climb the Rocky Mountains in order to see beauty. With open eyes, we don't have to travel to see great things. With open eyes, I see a struggling student excel on an essay or a perfect sunset on a chilly run. The art of openness.

Without sounding too trite, the open heart is probably my favorite. We were designed to be loved and love others. Kindness pours from us when our hearts our open. I have been focused most on opening my heart to more than just my friends and family, but to everyone that I encounter. It may sound like a crazy idea -- loving a stranger, but with this comes a great sense of peace. Kindness and love are contagious. Why wouldn't we want to spread them? We must open our hearts, sharing these great things with everyone we meet on our paths. The art of openness.

Persistence in Prayer

I always tell people that my faith is really important to me, and it is. Have you ever stopped to think about what faith actually means? Yes, I'm a Christian. Yes, I prayer and go to church. I believe; however, I am imperfect. I fall short, and it is usually in the area of trust and prayer. 

Trust. As I was thinking about faith this morning, I realized that faith doesn't happen without trust. In fact, faith essentially is trust. It's believing that God will provide according to His plan. When life gets hard and even scary, faith is trusting that it will all be okay because God makes all things work together for good. So when my engine light goes on, I have trouble forgiving a friend, or a student's mother passes away suddenly, I surrender it all to Him. Faith is trusting when God tests us on every level. 

Trust is also learning to be persistence. If we stop to think about it, when we want to see a change, we make a change. That doesn't mean we change for two weeks and then revert back to old habits. No, it means that we are persistent about changing. Prayer works the same way. We get discouraged when our prayers are not answered, causing us to lose trust - lose faith. God values persistence. He never tires from hearing from us. Prayer might be messy, but that's okay. God delights in that too. In order to fully trust Him, we have to be connected throughout the day, whispering little prayers to guide us. We have to trust that the fearful parts of life have been placed upon our journey for a reason. God is checking our persistence. He's humbling us so that we remember where our faith should be -- with Him. 

Consider Your Approaches

I find this time of year amusing. People are compiling lists of "bests" and "worsts" as we draw another year to a close. We also begin to generate lists of resolutions that will ensure a better, healthier year ahead. Cue P90X & Nutrisystem informercials. To be honest, I'm all about it. There is something refreshing about the idea of a new start. As we flip our calendars, we are granted a brand new year filled with endless possibilities.

We're approaching a new year. And because of that, it's important to think about how we plan to approach it. I got to thinking about a couple of my friends and their plans for the upcoming year. I thought about how their lives will change and even compared them to my own. I didn't spend too much time bathing in these thoughts because I realize we are all different. When I ask my students to read a poem, I expect them to approach it with an open mind. I know when they walk into their math classes, they approach that format differently. Maybe it's a stretch for me to be thinking this way, but I think we need to start considering how we approach different aspects of our lives.

The one element that is going to guide me into the new year is to approach it with an open heart. I want to be open to learn new things, meet new people, and seize each opportunity that comes my way. Life is exciting, and it's not meant to be spent with a closed heart.

What's Love Got To Do With It?

It's Sunday night, and I feel relaxed. With one more week of break to enjoy, I can't help but smile as I sip on chai tea and watch football. I had a productive day starting with a freezing run, followed by church, and a few hours at Panera Bread working on a semester test for American Literature. All in a day's work!

Yesterday, my family traveled to my grandpa's house for Christmas. While we did spend time reading the Christmas story and munching on sugar cookies, most of our time was spent packing up my grandpa's things as he transitions into an assisted living facility on the other side of the state. We shared laughs as we reminisced and worked to get things in order for Grandpa. I've always been close with my grandpa. We share words and prays by way of email and even a few pieces of snail-mail. We spent ten days in Haiti building desks for schools in Pignon. While we were there, we bonded with the others and created memories that no one else but us will ever be able to understand. As Grandpa pulled me into his office to talk, I started to feel a little sad. He is going to be farther away from me than ever before, and I will miss the home that I have visited him and my grandma at for so many years. I realize it's just a house, and I can email, call, and even visit, but I couldn't help but feel a little sentimental about the whole thing.

In pure Grandpa VR fashion, he prepared a message for all of us as we sifted through the Bible and remembered the true message behind Christmas: Love. God gave his only son so that we could have eternal life. Grandpa gave each of "his girls" a Jane Seymour Open Hearts necklace along with a note explaining why... "If your heart is open, love will always find its way in." In the year 2015, I want to have an open heart. I want to be on fire for God, and show His love to everyone I meet along my journey.

This morning in church, the minister spoke about our "love priorities." Most Christians would say they prioritize love in this order: God, my family, God's people, others. In reality, it should go: God & God's people, my family, others. I would do anything for my family. If my sister called and needed me, I would drop everything to help her. Most of us can relate to this; however, would we do this for our Christian brothers and sisters? God calls us to. He calls us to love everyone as we love ourselves. It's not always easy. I mean, it's not always easy to love my own sister, but that love is unconditional. As Christians, we need to pour that love on everyone. We need to be willing to help, share, and care for others. When our hearts are open, God can pour in us; He can use us the way He has intended.

So, what's love got to do with it? Everything.

Read Some E.E. Cummings Today

Every once in a while, I read something that makes me fall in love with literature all over again. The past two weeks, my American Literature class has been studying Modernism. We've analyzed Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and E.E. Cummings. Pretty much every story I assign I preface with, "Oh guys, this is my favorite." Generally they roll their eyes and tell me I say that about everything we read. Maybe someday they'll feel the same about at least one piece of literature. 

I'm a huge fan of Fitzgerald and fully plan on naming my child -- wait, at least my pet -- after him or his wife, Zelda. His rich diction along with superb characterization make me hungry for reading more. We completed his short story "Winter Dreams" last week, and I had a student tell me, "I've always thought I like Fitzgerald, but mostly because of the movie The Great Gatsby. Now I really know that I like him." How cool is that?!? (Side note: The new movie with Leonardo DiCaprio is not worth watching.)

On Thursday, I asked the students to read through poems written by E.E. Cummings, annotate one, and bring it to class on Friday to share. Now, if you know much about Cummings, his playful way with words is kind of fun to decode. Most of his poems relate to war and sex. With that said, it was quite interesting to see what they shared. Some students chose the shortest poem they could find, others tried to shock me with something seemingly inappropriate, and all of them did an excellent job of "reading between the lines." As we read through the poems and discussed them as a group, one student said, "What if these poets don't have really any meaning behind their work, and they're just sitting around laughing at people like us dissecting every word." I must say that I've thought about this a time or two, but my teacher-self responded with, "Yeah, but that's what's so cool about literature. We can all think whatever we want, and we're all right. No one really knows what Ezra Pound was thinking when he wrote the 14 word poem "In a Station of the Metro." We are all granted the right to decide that for ourselves."

I spent some more time reading E.E. Cummings this morning, falling in love with the wonder behind his words, structure, and off-beat style. I hope my students can see the greatness of literature, and if all else fails, at least have an appreciation for how it has and will continue to impact all of us. 

Being

It goes without saying that this time of year is crazy. Between the parties, traveling, and irregular schedules, it’s easy to forget the importance of “being.”

 This was our last full week of school before coming back Monday and Tuesday to wrap up classes before break. Needless to say, chaos has taken over in more ways than. To my best ability, I’ve been teaching as normal. We are plugging along with our reading and writing; however, the focus is lacking.

During my prep, I ran across an article from Edutopia titled “What Students Remember Most About TheirTeachers.” As teachers, we run around in between classes, rush around in the morning ensuring we have enough copies, and as the students leisurely make their way into our classrooms, are we really listening to them? I know I’ve caught myself finishing up emails or cleaning up my room as students tell me about their math tests and upcoming weekend plans. Instead of listening, I am really only hearing words come out of their mouths.

I needed to read this article to remember it’s time to just “be.” Be in the present, with each student, each class. Just as the article mentions, “Because we want our students to think we’re the very best at what we do, and we believe that this status of excellence is achieved merely by doing. But we forget – and often. Excellence is more readily attained by being.

Being available.

Being kind.

Being compassionate.

Being transparent.

Being real.

Being thoughtful.

Being ourselves.”

Our students don’t remember us by lessons. Yes, they may remember that cool activity that was linked to Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” but more than anything, they remember how we make them feel. They will remember the kind of people we are.

There is no better time than now to stop and remember why we teach, and even more importantly how we are making our students feel. They matter. Be present and listen to each story because that’s what it’s really all about.

Old Stompin' Grounds

This past weekend, I visited some friends and celebrated my sister’s birthday. As the saying goes, I traveled back to my old stompin’ grounds. I lived there for nearly eight years, and a big part of my heart will always reside there. It was in this town that I experienced heartache and growing pains. I did a lot of things wrong and found out the hard way. But more than anything, I created lasting memories that continue to leave a smile on my face. When I look back on college and the years after, I remember being surrounded by people that love me. We laughed… a lot. We cried… probably too much. We loved… oh boy, did we love.

As I reflected on the weekend, I couldn’t help but continue smiling; however, now it’s for a different reason. I smile because those memories have crafted me. While it does sound cliché, I wouldn’t be the person I am today without those memories – both good and bad. To be completely honest, it took me a long time to feel okay with memories. There seemed to be too many that hurt, and for some reason, I focused on those. As I’ve gotten older, I know that those memories are not going anywhere. Nothing is going to erase them, and that’s okay. It’s okay because I’m better because of them. It’s important not to dwell in them. Otherwise, I would be left living in the past. Instead, I will spend my time creating new memories.