The seasonal shift to fall awakens a need to shed that which no longer serves me and to embrace what does.
I have been steadily giving away some of my book collection. I have actually allowed those books that I have held onto for years with the hope of reading, but without the enthusiasm to actually read, GO.
It has been freeing!
Scientific research shows that when we reduce our physical clutter we can become more focused and more creative about what matters most to us. At the beginning of one school year, I watched an educator spend days preparing their classroom. They wanted to create a beautifully, engaging third teacher ----- the classroom they would share with students. In this educator,
I saw myself and my ways. The teacher had pulled everything out of their closet [oh, no!!!] and everything was scattered across the tables, the floors, the window ledges...so much stuff!!!!
The teacher asked me to help as children would be arriving the next day and only one bulletin board was done. The educator had created an amazing board. It had each child’s picture and left space to have each child tell their story. “How do you want the children to feel?” I asked.
They responded that they wanted the children to feel safe and have a sense that all the people in the room were for each other. “If you are for the children, how would you like to spend your time right now?” She thought for a moment and told me… I would spend time planning their first day together.
They planned and I cleaned and organized their closet [This is one of my superpowers ---- cleaning and organizing. The gift of having moved countless times in my adult life!]
This educator was so aware of their personal values and vision for a classroom, that it didn’t take me offering a multitude of questions to get to what they wanted for children. It took one.
Likewise, I offer you this one question:
What do you need to do right now to be the best that you can be at supporting children?
And this one quote, an example of personal values and vision [excavated from my memory by author Renée Watson at her Portland book launch...Much thanks, Renée]:
My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return. - Maya Angelou