Tag: Holstee newsletter

Storms

“Life will send storms

you cannot prepare for.

Some will approach slowly and

others will appear without warning.

Move through each moment

with care and persistence.

Meaning and beauty are

waiting for you

on the other side.”

Holstee, Resilience Guide

Storms in life like storms in weather eventually end. Some are worse than others.

However if they don’t take your life, no matter how bad they were, the Sun eventually comes out.

Endure whatever they throw at you with grit and a smile.

Without the rain the flowers won’t grow. Without strife we don’t grow.

We can come out better on the other side. That is being antifragile.

Not just recover from adversity, but be better because of it.

You do that by learning from the what caused the storm and from its aftermath.

The learning is the meaning and beauty waiting on the other side of a storm.

The Space

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” – Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

In that space before we respond we need to take an inventory of our emotions. Acknowledge what they are and take a moment to consider how they will affect our response.

We don’t need to respond immediately. Sometimes, many times, it’s better not to respond immediately.

It’s often better to process how what the other person has said makes you feel. How they made you feel, will be the pivotal thing that colors your response.

Anger, resentment, jealousy will make you do and say things you may not do or say normally. Allowing them to determine your response can destroy the path forward in the conversation.

This idea of using the space to respond appropriately is something I need to work on.

I am too eager to respond especially if someone has made me angry, jealous, or resentful.

I want them to know I’m right, even when I know I’m not.

I need to work on getting it right rather than being right.

Sometimes I feel anger, jealousy, or resentment because I know deep down they are right, and I don’t want to admit it.

“Am I hear to learn something or to prove something?“ – Holstee, Reflections newsletter

Get it right rather than be right.

Showing Up

The Reflections from Holstee email Finding Creative Inspiration (Part 1) begins with a video from a TED Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert. “In the video, Elizabeth talks about an old and rather mystical idea, dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, of a ‘genius’ that comes to us and creates through us. This genius is unpredictable, and it may or may not come to us. But we improve our chances of experiencing it just by showing up.”

Everything begins by showing up

If you don’t show up you can’t be in the game. If you don’t show up your opinion doesn’t matter.

But showing up isn’t enough.

Then you have to do the work.

You have to have the perseverance to overcome the obstacles that will inevitably be thrown in your way. You have to have the passion to keep going.

Angela Duckworth defines grit as perseverance and passion for long term goals.

Showing up is the start. Do you have the grit to continue?

The Reflections from Holstee email Finding Creative Inspiration (Part 2) talks about the resistance we all feel when we show up. “There is always something that inevitably comes up. Are they real needs or are they subconscious resistance to doing the work?”

If what you are doing is important you will find the time to accomplish it.

If it is not important why are you doing it?

The world is full of distractions. Our lives are constant fights for our attention.

We must find the space and quiet to show up, then the willpower to ignore the distractions.

“Two words should be committed to memory and obeyed by alternately exerting and restraining ourselves, words that will ensure we lead a mainly blameless and untroubled life: persist and resist.” – Epictetus

Epictetus is taking about a different kind of resistance.

Persist in showing up and doing good work. Resist all the “urgent” matters that try to grab your attention.

What I believe in

Courage – do what’s right especially when it’s hard and unpopular.

Have high expectations for everyone including myself.

Justice – every child should have what they need to succeed. Fair is not equal.

Relationships are key. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Everyone should have a say in their environment.

Stop believing we know what is right about how every child learns. Ask them. Open our minds to new possibilities.

Wisdom – to have the humility to know that I don’t know everything and the confidence to continue to learn.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” – Unknown

Learn with students and from everyone you come into contact with.

It is less about being right. It’s more about learning and considering different views.

“Am I hear to learn something or to prove something?“ – Holstee, Reflections newsletter

We should spend more time asking questions than pretending like we have all the answers.

We all need to rethink our beliefs regularly.

Discipline – to have control over my emotions and actions and to live my life according to these ideals.

“Excellence not perfection” – Adam Grant, Think Again Podcast.

Life is hard. You have to keep grinding every day no matter what.

“The impediment to action advances the action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” – Marcus Aurelius