Its the little things

Recently one of my ex students made a comment on Facebook, which I found interesting and heart warming.  I had made a comment on her page about her new glasses and she responded with the following comment directed, I think, at one of her friends who had asked her a question.

She said: "I called him Mr. Shookie, was the best teacher I ever had. He went beyond teaching me math. First I was ADHD at the time we didn't know. Then Canada became metric and he tried with all his might to teach me it. He told me just remember the jingles. ( I still do Mr. Shook.)"

I taught math many many years ago at an inner city Junior High school and one year I had a very strange but wonderful group of students. They were given to me because they did not fit into the regular math classroom, for a variety of reasons and no other teacher wanted the headaches associated with this group of students. This was before students were tested for behaviour issues and the idea of students having learning disabilities was not considered. Teaching of  students with special needs has come  a long way over the years. 

I remember that I had fun with the class but many of the days that year I felt I was flying by the seat of my pants in trying to make a connection between what I was teaching and the students but I never knew if I was making a difference. It seems I did.

The little things made an impact on at least one person and as a teacher, it is a wonderful feeling to be recognized for doing my job by my students.  In life it is the little things that make life worthwhile and I am grateful for the above comment that shows what I did over 35 years ago still has impact today.

Actions and words we do today, have impact over the long term on other people. Make each day, word and action count. Life is too short to not have a positive impact on those around us.

Holiday tips to help you relax 2

If you do not take the time to let yourself unwind, it can lead to some serious fatigue problems, and you may begin to feel burned out. In a burned out state you are never as productive. There are ways to avoid letting this happen by balancing your work life properly with times of calm, recreation and relaxation. Below there are tips for achieving a good balance for your work life. If you follow some or all of these, it will help to relieve a lot of stress from your day-to-day operations.

6. Take up interesting hobbies.

Hobbies are a great way to have an escape from your work life. They can be very satisfying and rewarding in their own ways. There are many different hobbies that are out there, so you should be able to find one that interests you no matter what your personality type. It could be something as simple as taking up golf, or pick-up basketball games on the weekends. Even collecting comics or other types of memorabilia can turn into a passion. These types of things are needed when seeking balance in life.

7. Have goals that are not related to your work.

If you can have aspirations outside of your work place, it will help you in the effort of balancing your life. These goals could be something such as losing weight or fixing up your house to a certain level. It would be good to focus on these things when not working. It will give a sense of purpose.

8. Devote time to exercise.

Exercising is not only an important aspect of making sure you stay healthy, but it is also a mentally rewarding experience. When people exercise, it makes them feel like they’re doing positive things for themselves. When you start to see the results of your hard work, you will take pride in your physique and looking the best that you can. People who overwork themselves sometimes have the tendency to neglect their health in favor of focusing on work. This dedicated personality type can be flipped and used to focus on getting into shape.

9. Give to charity and do things for your community.

Giving to charities is often a highly personal thing. It is dependent on the individual whether or not they are inclined to give to an organization they find worthy. Giving to these organizations can bring a lot of peace to a person’s mind and it can help those less fortunate. Taking the time to do some, volunteer work now and again can be a nice change of pace from your daily grind and give you a positive outlet to do something truly helpful. There are many organizations in nearly every community that could use the help of a able-bodied individual.

10. When it is time to stop working, stop.

Set a schedule for yourself. If you are supposed to work a nine to five style schedule, then stop when that clock hits five. When you are on  you can dedicate your all to the job, but when it is time to quit you need to switch modes from professional into your personal life. There is a time and a place for everything. Make sure you stick to that dedicated work time and do not cut into your down time unnecessarily.

Lessons from new life

As I watched my grandson over the last six weeks I was intrigued by the process of how he learned tosit up by himself. As he approached the age where this is part of the normal developmental stage all children go through, I watched as he practiced trying. He did more crunches then I ever could do. Every day he would try harder and longer to get the sitting up by himself correctly. The following is taken from Developmental Milestones

Sitting independently gives your baby a new perspective on the world. Once his back and neck muscles are strong enough to hold him upright and he's figured out where to put his legs so he won't topple over, it's just a matter of time until he moves on to crawling, standing, and walking.

When it develops

About 90 percent of babies can sit well for several minutes without support by the time they're 8 months old. (Even babies who've mastered sitting will topple over eventually, often because they lose interest in being upright.)

How it develops

While you can prop your baby in a sitting position almost from day one, true independent sitting doesn't begin until he has head control. Starting at about 4 months, your baby's neck and head muscles strengthen rapidly, and he'll learn to raise and hold his head up while he's lying on his stomach.

How your baby gets ready to achieve his first big developmental milestone.

Next he'll figure out how to prop himself up on his arms and hold his chest off the ground, sort of a mini-push up. By 5 months he may be able to sit momentarily without assistance, though you should stay nearby to provide support and surround him with pillows to cushion a possible fall.

The above makes the process sound easy, but it is not, and as I watched my grandson, I realized that this small task requires determination, a willingness to fail, the support of others and a belief that one can do this, and desire to take a risk to be successful. I said I am a big believer in the good of humans in an earlier post, but I worry that some of us do not remember that we had courage, determination, a belief in ourselves, a desire to succeed and the willingness to take risks and many of us also had a very strong--but maybe small support group. These were attributes we had when we were young. Some questions:

As adults do you still have these attributes? Do you have the willingness to try something new and fail? Do you have the determination and perseverance to continue to try after you have failed once? Do you have the desire and the need to take risks? Do you have a support group that we can rely on unconditionally?

I suspect that most of us don't have these attributes any more I know that I that I didn't think that I had all of these, but I realized that I do still have them. At one time in our lives I had them all, but I lost some of them as I grew older but perhaps not wiser. When we were learning to sit up, learning to crawl, learning to walk failure was not an option. We just kept trying until we succeeded. I  have talked about the universe and many believe in this power,  however, if the universe is not giving you what you need remember you have the ability within yourself to get what you want, you did when you were a baby and you can again. Just trust yourself to know that you can regain the attributes you had when you were young if you believe in yourself.