Living in Constant Awe

The entertainment industry is littered with movies, books and vignettes of folks having a brush with death that wakes them up to the reality of life. But do we really need such a drastic event in order to live each day as though it is an amazing gift?

I have always been blessed with a penchant for finding awe. There's not much that is more mundane than a plain green leaf, yet as a kid I would look at a leaf through the car window and marvel at the fact that in the entire world, I was the only person seeing this leaf in this moment right now. Or I would look out toward the horizon and imagine all the happenings in the world right at this moment...someone is enduring the pain of lost life, someone is welcoming a new baby, someone is eating an apple, the war I saw on the news is actually happening, my dog is likely asleep, my pen is right where I left it on my nightstand, that list goes on and on. I've got a good one for you...at this moment right now as you read these words, someone else is reading the exact same post, maybe even the exact same word! They may live nearby or across the world. And maybe, just maybe, someone is thinking just like you and wondering what the point is of all this gibberish, or even more amazing, thinking OF you and knowing you would relate to these words just like you do. 

I could go on and on with my imaginings, and if I'm being honest, I still harbor these types of thoughts on a daily basis. After all, I’m the only one in this whole world, past or present, who saw the inside of the orange that I ate this morning. That's crazy! These are the awe-inspiring thoughts that run through my mind. A friend of mine once told me to stay out of my mind because it's a dangerous place.  Haha! So I don't question my awe...I just enjoy it. It brings me back to the present moment and I am reminded of the blessings that permeate my life:

My children and family...Their friends and the parents of their friends, who become my friends, first by association, then by shared experiences...The students I love, the parents who lend them to me...The co-workers who bring love and humor to ensure our students find success in school...Potato chips...Beautiful words...Running...So many amazing, wonderful pieces that make up my life! I am grateful for it all and I am blessed!

I want to always be filled with awe.  I want to live every moment of every day in a way that makes a difference in our world. I know I have the power to do this. I can change lives, beginning with my own, just by seeing beauty, and even excitement, when it's not immediately apparent. I can take this moment to create a smile, create hope, create connections, create love, or create nothing. What incredible power and responsibility! We are so lucky to have this life, and when we fill each moment with the proper sense of awe, we will become the force necessary to change the lives of others and live our own life to the fullest.

Enjoy reading what I write? Copies of my book, Connections Across the Student Desk, are available on Amazon: LINK HERE  or Barnes and Noble: LINK HERE

Wish I could come speak to your staff and colleagues? Give me the topic, I'll make it come alive! Contact me! maccaronicrew@outlook.com

Take Me to Your People: finding those who lift you up

Finding your tribe, the people who breathe life into you day after day, is not an easy task. No one teaches us how to find these people, but they are so very important to our well-being, to our happiness, to our very ability to say "Yes!" to the life we have built, even on the days it attempts to tear us down. At this point in my life, I have watched my five children work their way through the K-12 years. I have comforted them when friends moved away. I have wiped tears when "friends" were unkind and needed to shift into a different lane. I have attempted to be level-headed as, more often than I would have thought possible through my rose-colored glasses, we embarked on the conversation that begins with, "X is so mean!". Repeatedly I have asked myself, "When did this get so hard?"

I remember childhood days in my neighborhood. If the sun was out, so were the kids. We didn't have to look for the neighborhood kids who lifted us up. We all lifted each other. Sure, there were the few kids who when they turned the corner the rest of us would heave a sigh of...a sigh of what?...Maybe, "This isn't what I would have asked for, this changes things, but we can make it work."  And we did. We invited others in. We switched the game. We repeated the rules. We came out with snacks for everyone...even the kid who might be a little bit edgy or mean spirited. Most of the time we had fun. Sometimes kids had to be reminded to not be a "dweeb". haha!  But even that was done in a way that endeavored to include. We wanted to lift. We wanted to live. We wanted to just have fun.

Where did that go? Why did that go? And how do we navigate this new social landscape? As a mom and as a middle school teacher, I try to help the younger people in my life know their people and kindly dismiss those who threaten their well-being. But as adults it is just as imperative that we find others who will lift us up and share the higher ground. Hopefully we find that in the people who share our dwelling, but we also need it in the workplace. Have you found your people? Do you have someone or a few someones, to whom you can go when you need a smile, or a mental hug, or a mental shot of something strong enough to get you through the day? And how do you find them? For me, it is in the shared joys of the day. It is in the shared 'what the ...?' of the day. And it is in the shared understanding that we are in this together and we believe in the good of each other even on the days when life's circumstances bring out our worst. These are my people, and as we near the end of Spring Break, I find that I am not completely disappointed that my break from work is coming to an end because next week I get to reunite with my people and enjoy again all the joy, laughs and energy they bring to my life!

Enjoy reading what I write? Copies of my book, Connections Across the Student Desk, are available on Amazon: LINK HERE  or Barnes and Noble: LINK HERE

Wish I could come speak to your staff and colleagues? Give me the topic, I'll make it come alive! Contact me! maccaronicrew@outlook.com