An Amazing Soul is gone, I wonder where she is off to now?
One of my favorite teachers is Oprah and all the teachers she has brought forth and shared with the rest of us. I have learned so much from the Amazing Maya Angelou because of Oprah always sharing her wisdom with us.
Share this:
Just for me.
Just a picture and two quotes.
My boys on the lakefront. And some words of wisdom. That’s it.
Share this:
It’s true.
Love the Optimism Revolution. Thank you Jim Willett.
It is just so true sometimes.
You are my favorite ninja to follow on Twitter too. Thank you for offering a sunny outlook in everything you post.
Share this:
Someone I love has begun to BLOG!
Some people like me write blog posts to share things that they love or things that they think or feel. Some people blog to update others on their lives, share information or some might use their blog as a venting space. Whatever the intention of the blog, it doesn’t matter to me as long as it is well-intentioned.
Someone I love has begun to blog and share their intellect with the world. I am so glad. Click here to read.
Share this:
We are glad you are here.
I don’t need to add anything. He says it all.
Share this:
Fear and Vulnerability
Many of us live in this constant state of fear, uncertainty and vulnerabilty even when our lives are full of joy and happiness. I’ve come to accept this uncertainty over the short span of my life because of many different people or circumstances which have crossed my path, touched my life and schooled me in this school of life.
A wise woman said to me, “Lauren, the only certain thing in life is that life is uncertain. If you can live in this state of uncertainty day to day, and come to accept it, then you can be happy anywhere, with anything and with anyone.”
So I AM. I still struggle.
BUT…. The videos below have really helped. Thank you Dr. Berne Brown and her incredible book Daring Greatly 
Here are her TEDx talks. Each are 20 minutes long, but were so worth the watch for me. I watched each a few years ago now, but still watch from time to time to reconnect and center myself.
Share this:
More advice
I read this book over my spring break. It was given to me by one of my friends/colleagues.
She gave it to me because I just loved Cheryl Strayed’s memoir called Wild
I got so many lessons out of her novel so my fellow teaching friend gave me this one called Tiny Beautiful Things.
I thought, “oh geez, a self help book!” Well, it’s not. But it kinda is. The best kind. It’s a “self help” book full of real human experiences, empathy, compassion and love. It’s an incredible compilation of Cheryl Strayed’s advice column called “Dear Sugar“. Awesome.
Here are a few of the most meaningful quotes I took from the book. Enjoy! I read them daily and I am filled or reminded to be filled with compassion, kindness, empathy and love on a daily basis with my precious students, colleagues and other fellow human beings I encounter each day.
“Within the chaos of our shame and disappointment and rage there is meaning, and within that meaning is the possibility of rescue. ”
“Attention is the first and final act of love, and the ultimate dwindling resource in the human arrangement isn’t cheap oil or potable water or even common sense, is it MERCY.”
“It’s what most of us have to give a few times over the course of our lives: to love with a mindfully clear sense of purpose, even when it feels outrageous to do so. Even when you’d rather put on your steel-toed boots and scream-love.
Give it. You won’t regret it. It will come out in the reckoning. ”
L. O. V. E.
“But compassion isn’t about solutions. It’s about giving all the love that you’ve got. So give it. Have the guts to feel lame. Have the guts to not have the right words to console someone.”
“Or just close your eyes and remember everything you already know. Let whatever mysterious starlight that guided you this far guide you onward into whatever crazy beauty awaits.”
“The future has an ancient heart.” I love it because it expresses with such grace and economy what is certainly true-that who we become is born of who we most primitively are; that we both know and cannot possibly know what it is we’ve yet to manifest in our lives.”
OH MY GOODNESS. THERE ARE SO MANY. I’LL POST THESE FOR NOW AND MORE ANOTHER DAY.
What a great read. These help me every day as I focus on the little growing humans I interact with and even the “grown-ups” that I see daily.
Last one…
“And in the meanwhile, cultivate an understanding of a bunch of the other things that the best, sanest people on the planet know: that life is long, that people both change and remain the same, that every last one of us will need to %*#! up and be forgiven, that we’re all just walking and walking and walking and trying to find our way, that all roads will eventually lead to the mountaintop.”
Share this:
Advice from a tree
We could all be reminded every day to remember these bits of advice just by looking out our windows at these trees. Hopefully everyone has a tree near to remind themselves.
Share this:
A** in chair
I read this one yesterday too, and I thought that it was even more worthy to share, or just post for my own benefit because right now, currently I need to constantly remind myself to sit down and just do my work for my National Board certification and the other is just so important to remember that we are all recovering from something as human beings. I must remember these these. So here they are for my benefit or yours.
Be the change... 