Quote of the day:
"That's often where courage begins: With the story we tell ourselves about who we are and what's important, and about our capacity to make a difference ..." Barack Obama receiving the Profile in Courage Award, JFK Library Foundation, May 7, 2017
Riffing off the quote above as I choose to use it for personal reflection:
Who I am and what's important, and about my capacity to make a difference ... I am five foot one inch tall, rather too plump at this older age in my life and wanting to trim it down a bit for my health. I have a doctorate in education with an emphasis in the early childhood years, and so have become an early childhood teacher educator in a small, private, struggling university. But am on my way out with a phased retirement plan and I have a Senior card so that I only need to pay $1 when I take the local train downtown Philadelphia. I have written books that focus on teachers' self-reflection about their emotional development, and helps them make connections between what they learned as young children, and how they interact and behave with children and families. I am in the process of writing another book about children's need for attention. I travel around the country and facilitate professional development workshops and make speeches for early childhood professionals about the topics of my books. I think I have some capacity to make a difference in the lives of very young children when I am able to reach their teachers - or parents - and help them understand the importance of relationship and attachment as the foundation for healthy emotional development and young children's emotional well-being.
Making a difference takes time, and I am not always sure if I, in fact, do make a difference. After all, change is incremental and oftentimes regressive. We have been given our emotional scripts in our early childhood, and changing that script is difficult to do when it is so deeply embedded in the emotional memory of our brain. Sometimes I feel satisfaction if I manage to reach ten percent of the participants, who attend my workshops or presentations. And even then, I am not sure about the impact I might have. The older I become, the more I realize that change is a "drip-drip" process. It happens very slowly. That doesn't mean I should give up, and I seldom feel despondent. Because every now and then I see that someone has taken to heart and significantly understands what I am on about, and I notice a change in behavior that is authentic and substantial.
So, I wonder to myself: What is my contribution? I think it is persistence in the face of obstacles - personal and professional - and a conviction that what I am offering for children is the right thing to do because it is about compassion and authenticity. In addition, I believe that in telling my story, and sharing the process of my own psychological development and understanding, I am giving others the opportunity to courageously confront their own. For when we face ourselves, we are able to make choices about how to go about making the changes necessary for our own emotional health and well-being. This must come first, or in accompaniment with our work with children and families, as we facilitate their growth, and offer them options for change in the way they perceive themselves and their lives. I want to contribute to how they will make choices for their own emotional health and well-being - and, especially, in how they will interact with others, and in the types of relationships they will develop going forward.
Two years ago at Mining Nuggets: Gratitude
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