...if the world was made of people who could do that...

A YEAR WITH MYSELF MODULE 50: SERVICE

Teaching As a Tool for Changing Yourself and the World

As a teacher and a student of Life, this Module touches me and inspires me in myriad ways, places, and fashions. Even my assumptions about it, picked-off, one at a time and in such gentle ways, teach me much to un-learn as well to re-learn.

The trick for me, for this post, is to say what I most want to At This Moment. I realise I could write reams of posts and journal-ish writing about any one of the Modules.

As a teacher in my Former Real Life, of little children, of adults, of young people and of teenagers, [are these NOT separate categories?!] I know my teacher’s heart. It is distinct and uniquely bent just for me.

As a teacher in my Present Day Real Life one thing that I know is that my motivations are different.

Totally.

And they are exactly the same.

EXACTLY.

As far back as I can remember I was teaching. Teaching my bassett hound to read. Teaching myself to write. Teaching my teachers how to challenge me and help me BEcome a self-driven [NOT hard-driving] girl who could easily evolve into a self-driven woman.

I have had many job titles and positions within organisations and in my own businesses. I have learned to DO things that have zero relevance Now. [and a few that didn’t even THEN, in my opinion ;~D]

I have learned to teach myself how to DO or Learn new things or simply desired things. I wanted to blog  so this year I started that and goodness, Now I have several blogs and I am thinking up what I’d like to try for 2013!!

I have un-learned that grades and outcomes matter. Sure, they matter and always will. BEcause I live in a World which places value on things that I don’t completely get and often don’t agree with at all. What I mean is what and how they matter to me. For me.

Recently I was writing about selling my art. Someone commented back to me about what I wrote and said something so interesting. She said that is why she STOPPED making art. The upkeep, care, and other maintenance our art “product” requires.

I moved quickly past my reaction that I have completely lost my compass, a place I go often when the topic of selling my art comes up, and into the heart of her words.

I saw immediately that her comment was an answer for me. To a prayer. To a wish. To a hope.

To help me understand that the MAKING of my art is the Whole Thing.

Like teaching. The reason I teach is BEcause I CAN. BEcause I am given the opportunity. All the time. Whether it is a “job” description, for any sort of remuneration, or BEcause it is my Purpose in that moment.

I teach BEcause I am alive. Above ground. Breathing in and out.

Today I taught myself to stop BEfore hurting Gracie’s feelings. To see round the corner of what I was about to DO in reaction to what she was choosing to DO, BEing a dog. [even a dog who had a spa day yesterday!!!]

Yesterday I taught myself to keep talking and thinking and processing even though I didn’t get the reaction from someone else that I had got from myself!!!

Every day is an opportunity to teach and re-learn. To un-learn and re-teach. To try and fail. And try again. Or try something else.

Still, Now that I have gone off on a word-bender, I want to come back to the one thing in this moment that most moves me in this Module.

On page 8, left column, near the bottom Tara Sophia Mohr says:

We focus incredible financial and social capital on teaching children how to read, do math, and play sports, but we don’t teach them how to forgive, cope with an argument, react wisely when they are afraid, or manage their own anger – even though we all would probably say our lives would be much better if the world was made of people who could do that.

WOW!!!

This is juicy stuff. This is the heart of WHY I am Here. On Planet Earth. Right Now. As all that I AM and all that I AM NOT.