Plans Aren't Enough

I burned the lesson plan.

I knew that if I walked into that room of 2nd graders feeling and thinking the way I was, even the best lesson plan wouldn’t go well.

I was feeling strained. My mind was fluttering with thoughts, my body was tense, and my heart nervous.

Then, I remembered the Truth: the lesson plans matter, but it’s the being of the teacher that makes the difference. 

As I walked to the classroom, I decided to burn my lesson plan.

For me, planning is an important part of teaching, but it's not teaching.

Planning is setting up the fire pit before friends come over. But it’s not the fire that brings passion, fun, and love present in the conversation: it’s the human beings participating in it. The fire is a condition that supports the conversation - it supports our being together.

Whenever I’m nervous about how a plan will go - in class, in transformational programs, in life - I’m living from my thinking and not from the ground of my being. Nervousness and strain are usually a reaction to fearful thinking. Presence, compassion, and vitality, however, are an authentic engagement with this moment.

It’s what a client of mine discovered this week: peace is the precondition for real happiness - access inner peace, and happiness, enjoyment, and love flow easily.

My 11th and 12th grade math teacher, Mr. McGrath - I don’t remember a single lesson he planned and taught us, but I remember who he was for us. Committed. Intentional. Holding us to a high standard of integrity and diligence. 

Plans are important, don’t get me wrong. But plans alone aren’t enough to cause what we're out to cause in our lives. Our authentic presence, our being, is the special sauce that adds meaningful, impactful, and memorable flavor to the work and activities of our lives.

This is mastery.

“You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.”

- Charlie Parker, Jazz Saxophonist.

How Crappy Students Become My Best Teachers

Errrrrr! I was feeling impatient and frustrated!

I did NOT want to help this student out.

He missed class, he was often late, he was distracted during class, and he asked for help much later than he should have.

Besides, I had top students who also wanted my attention and assistance at that same moment. Those were the students I really wanted to be working with.

And I was annoyed with him and my duty to support him.

But the students who test my patience? They're not actually testing my patience: they're building it.

Every time I breathe out my frustration and relax my body around, beneath, and through any impatience, I build my patience. 

Impatience and frustration can be a gateway to deeper connection and peace of mind.

It’s one way my students become my teachers. My most challenging students are actually some of my biggest teachers.

The truth is, my impatience and frustration never come from anyone else. It's always born right here inside of me. That's why it's my responsibility to manage it.

There’s a selection from chapter 77 of the Tao Te Ching that I’ve been quoting recently:

“The Human Route:

Depriving the poor, 

Offering to the rich.”

Isn’t that what I’m doing when I want to turn from the struggling student and toward the more accomplished students? Depriving the poor, offering to the rich?

This is even trained into many of us in our family and educational structures: respect authority. What about our peers? What about the lowest among us?

Here’s what Jesus said that mirrors that Tao Te Ching lesson:

"Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40. 

This lesson applies in all contexts of our lives:

Teacher to students. 

Student to teachers.

Adult to children. 

Man to women, man to men.

Woman to men, woman to women.

And yes, to poor and rich too. (The largest companies in the world keep getting my money each month, but how much am I giving to the least of my brothers and sisters?)

It applies to ourselves too. Which of the parts of yourself do you shower with more care and pride? Which parts of yourself are you depriving of your care and pride?

And what’s one the most valuable gifts we can ever give? Our attention. Our listening. Our presence. Our compassion.

Giving these gifts is a practice. Practice practice practice. Most of us are crappy at it. With practice we can get better.

The path to heaven - whether for you it's a place or a state of being - is to expand our own awareness and treat the least of the world’s beings as if they were the Divine itself.

The universe doesn’t see hierarchy. It’s only through the filter of our interpretation and story that we see some beings as more important or valuable than others. That’s why this is such a powerful spiritual practice - to see the beauty, holiness, and goodness in all people, and to let go and move beyond those inner constraints within ourselves that keep us from seeing it.

A relevant verse from the Bhagavad Gita that I also read recently (chapter 5 verse 18): “The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision all beings, knowing that all beings are expressions of God.”

Much Love. ❤️

Practice and Progress

Othello Moments. That's some insider language one of my clients and I use together.

Othello is a strategy game, and it's tagline is this:

“A minute to learn…A lifetime to master!”

It’s so easy to find inspiring quotes and words of wisdom. (Our social media feeds are full of them.) Many of them take only a moment to learn.

Ah, but mastery. That takes time.

The path to mastery is practice. The access to consistent practice is discipline.

There are a few spiritual texts I study at different points throughout my day. More and more, I move slower and slower through these powerful texts. I find myself thinking to myself and saying to others:

"A single line in this text may take me a lifetime to master!"

And I mean it.

Mastery isn't a destination, it's a path.

Practice is the way we walk along that path.

Disciplined is the state of being that keeps us practicing.

With practice comes progress. It's sometimes noticeable right away, like learning a new melody on an instrument. Usually, though, progress is only noticeable after we've practiced for a little while.

What practices - that you know would be valuable for you - have you not been engaging in as much as you'd like to?

Where in life could you be more disciplined?

Get on the path to mastery that matters to you. Your life and the world are better off for it.

Much Love. ❤️