(A Hafiz poem to live by.)
Once a young woman said to me, “Hafiz, what
is the sign of someone who knows God?”
I became very quiet, and looked deep into her
eyes, then replied,
“My dear, they have dropped the knife. Someone
Who knows God has dropped the cruel knife
That most so often use upon their tender self
and others.”
There are two key ingredients to magical teaching, and these ingredients can be applied in life beyond the field of education.
The first ingredient is that the magic isn’t in the teacher, it’s in the student. The more we recognize that there’s a creative, loving, and insightful genius within each of our students, the less our job becomes about getting somewhere in a lesson and the more it becomes about supporting students to unleash this genius. Once we realize that we all already have everything we need to thrive in life, we can simply respect, honor, steward, and support the perfection already within others and ourselves.
The second ingredient of magical teaching (and living) is to adjust to the terrain in front of you, no matter what the map says. Teachers have objectives, intentions, and goals in mind when working with students, and these goals are like a beacon in the distance. When we create a lesson plan, we have expectations that the class will follow the plan as designed and we’ll arrive at the beacon of understanding together.
However, the actual terrain of the journey can surprise us, and we’ve got to be aware and willing to adapt in the moment. We need to adjust to the bumps, sinkholes, mountains, and rifts that show up along the way. All it takes is to be aware and willing.
Try these ingredients in your own life, relationships, and commitments, whether you're a teacher or not. Trust me, they're magical.
Thanks so much for reading. ❤️
I asked a new client at the start of a conversation: “What’s present for you?”
She shared her feelings about her current situation - the tough ones, the challenging ones, the ones she felt stuck with and saddened by. She shared her thoughts too - her judgments, concerns, and regrets about the past; her fears and insecurities for the future for herself and her family; and her lack of clarity and direction in the present.
And with each additional “What else?” question I asked, more came out.
In any moment of our lives, there are potentially many ripples of energy moving through our minds, hearts, and bodies. And all we’ve ever been taught or modeled in life is how to react to them!
My conversation with my clients always begin with getting present to “What’s so” in our experience.
If we’re sailing a ship, it’s best to get present to the wind and the currents before directing our sails and rudder. This is the difference between sailing and not-drowning - a life of reaction is a life of not-drowning, whereas getting present to the what’s so in our experience gives us access to intelligence and wholeness in our responses.
Getting the what’s so of our experience loosens the sometimes jumbled knot of our experience. And when we separate those different threads, we can be with them individually, giving them the attention they may deserve. The challenges of life become much more navigable.
Any one of those many threads is a trailhead, a way in.
A way into compassion. A way into forgiveness. A way into healing and wholeness. A way into beauty and holiness. A way in to showing up our best.
All healing and wholeness begins with getting present to what’s so.
Thank you for reading my work. ❤️
