Some days I go through life unconscious. Such days are indulgences, involving exercise, reading, food or music. By "unconscious" is meant just letting the day happen without thinking too much about what's next. A summer hike in the mountains is one good example. Sunshine, the crack of a rock against another, a feathery misty rain I remember once, a sandwich & friends: these things make life somehow seem easy. It's not hard to make recreational excursions graceful.
Other days, the world seems out to get you. Bad sleep, a hectic commute, an argumentative meeting; these are all minor stressors. Concern about making payroll, paying for college, medical worries, those long range planning activities are bigger issues. It's a good goal to get through these things "gracefully."
Gracefully? That sounds crazy doesn't it? I'm more of a straight-ahead person than a dancer so grace generally isn't my thing, but the word isn't entirely inappropriate.
Work is another story entirely. At some basic level, companies fight for survival. There are fights within companies too, or at least various agendas, some of them helpful and some just destructive. I feel it's my job to create a bubble of safety and happiness, for my family, around my friends, and at work too. That is meant to be a sunny place where people can feel they don't need their guard up. Inside the bubble you can do your best work, you don't have to be on guard against enemies, your blood pressure can ease down.
I've realized I have even tried to make my office that way.. I mean the operation here as a whole, but my physical space too. It makes me feel good to be there & hopefully others too. Work ought to be a refuge of sorts from the big bad world.
The classroom's also a bubble. The kids don't realize it at first, but they're safe there. I'm trying to make them smarter, not fail them. It takes a while for that to sink in. I had an evaluation done, video taken, surveys tabulated. The teacher said they're being hypnotized, they're not taking notes. I need to engage them, break the spell they're under. That's double edged! I'm glad they're in a trance in our little tribal meetings but of course they need to take notes. Anyway, you get the point.
Sometimes though, it's work to hold the bubble up. Like an overcast of thick wet newspaper slurry wants to smack it down and I have to press back to keep the little sunny sphere open. It's tiring. I don't know how big a bubble I can hold open, how much longer. Plus, it's cold out. We all need to help keep it going: it's a kind of magic, and it needs us.
Strange thoughts, eh?
Other days, the world seems out to get you. Bad sleep, a hectic commute, an argumentative meeting; these are all minor stressors. Concern about making payroll, paying for college, medical worries, those long range planning activities are bigger issues. It's a good goal to get through these things "gracefully."
Gracefully? That sounds crazy doesn't it? I'm more of a straight-ahead person than a dancer so grace generally isn't my thing, but the word isn't entirely inappropriate.
Work is another story entirely. At some basic level, companies fight for survival. There are fights within companies too, or at least various agendas, some of them helpful and some just destructive. I feel it's my job to create a bubble of safety and happiness, for my family, around my friends, and at work too. That is meant to be a sunny place where people can feel they don't need their guard up. Inside the bubble you can do your best work, you don't have to be on guard against enemies, your blood pressure can ease down.
I've realized I have even tried to make my office that way.. I mean the operation here as a whole, but my physical space too. It makes me feel good to be there & hopefully others too. Work ought to be a refuge of sorts from the big bad world.
The classroom's also a bubble. The kids don't realize it at first, but they're safe there. I'm trying to make them smarter, not fail them. It takes a while for that to sink in. I had an evaluation done, video taken, surveys tabulated. The teacher said they're being hypnotized, they're not taking notes. I need to engage them, break the spell they're under. That's double edged! I'm glad they're in a trance in our little tribal meetings but of course they need to take notes. Anyway, you get the point.
Sometimes though, it's work to hold the bubble up. Like an overcast of thick wet newspaper slurry wants to smack it down and I have to press back to keep the little sunny sphere open. It's tiring. I don't know how big a bubble I can hold open, how much longer. Plus, it's cold out. We all need to help keep it going: it's a kind of magic, and it needs us.
Strange thoughts, eh?
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