A Grateful Start (Just for Teachers)
11 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
Because today I need reminding of a few things, here is a reflection I wrote in July 2010:
For a job that keeps me constantly on my toes, I am thankful,
as I only have to think of those who have been made redundant to realise my good fortune.
For the realisation that how we treat people might be the only thing they remember about us,
I am grateful, because it reminds me to always look at the bigger picture.
For students who sometimes feel more like friends, I say thanks,
because they remind me to listen to each of them as if they were just that.
For those who delight in exposing what I don’t know, I am grateful,
as it makes me want to strive to do better tomorrow.
For colleagues who make me laugh at myself, I am thankful,
because laughter is indeed the best and sweetest medicine.
For friends who forget the misguided things I do, I say thanks,
because I am prone to imperfection… (but only most of the time.)
For the challenges presented to me every new day, I say thank you,
as it means I will grow and hopefully become a better person for it.
For the ability to get out of bed, renewed and healthy, I am grateful,
as so many people live without this luxury every single day.
And for being blessed to live where we do, I say thank you,
because I know I am safe, I am happy, I am loved and I am needed…
These are the little things we take so much for granted,
But, incredibly, make us some of the luckiest people to walk on this earth….
[N. Papasidero]
Precious Minutes
27 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
When those young people signed up for a camp in Norway recently, the furthest thing from their mind would have been the reality of their experience. Not even one week after the act, it astounds me how quickly we can forget about such atrocities and get on with the trivialities of our life…meanwhile, the parents, siblings, friends, teachers and colleagues of these beautiful young people are currently struggling to breathe in and out, grappling with the fact that the people they loved are no longer with them, at least in the form that they knew them. I wonder what their last moments were – were they happy goodbyes? Did they argue with their loved ones the day before they left? Did they hug the ones they love, or text, or call, or whisper the ‘I Love You’ that they really wanted to say that morning? Did we? Did we stop for that one moment? Did we make the time to look our children in the eye and really see them? Did we imagine what it would be like if they didn’t come home tonight? I cannot imagine, nor do I want to think about, what that would be like…. tragedies like these make me grateful that I stop, not nearly often enough, but that I do stop and think about how blessed I am. I would like to think that it doesn’t take such hideous occurrences as this to remind me of just how precious each moment is.
Small reminders
17 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
Sometimes reminders about what’s really, truly worth worrying about come in the most unlikely and seemingly insignificant moments – today it was in the form of one brief look into the eyes of someone I know, someone who’s husband has an incurable illness, someone who looked so sad and so brave all at once…I had complained about the breakfast dishes being left on the bench as I walked out the door….I didn’t when I got home. Realisations of our blessings sometimes slap you in the face like that. Most times they’ll pass us by because we’re just not paying attention. I wish there was something I could do to help these people – but all I can do is be truly grateful for all I have, and never take the little things for granted.
New beginnings
30 Jan 2011 3 Comments
Thank you for fresh starts, fresh thoughts, new friends, new beginnings; we all deserve them every once in a while. Thanks for every day that gives us the opportunity to do just that.
Simple things.
14 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
Today I feel happy to be able to give my children the things they want for their birthday – yes, I said want – not need. I say this with the understanding that I really do know what a privileged – not perfect, not superior, not better, but privileged - life we lead. I am also glad that I often find myself wishing we didn’t want any of this stuff that I see around me, because I do know that it is so completely unnecessary for a happy life and peaceful existence. But, through a twist of fate, here I sit at a computer in a beautiful home, in a safe, quiet community, in a peaceful country, with a loving family – and we are healthy and indeed have everything we could ever need. We have access to health care and sealed roads and reliable cars and an abundance of food and a law-abiding population, for the most part. This doesn’t escape my attention, and I am grateful for it everyday. I am grateful that I am here, I am safe, I am loved, I am needed and I can even buy gifts for my children if I want to. These are the privileges of living where I do. I give thanks for it and hope that every day that I do have it, I say thank you, somehow. Like today. Like now. Thank you.
Just thanks.
07 Nov 2010 2 Comments
Thanks for best friends – the lifelong kind – the ones that can tell you anything and are happy to hear the same from you. Thank you for the things we do not understand but are happy to embrace as real and significant parts of our growth. Thank you for different people; light-workers, the gifted, the off-beat and all-round amazing – the people who share themselves so that we can make sense of our own little world. Thank you for the signs, the messages, the reminders, the mysteries that make us think twice about what we have believed until now. Thank you for the time to say thank you, no matter how briefly.
A Walk in the Wilderness
28 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
It seems the only wilderness I am game to walk in is that wonderful thing called ‘a busy life’. Through no-one’s fault but my own I feel as though I have at times been in the proverbial canoe in the well-known creek without the necessary paddles! Happily, I’ve realised that the times when I have been able to see the sunshine through the tree-tops has been when I have been diligent in WRITING my gratitude list….when, oh when will I ever just get the fact that this little exercise can literally be sanity-saving! I am hoping that since I am such a slow learner, my time on earth will be extended just to give me time to perfect it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the moments when I remember such things.
The long reach
19 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
I learnt today that everyone feels alone and retreats at some time; I’m grateful to know that I am not alone, and that even when I do retreat, I am surrounded by people who love and respect me. I am thankful for authors who challenge me to do better, think better, live better and be better. And I am so grateful for the down days that make me fully appeciate all the great days in between…
Words of wisdom…
20 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
Today I am thankful for wise words that shout out at me at certain times in my life, and as I look at my children growing up, I have been wondering what more I can do to help their journey be one of joy…and today I came across this piece by Australian designer/speaker/adventurer, Sally Browne…
“Call me crazy, maybe it’s just a dream, but I believe if we all wondered and wandered more often, we might find some real answers, some fulfilment, some meaning. I believe if we encourage each child to wonder and wander until they discover the tiniest positive desire, regardless of what it is, and if we allow them to nurture and grow their dream, and if we enthuse them to integrate their soul and their personality with that dream, then they may become self-found individuals. Maybe they will be intensely different, but not difficult; hopefully, they will be erratic, creative and challenging….but brimming with self-love and wildly excited about life.”
…..What a great philosophy by which to raise our kids….today I am grateful that these words made their way to me.
Just a little thank you
18 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
If I said ‘thank you’ every day, I know I would be a better person for it…so I end this day thankful that I have remembered to do so, even if it meant getting out of a warm, soft bed to do it 
…
…I am grateful for the rain, soaking into our newly planted rose beds and hopefully filling the catchments for future use and water for food…I am thankful for the holidays that allow us to stop, or go, or do anything in between – but mostly for allowing me to spend time with my gorgeous children and cherished husband, uninterrupted by the busy-ness of work and school…I am grateful for the time spent with my Dad, who visits on a whim and enjoys whatever it is that we are doing at the time – indeed special times…I am thankful for a husband who is talented beyond belief and pretends to love painting the bathroom even when he hates it…I am grateful for this bewildering and fascinating internet that brings people together from all over the world, for whatever purpose they choose…I am thankful for the days that are tinged more with happiness than sadness, and for the rose that just will not die, reminding me of things I will never lose…I am grateful for the strength to do things I believe in, and make the changes that I need to make, for me….and today I am thankful to receive knowledge of breakthroughs in medical research that give us all the gift that we so passionately crave: hope. I am grateful.
