Last night I checked out for the first time Drag Lounge Blues dancing. It is a sensual mix of salsa and bacchata. In one lesson (their second last of a series) we covered basic, lunge, double turn out, free spin into lunge, side step, and the skip - all with hip movement. Interesting that it came out of Black social dancing, remaining an underground dance second to Swing dancing and stays in its same flavour today.
Yesterday my art students went outside the second time for plein air landscape pastel, practical design students worked on researching Toy Inventions (5 my choice, 5 their choice, 5 global with comparison and contrast). These last two days have been a breather and break from what's predictable. 24 days left of teaching and learning need to mix things up and I need to go in to pack up the storage room for our May 15th move into the new building. These last two days were a break from assigning lunch detentions for those who are so very far behind their watercolor painting. Yes, I get to hang out with my friends.
Heather borrowed me to go Kentucky Derby hat and shoe shopping at Arizona Mills. I discovered a whole slew of stores for smaller sizes, and also learned how to exit without getting lost. Way cool. She was successful with a medium brim $8 hat, $10 shawl, and $20 beautiful and comfortable navy pumps. We did walk out of Nieman Marcus last chance store stunned with their special price of $275 down from $700 for a pair of shoes. Some of them quite beautiful.
Tomorrow, it's dim sum with art teachers as a closing celebration, then scoot from Chandler to North Scottsdale to Ayala Bar jewelry party with friends, head on over to Little Rangoon at Scottsdale and Shea to host their Burmese and Water Festival (first of its kind here) for the Meet Up group with 12 participants. So much fun when I post something on the calendar I get so many as a "yes."
Today is my free day to catch up, laundry, go to school, pack, and hang out with Mike.
I absolutely love my life
there's so much freedom
aliveness
and
joy
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Memory Game
This has everything to growing those dendrites, it's what I keep telling my students, everything you do in this class is to grow dendrites. It bypasses that argument of how is this relevant to my life as a doctor/accountant/lawyer... except this site is for everyone and anyone out there in or out of school.
http://www.happy-neuron.com/
On Saturday I went for my City Team training, and it's so wonderful that we are to get out of being in an assisting agreement twice more than we put in. So there's a whole bunch of "what's in it for me" to balance off the whole idea of being contribution. Nurturing and replenishing the self first to be of service.
Being with and allowing the other to be with themselves and you is huge. The creation of a space to exist for everything you are and everything you are not. Acceptance. Loving of the other is acceptance.
Having and doing is the act of surviving, we do abc to have xyz. What do we need to do next, and then we'll have the results that we want which leads into being .... happy, successful.....
Living a life you love goes beyond surviving.
In connecting with the other, it's being, how you are being to be related: as in being a jerk, being considerate, being generous, being abundant, being courageous... sometimes, we have to give up one state of being to take on another. Give up "being right" to take on being acceptance. It takes a special kind of listening for yourself, the space you're in, and the other to see what needs to happen. Our whole lives are given to being right, avoid dominating, dominating, resisting, we see it in movies, hear it in songs, read about it... to step into giving that kind of learned behavior up and take on being something that makes a difference takes courage. Something worthy, different, and unusual opens up for both parties.
It is in being that we are driven to do (our being drives our actions... being a jerk drives the action of harsh sounding words, gestures, and actions; being generous is held in the body, voice, gestures, actions...) in so doing then we end up having the results we crave, such as freedom, affinity, relatedness. Sometimes, it's the split second act of giving up a behavior and supplanting it with something that's powerful which will transform the situation immediately.
Here's an example. I was starving before my Lindy Hop class. Walked into a place, picked up chocolate nuts and water bottle and waited in line to pay. The young guy was taking his forever time to haul out his wallet, take out his change (you know the story). I was being the jerk, rolling my eyes, body language tight, tapping foot, sigh. I could totally tell this was not cool behavior and my starving stomach was unhappy. Being a jerk is held in the body, break the body language and it breaks the pattern. Since I couldn't mentally give up my discomfort. I physically changed my stance, literally shook my arms, looked up, puffed my chest up, took a breathe, smiled. Immediately, I saw the impact of my behavior.
The teller and young man were tense, constrained, and each making the other wrong, glaring, looking down. I immediately said I was sorry for my behavior, told him to take his time (all with real smiles and warm voice). He then said it was his first time he had eaten since the morning (it was 5pm). In that moment everyone was relaxed and the tension lifted. My whole occuring world shifted to one of peace, acceptance, and love.
It takes one person to change a relationship.
Will that be you?
http://www.happy-neuron.com/
On Saturday I went for my City Team training, and it's so wonderful that we are to get out of being in an assisting agreement twice more than we put in. So there's a whole bunch of "what's in it for me" to balance off the whole idea of being contribution. Nurturing and replenishing the self first to be of service.
Being with and allowing the other to be with themselves and you is huge. The creation of a space to exist for everything you are and everything you are not. Acceptance. Loving of the other is acceptance.
Having and doing is the act of surviving, we do abc to have xyz. What do we need to do next, and then we'll have the results that we want which leads into being .... happy, successful.....
Living a life you love goes beyond surviving.
In connecting with the other, it's being, how you are being to be related: as in being a jerk, being considerate, being generous, being abundant, being courageous... sometimes, we have to give up one state of being to take on another. Give up "being right" to take on being acceptance. It takes a special kind of listening for yourself, the space you're in, and the other to see what needs to happen. Our whole lives are given to being right, avoid dominating, dominating, resisting, we see it in movies, hear it in songs, read about it... to step into giving that kind of learned behavior up and take on being something that makes a difference takes courage. Something worthy, different, and unusual opens up for both parties.
It is in being that we are driven to do (our being drives our actions... being a jerk drives the action of harsh sounding words, gestures, and actions; being generous is held in the body, voice, gestures, actions...) in so doing then we end up having the results we crave, such as freedom, affinity, relatedness. Sometimes, it's the split second act of giving up a behavior and supplanting it with something that's powerful which will transform the situation immediately.
Here's an example. I was starving before my Lindy Hop class. Walked into a place, picked up chocolate nuts and water bottle and waited in line to pay. The young guy was taking his forever time to haul out his wallet, take out his change (you know the story). I was being the jerk, rolling my eyes, body language tight, tapping foot, sigh. I could totally tell this was not cool behavior and my starving stomach was unhappy. Being a jerk is held in the body, break the body language and it breaks the pattern. Since I couldn't mentally give up my discomfort. I physically changed my stance, literally shook my arms, looked up, puffed my chest up, took a breathe, smiled. Immediately, I saw the impact of my behavior.
The teller and young man were tense, constrained, and each making the other wrong, glaring, looking down. I immediately said I was sorry for my behavior, told him to take his time (all with real smiles and warm voice). He then said it was his first time he had eaten since the morning (it was 5pm). In that moment everyone was relaxed and the tension lifted. My whole occuring world shifted to one of peace, acceptance, and love.
It takes one person to change a relationship.
Will that be you?
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Settling the Self
In choosing everything that it is and everything it isn't creates a powerful context for life. Placing the self in driver mode brings on a sense of acceptance. Everything in life is exactly the way you designed or created it. How it falls, lands, opens up, the direction and path taken, all driven by one person.
Choice takes out the "being carried through life" mode. Grounded in choice is really a moment to confront what it looks like to be living your life. It's very matter of fact, it's just the way it is. Energy is re-directed because "I choose" is at the source of your own power to give life direction. Accepting removes all that energy given into resisting what isn't, frees the self into seeing something previously undefined.
Choice removes victim language: blaming, making someone wrong, anger, annoyance, frustration, wishing, living in the past. "I choose" frees up the individual to find solutions and/or accept, to be 100% present, living out there and not in the head.
Career wise, this is the time period called "reflection" where the teacher feels settled, everything comes together with a good sense of the culture, the program, and success is reached in just about every sphere. Output matches or outstrips energy input, results are positive, the kids are working well, on task behavior, less communicated frustration all round. Plans for the new school year begin perculating in the head. The individual lives into the future of possibilities, beyond survival.
The Effectiveness class defines these methods of being effective: Formulation, planning what needs to happen, when, how - something that's been vastly missing in my latest undertakings; Concentration, working at making it happen, where my energy input out matches results; momentum where things take off with a life of it's own while still being in action; and then stability where minimal effort is needed to keep it operational.
Interesting that in applying these "distinctions" to the project (creating an art exhibit for select art teachers), I find myself effortlessly effective as a teacher, prepping in advance, keeping up with student work, rotating and scanning consistently, using a kinder tone of voice, and actually having a clear desk at day's end. Focusing on learning "how to" in one area of life is like unraveling a knitted thread, just pull and everything is connected.
Chocolate, vanilla - choose
Choice takes out the "being carried through life" mode. Grounded in choice is really a moment to confront what it looks like to be living your life. It's very matter of fact, it's just the way it is. Energy is re-directed because "I choose" is at the source of your own power to give life direction. Accepting removes all that energy given into resisting what isn't, frees the self into seeing something previously undefined.
Choice removes victim language: blaming, making someone wrong, anger, annoyance, frustration, wishing, living in the past. "I choose" frees up the individual to find solutions and/or accept, to be 100% present, living out there and not in the head.
Career wise, this is the time period called "reflection" where the teacher feels settled, everything comes together with a good sense of the culture, the program, and success is reached in just about every sphere. Output matches or outstrips energy input, results are positive, the kids are working well, on task behavior, less communicated frustration all round. Plans for the new school year begin perculating in the head. The individual lives into the future of possibilities, beyond survival.
The Effectiveness class defines these methods of being effective: Formulation, planning what needs to happen, when, how - something that's been vastly missing in my latest undertakings; Concentration, working at making it happen, where my energy input out matches results; momentum where things take off with a life of it's own while still being in action; and then stability where minimal effort is needed to keep it operational.
Interesting that in applying these "distinctions" to the project (creating an art exhibit for select art teachers), I find myself effortlessly effective as a teacher, prepping in advance, keeping up with student work, rotating and scanning consistently, using a kinder tone of voice, and actually having a clear desk at day's end. Focusing on learning "how to" in one area of life is like unraveling a knitted thread, just pull and everything is connected.
Chocolate, vanilla - choose
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