Good teachers are artists

Are you a teachable teacher? Are you open to learning when you are teaching or explaining something? The best teachers I have met are always willing to learn- while they are teaching. They are willing to challenge and expand their truth. My all-time favorite teacher once thanked me for all the things he learned while he was teaching me.

Many teachers, counselors, consultants, and parents are relatively set in their way of teaching. It is up to the student to flex into their way of doing things. The teacher is, after all, the master or expert.  This static approach of teaching is limited.

Different people learn in different ways. The way the teacher learned may not make sense to the student. Effective teachers are willing to teach from the perspective of the student. They get into the student’s world with them and explore with them a way to learn the material. Many times the teacher may not know ahead of time how he/she and the student are going to connect the dots. This takes a willingness to trust yourself in finding an inroad with the student.

Each time the teacher is willing to discover a new way of presenting the material, his/her understanding of the subject expands. Because the teacher was willing to get out of their own world (comfort zone), they see the material from a new perspective. The perspectives of the student and teacher often have a synergistic effect on each other. They team up and collaborate to solve the challenges together. Growth to both parties in inevitable.

And… good teachers are artists. They will creatively present the material in a number of ways until the student gets it. They rarely teach things the same way. This selfless stretching to adapt to the student allows the teacher and the student to have breakthroughs and discoveries.

It is what keeps the teaching fresh and relevant (and not boring).

Notice when people are drawn to you.

You are attracting people to yourself all the time. Attraction is the most powerful way to find the relationships and team you need to create the things you want for yourself. Not necessarily physical attraction- although that could be involved. I am talking about someone being drawn to you energetically. Drawn to your personality. Drawn to the way you walk though life. Drawn to the way you say something.

These are the people that you are attracting to yourself. You may have had a thought or prayer or dream to have something in your life. You are now attracting people to help you accomplish that. And you will help them accomplish what they are after. It may even be a shared dream.

Whether you are searching for  an employee, customer, friend, teammate, business partner or someone to create a relationship with- it all works the same. The most effective way to meet them is to notice who are drawing to yourself.

But you have to pay attention. They may appear when we are looking to do something else. You may be late or harried. You may be frustrated or in a bad mood. They may not look like we thought they would. They may not be the person that we thought we were supposed to meet across the room.

But they are taking interest in you. They may have gave you a double take. They may be asking you questions. They may be acting shy or self-conscious around you. They may be hovering at the edge of your conversation.

Notice them. Take time to say hi. Explore what the connection is about. You just never know who is trying to meet you.

What is presenting itself to you today?

One of the most powerful intentions or prayers to start your day is, “Help me see what is presenting itself to me today.” Everything you want will present itself to you- if you serious about having it. It may, however, be in a form that you do not recognize at first.

The first step is to ask for what you really want. I call this intention. Envisioning or creating a picture around it is inevitable and essential. It gives us motivation to walk toward it.

However, we need to be open to possibilities presenting themselves to us in a different form than we pictured it. Sometimes we have to see beyond the picture in order to recognize the possibility. This requires us to be open-minded. And a willingness to risk and explore- even if the thing presenting itself is a little off.

You might hear yourself saying, “That is so cool, too bad it is not what I am looking for.” Or, “That would be great for my friend- but would not work for me.” Or “I trust him, but his business seems really different.” This may be part of you recognizing the possibility- but it not matching the way you pictured it. It is essential to explore things like this. It may be a possibility presenting itself to you.

So go to the party you were invited to- even though you only know one person. Check out the business meeting you were invited to. Listen to the job offer in a different field of work. Go out with the type of guy that you would not normally go out with. Say, “Why not; what have I got to lose?”

It just me be the thing you want presenting itself to you- and you just do not recognize it yet.

Regret: the only emotion you cannot resolve

Doors open and doors close. Possibilities present themselves to us and we either have the courage to step into them or we do not. Most of the time there isn’t even much of a commitment required at the beginning. So we just have to be willing to walk through a doorway to explore if there is something there for us.

But in order to do this we have to overcome our inhibition- our fear of someone not liking us. Or judging or ridiculing us.

The difficult part of not walking through a doorway is that you likely feel regret. I wonder what it would have been like if I asked her out? I wonder what it would be like if I had explored that opportunity oversees or started that business I thought about?

You will never know. You cannot resolve regret. It eventually has to get translated as a loss. You can try to reclaim it, but it will never be quite the same.

So next time a door opens, why not check it out? Just walk in and explore it for a while. Take it for a test drive.

It is not a trap. It is more of our inhibition and fear that creates the illusion that it is a trap. If it is not for you, leave. Ever walk into an appointment, see evidence and feel that the person/services will not work for you, say this will not work, and leave? Why not? It is a little awkward, but sure beats getting a bad meal or bad haircut. Or leaving your kids with someone that is unreliable.

So check out opens doorways when they present themselves to you. Live free of regrets. Then you will never have to wonder what it would have been like.

Order allows us to explore and take risks

Order is natural. Having a sense of order in one’s life is different for different people. It is essential to be spontaneous and take healthy risks in life.

Order requires discipline. Order creates structure. Parents create structure for their children so they feel safe enough to explore life. The same is true of ourselves. Order creates an anchor so we feel secure enough in ourselves to explore. We can venture beyond the experiences that we can control. We can expose ourselves and be vulnerable.

Order creates a channel for our strength can go forth from the inside. It allows us to trust ourselves and find confidence.

The opposite of order is chaos or random events. Chaos makes it difficult for us to count on anything. Counting on the things that are reliable gives us a foundation to go into the unknown. A launch pad. A base camp.

So what creates order for you? Is is straightening your desk or your house. Is is meditation, yoga, Tai chi, or exercise to create order in your mind and body? Is it is journaling to get closure with your day? Maybe it’s catching up with friend to feel like your relationships are intact.

Creating order might be a s simple completing an experience by thanking someone that helped you. My teacher to call this not leaving any “dangling participles.” It was his way to say tying up loose ends. Loose ends leave things unresolved and waste emotional energy. Getting closure and completion with experiences allow us to create order so we can be present and available in new experiences.

So taking life seriously means having order in our life. It allows us to be at our best when it counts most.