You Energy is Your Essence #43

 Let's be honest, we don't always have a good day. We are not always in an upbeat mood. We have lulls in our day, where we are just plain old tired and irritable. We get cantankerous. Unfortunately, we as educators, are not provided time to take a break and change our mood.

We have to keep teaching, trying to stay cheerful, even when we want to rip someones eyes out. It could be home life, traffic on the road, even that we just don't feel our best- but we have to keep going, keep moving forward, no matter our comfort level.

I am always writing about mindfulness strategies and they may seem silly, or exaggerated but I assure you they work. I spend a lot of time reading books about behavior, first impressions and 'reading' people and the one thing they all have in common is- we have to pay attention, listen and be patient. We misjudge all the time as humans, as we all know.

But, if we just spend a little more time thinking before we speak, we can make some huge changes in our lives. If we pay attention to our demeanor: facial expression, eye contact, body language and word choice- we can eliminate some of the opinions, that get made about us, before we even start to speak to someone.

We all have an energy. Just like we all have pheromones, a chemical smell we give off. We also give off an energy, it may be invisible, unscented and unnoticeable to some respect, BUT it is felt down to our core. We feel it others, sense it. We make choices to avoid those who may be giving off negative vibes, while migrating towards those who inspire us with their optimism and joyful attitude. We all have a presence- sometimes it is mindful, other times it isn't.

There is nothing I can say to change your mind. If you do not feel the importance of mindfulness, deep inside your bones, then nothing I say will mean anything. My students when I started our positivity-mindfulness strategies- looked at me sideways and literally snickered. They didn't believe me. They thought it was just another flavor of the week.

Yet, day by day, week by week, they started to listen. They started to believe in the process. They began to say more kind things, behave more neighborly in my class. At first it was cordial and felt rehearsed. But after a few weeks it became more natural and heart-felt. You could feel the change in attitude and disposition.

Our energy precedes us. It travels faster than we do. It connects with the energy of others, before we even reach them and if its cross or dismal- we may lose a connection. If it is erratic and crestfallen, others may avoid us and then we will feel isolated. We have to change our energy. The only way we can do that is to be self-aware and self-regulatory.

We have to do the proverbial thing "take a walk in someone else's shoes." Not to feel what they feel in this instance, but to see ourselves through their eyes- their emotions. When we do we might just be horrified at our behavior. But until we see ourselves as harbingers if energy- we won't be able to convert the negativity to positive verve. Believe in the process and you might just surprise yourself.