Recently, a fellow blogger, Ariffa, nominated me for The Versatile Blogger award. It was not like it was one of those big deal awards. It was one of those ways of getting to know other bloggers and to allow other bloggers to get to know you. It was a simple process. You had to list fifteen bloggers that you follow with links to their websites (that was the easier part for me). Then you had to list seven things about you that were interesting. This is where I found myself being stuck. I realized as I stared at this blank screen that I did not think I, or my life, was interesting. The two things I wrote down were not things that I found interesting or thought other people would find interesting, but maybe different or unique. That was that I had six parents (birth, foster, and adoptive) and that I used to say I was part Vulcan as my left ear has a slight point to it. Neither of which seems to fit the definition of interesting, or so I thought. According to the dictionary interesting means, “arousing curiosity or interest; holding or catching the attention.” The only thing I could think of is that sometimes I am able to arouse the curiosity and interest of my students through the material I share with them in the classroom.
Read moreGetting in touch with my Sara
When I was born, my Bubby (Yiddish for grandmother) gave me the name Sara Bella. When I was older, she explained to me that it meant pure beauty or radiance and that I was born to be a beautiful princess and leader of people. As a young girl, that always made me smile and it has been an integral part of my journey. The other day I was reading a blog on Bhakti and Sincerity that my friend Michael Neary shared with me. It begin by talking about how the sincerity comes from the Latin word “sara” which means wax.
Read moreTruth, Honesty, Integrity
I love, love, love our Living the Five Agreements group. I love all of our groups for different reasons, but this group, perhaps because we are all so comfortable with each other, is one that makes me wonder why I even have an end time on the group because we have NEVER ended on time. For the last few months, we have been doing something interactive. I had bought three card sets dealing with Toltec Wisdom, one box of The Four Agreement cards, The Mastery of Love cards, and The Fifth Agreement cards. Each month, we have taken the cards for a different agreement and picked one that felt right for us. Then we have spent our time together discussing the cards drawn by our group members.
Read moreUnprofessional and proud of it!
I never thought I would be excited to have someone tell me I was unprofessional, but yesterday was one of those days. I was talking on the phone to one of my online students who was having technical problems. Once we got through the immediate problem, she shared with me how much she loves this class and said that in part it was because I was unprofessional. So in all honesty, I had to stop for a moment because I was trying to think about what I could have said or done that might have been viewed as unprofessional. For a moment, the parasite of fear began to poke its head out at me, but I caught it in time, rained love on it and myself, and did what I always tell others to do – seek clarification.
Being unprofessional to her meant I was real, authentic, and approachable.
Read moreIntegrity
The first page in the companion guide has a few definitions of integrity. he defined it as “(1) the quality or state of being complete; unbroken; wholeness; entirety; (2) the quality of state of being unimpaired; perfect condition; soundness: (3) the quality or state of being of sound moral principles; uprightness; honesty, and sincerity.” As I read this quote, I had to stop and think about it for a while. If this is what integrity is, it seems as if we spend our entire lives journeying back to a space we were in before we ever came into this world. I guess the word that really got me is honesty. I would like to think that I am a fairly honest person, but if I were being completely honest with myself, I would have to say that there are times that I lie. I probably lie more to myself then I do to anyone else.
Read moreDear Sharon
Dear Sharon –
I just wanted to let you know how proud I was of you yesterday. You spoke your truth in love. In a space where you could have responded out of anger, you chose to respond out of love and compassion and help the other person release their guilt. I know that forgiving them was important. I also know forgiving yourself was equally important. In doing so, you set both of you free. I know there were moments where you wanted to listen to the Inner Judge telling you how this was your fault. However, you need to remember that when you made the decision you did, it was the best decision you could have made in those circumstances
Read moreWeek 4, Day 5 – Standing Up For What We Believe
Ok, so where do I start. Norma Rae, Freedom Writers, oh so many. But the one that always inspires me is rabbit proof fence. I love the character of Molly Craig. Yeah most of the stories are about real people, but this was a girl who was 14 at the time and traveled with her two cousins 1500 miles to get home after being taken away from her family. The first time I watched the film I remember cheering for her the entire time. There were moments I so understood her indignation. I cannot imagine being fourteen and being taken away from your mother and the only home you have ever known. I guess in that situation I am lucky in that I do not consciously remember my birth or foster parents. I do not consciously remember being moved to the next family. I am sure at some level, those feelings and memories are imprinted, but unlike Molly, I was not old enough to remember. I can’t imagine the indignation of having to have someone I do not know wash me or tell me what to eat or how to pray or how to do anything in my life. I am so grateful for that. I could understand the renaming of Mr. Neville as Mr. Devil as he was the one who destroyed families and lives in what he believed were their best interest as he sought to breed the aborigine out of people. I found myself getting angry at how those in power were making choices for others about when they could go home, when they could buy shoes, when they could see family members. Ok, so Molly didn’t know a lot of these things, but you could still understand how witnessing the abuse and punishment of others who had been taken to Moore River was enough to make her say I am not going to tolerate this. I am not going to conform to their teachings. Where so many of the others who had been taken here conformed, Molly stood up and said no and in her own way, using her own knowledge, her intuition, her spirit, everything she had learned from her mother and the other women in her clan about tracking, hunting and survival she outsmarted everyone for months and found her way home.
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