Courtesy: Rosa Say
Rosa Say wrote this on her Talking Story website. As we come to the end of the reflective time and jump into the new school year, I believe her words speak loudly to teachers. As you read this, connect her thoughts to your world of teaching:
This time my thoughts meshed with those of how we strive to manage with aloha throughout our working lives so that we will reach the point of making some kind of meaning of our life, leaving some sort of legacy behind to mark the time we are on this earth. Sometimes we allow the question to nag at us and haunt us, and other times we slowly will begin to understand that things we consider small successes—like sending your children off to their own adulthood, or mentoring those we manage on a particularly vexing problem—are really the big ones we were supposed to achieve; the ones that matter most. These are the ones which also serve us as the catalysts for our larger potential, giving us the confidence, willingness, and pure energy to do more.
As human beings we are special, and often we have to remind ourselves that we are. We are capable of achieving more than any other species known. I coach my clients to write their goals with a four-fold view of their capacity—intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and physical—can you imagine any other mammal doing so?
So I share this personal writing with you to urge you: Look for the meaning in every small thing you do, every marker in your life which is actually a chapter for your own big book of life’s true meaning. Draw your strength and your inspiration from your ‘ohana (your family) and your love for them. When you share your aloha with others, feel good about the impact you are having, no matter how small it may seem at the time. You’ve no doubt heard this phrase before, however seek to understand it for your own time on this earth: Today is the first day of the rest of your life. And as said in Managing with Aloha, about the Hawaiian value of hope and promise;
Ka lā hiki ola. It is the dawning of a new day.
Make it the best day ever.
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