25. Seeing Things As They Really Are

Educators beware of thinking you know how things “really” are. Our minds need to be in a constantly dynamic, growing, changing, and plastic environment. Whether it is a growth mindset, paradigm shifts, or another great way we see this concept; we have to be willing to change the way we see ourselves and what we are doing with our students if you really want to show up as the hero in your story! We are so susceptible to thinking the way we see the world is really the way the world is in education and really in our lives as a whole. All humans do this to some extent because our minds really have singular track focus and our experiences are what shape us to a certain extent. We really like fitting our world into our nice little box of thought control. Unfortunately our view of our classroom, our family, and our world is usually clouded. We are way better off assuming we don’t have the whole story, our view is biased, and that if we are willing to change our vantage point we could learn a lot and become better. I honestly can’t think of a circumstance where this is not the case. If we can start from that frame of mind rather than being forced into it we will find the richness that can come from true learning. This doesn’t make anything easy, and often it will become more difficult but just might be the key to getting out of our own head and making real change in our world. Once we start to see ourselves and our world in a new light we start to understand more how dynamic and constantly changing it is. We really can learn to accept this more than right against it. We start to lean into change and discomfort more than fighting against it. We start to see barriers as learning opportunities and necessary steps in the path rather than a hindrance. This is like fuel for resiliency and motivation and prepares us to create such a better life if we are just willing to look at the things in our life differently. I often think this changed vantage point leads us to make more changes in our lives rather than less. I have resisted this idea because rose colored glasses just make the same circumstance a different color, so to speak. I think we need to be willing to take the next step after looking at things differently to actually make things better, not just making them look better. The new vantage point should give us enough true perspective to make different choices in the end. I really like the idea of meditation to help us look at our world differently because it can really bring us back to neutral when we get clouded. This is a great first step but we need to be able to push past neutral once we get there. As valuable of a tool as it is, if we turn around and go right back to where we were before then we just delayed the inevitable rather than growing. Let's get out of our ruts and start seeing the world and our lives in education in a much more dynamic state. I can help you gain some perspective if you are struggling with the way things seem in your life. Come sign up for a mini session with me and see if we can push past neutral and start seeing things in a new light!