Be The Change - Shift in Expectations

Be The Change – Episode #5 We might not always be aware of our expectations when they become integrated into our way of living life. But, they certainly enhance or detract how we assess the lessons awaiting us. Our first storyteller, Gila, talks about serving in St. Lucia to celebrate a milestone birthday - "in honor and gratitude for her family." To do so, she traveled with an open mind and heart to help teach mothers and their babies to relate better to each other. She found that suspending her expectations provided her with "a perspective of gratitude" that helped her accomplish her goal for the trip! Lisa returns to explain how she employed a "beginner's mind" to approach each new experience - and allow the local students to guide her in sharing her teaching skills in the most productive way. Cindy relates one special time as she was preparing for her first Global Volunteers experience. "I remember a sense of letting go," she said. "I was jumping into ambiguity." This, she says, is exhilarating, and brings her "to who I am at the core of being a person." Our Poland community partner, Marek Błaszczyk, reflects on the experience of hosting 3,000 volunteers over 26 years, and how these teams have "shifted the expectations" of all the people Global Volunteers serves in Siedlce, Poland. The impact of "thousands and thousands of lessons and thousands of students" is difficult to believe, he says. "I think the most important part we get from them is to share the heart and the friendship." Episode storytellers: Gila, Lisa, Cindy, and Marek