Coincidence - 1. A striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance (Sofia's mom had been told the wrong date for meet-the-teacher and I just happened to be the last one leaving the building that day. This is how we met).2. The state or fact of occupying the same relative position or area in space (you and I occupying the same mental space right now).
synonyms - accident, luck, fate.
Charlotte's Web - 1. The latest book I started reading to Sofia yesterday.
2. The last book a dying mother read to her girls that I just found out about today.
There is a belief that people come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. No matter the length of time, it seems all start out as coincidences. For some of you surfing the net, reading this will be the only time you and I meet our entire lives. I hope what I'm writing now improves your life, or someone's you know you pass this on to, in some way.
For others who come back again and again we're together for a season, whose length is to be determined by the amount our lives are made better by each other (I am truly flattered, humbled and appreciative of your comments and emails. It gives me more energy to continue writing).
This is how I look at teaching. I have a group of students for one academic season whom I can give it my all to take them to their own Super Bowl of success (if grown men can work passionately to take a team to their highest victory, why can't I do the same? I'm just as emotional and intense, and when I stick my jaw out look like Bill Cowher, the former coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers).
Sofia and I are together for a season. My Spanish-speaking friend comes to me from her Kindergarten class after school and I read to her. The picture is me reading Tom the Polar Bear in the hallway on Tuesday. We're enriching each other (click here to read "The Artist in You").
And some of us are together for a lifetime, making each other's lives better for what I hope is a long, long time. I have HUGE dreams, and I need all the help I can get in making them happen, so these people I treasure more than gold. Thank you!
The point is when we give the world our best selves, we make the world that much a better place for others, who in turn give the world their best selves, and the act of creating a better world really happens and WE CHANGE THE WORLD! Dreams are inspired, actions towards them are increased, and amazing realities are created; the process of dreams becoming realities.
Many people did not wake up to a new day today, like the mother in this story. We did. Don't let this be just any other day. You never know what random act you do for the people brought into your life by coincidence can do for them. It could be reading a book to someone for the first time, or it could be for the last time. This is why I write. I can only imagine writing something so wonderful that a dying parent would choose to read it to their children for the last time. Be awake to the messages being brought to you through coincidence. This was mine.
Life is precious. Appreciate this by doing something wonderfully big or wonderfully small, for the people brought into your life by coincidence.
"Every day is a new life to the wise." BE WISE today. Just for today. We'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow, assuming there is one. You know what they say about assuming. Can you imagine how you'd feel if there was no tomorrow for you, someone you know and love, or the stranger you frowned at instead of smiled?
For the complete story go to Reading Charlotte's Web
As I'm finishing this a song called "First Day" by Timo Mass is playing. The chorus? "It's the first day, of the rest of your life."
coincidenza (Italian for coincidence) - See how easy it is to learn anything? Just take it one word, one step, one day at a time. Whatever you wish you could do (like teaching my Sofia Italian) DO IT! Too many people have excuses for not doing it. Let's not be one of them today.
1 comment:
I really liked this post. It reminds me that coincidences are valuable teaching lessons for anyone who chooses to learn. I believe that if you are not getting what you want, you can ask that the reason be revealed to you. Ten times out of ten it will be because of what you are doing or not doing. If you ask, a teacher, several teachers, or a situation will appear in your life that will be the perfect combination to facilitate learning. What you then have to do is listen with your heart instead of your head. This has just recently happened to me, and although painful – the role that I play in tripping myself up has become crystal clear. We are given these opportunities daily and instead of acting out and placing blame on others, we can learn valuable things about ourselves by looking inside and asking, “What was my part in this?” If we have enough strength we can accept responsibility and move through it to a place where we will get what we want. It’s not fun, it hurts, it makes us cry, but we are the ones who create the “good” and “bad” things into our own lives. We should take the time to be thankful and enjoy the good things, and we should take the time to be thankful and enjoy the learning experience that the bad things have to offer us. This is what is so great about life: there is no end to the learning opportunities if you accept them.
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