Entertaining God - Part 2

As Christ, Buddha, Ghandi, the Dalai Lama and even Zoroaster have said in one form or another, "With our thoughts we create our world." So I started thinking how I made it through the day before, hoping for inspiration to make it through another, and really thriving in life and helping others do the same versus just trying to survive in it.

I had gotten up at 330 to get caught up on my grad school research/writing. Didn't get nearly enough done before the coffee had worn off and time was running out to get to the gym before picking up Sofia for school.

Answered a few emails before I left and felt a new surge of energy from the positive thoughts of the messages I read.

Took that energy to the gym but at the end of the workout was staring at the 90 lb. dumbbells in front of me, wondering how in the helen of troy I was going to have the strength to lift them.

Started calling out the names of my students in barbaric yalps with each rep, thinking that if I could have the strength to lift these weights I could lift my students for at least one more day.

Finished and stumbled into the showers, mumbling a good morning to the anonymous old man next to me. Was greeted back with an explosive "Hello! How are you doing this fine morning young man?" Felt so uplifted by his good energy I started talking to him and found out yesterday was his 84th birthday. A BIG Happy Birthday to my new friend, Sandy Graves.

Took the energy I got from Sandy and gave it to my Sofia as she ran into my arms when I picked her up. Told myself I'd get things done on the 45 minute trip to school but found myself listening to her tell me all about her latest dream and everything she was excited about at school. Her excitement gave me the energy to give my full presence to a parent meeting before class began.

Found out this parent is truly dedicated not just to his son's education, but education in general, giving me hope that I'll stop being seen as unique and exceptional when he said that the way I teach should be the rule versus the exception. Gave me hope that I'll stop being seen as a renegade teacher who has impossible energy and that ALL children will be seen as and taught as if they are gifted, because THEY ARE!

Welcomed my students to class, fired up to have another day of positive creation, only to find out the 2nd and 3rd highest readers of the class in terms of effort are in the principal's office for a fight that involved being thrown over bus seats and bloody mouths.

All that effort being thrown away in one moment of loss of control and now in danger of getting themselves suspended. All that energy on all three of our parts now wasted. Felt glad I was so physically drained from the workout because I really wanted to throw a desk through the wall........

To Be Continued.........

How Creativity Keeps us Ageless

It's amazing how like attracts like. This morning I posted "Creating Our Lives". Tonight as I'm getting through as much email as I can I come upon this:


There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin

How Creativity Keeps Us Ageless
Four tips to unleash your creative energies and counter the effects of aging in the process.
By Stephen Ruppenthal

Have you ever thought that giving yourself the time to do that sketch or write that short story might help you stay younger? Studies have shown there is indeed a vital relationship between creative expression and healthy aging. When we draw and paint, we delve deep into the springs of vitality, increasing our sense of self-worth, determination, and achievement. But the University of Kentucky’s Prof. David Snowdon, who tracked the health of 678 Catholic nuns over 70 in his important Alzheimer’s study, showed us much more: he was once given a ceramic sculpture by one of the nuns, Sister Esther Boor, who had taken up ceramics at age 97. When asked by Snowdon to join his project, Sister Esther had originally told him, “I’m too busy with my art to take part in a study of old people." She was not aware of growing older, and she passed away at 107.

All of us know that, when deep in the process creating a short story, a painting, a new business, or an invention, time seems to stand still. Creating something totally new freshens our whole system and frees us from limitations that otherwise can hold us down and drain us of life. Here are four ways you can counter the effects of aging by unleashing your creative energies, testing your own powers of making new things, and breaking through to new solutions:

The Dalai Lama on how we can live a more spiritual life

1. Just start, don’t think. If you feel too emotionally drained or just plain blocked, get a pad of paper and pour out all the nagging resentments, fears, and worries that block you from starting an important project. Acknowledging feelings can enable us to move past them and really get started. This, of course, also means dedicating ample time and space for the creative work. A friend of mine had trouble realizing his gifts until he freed enough time to tinker in his garage. Now he exhibits dozens of motor scooters, cars, and even a bread truck, all artistically converted to brightly painted electric-powered vehicles. I ask him how old he is and he says it’s tough to keep track.

2. Try making your own environment a work of art. And while you’re at it, have some fun! We all start with a blank slate in our living space. Whether you reorganize your office, redecorate your home, enrich your relationships, or beautify your yard, let these efforts mirror the best and most beautiful in you. My wife and I purchased five very barren acres some years back and have since spent every spare minute we have planting flowering herbs, luscious berries, stately fruit trees, and hardy landscaping bushes. In comparatively little time, the parched landscape has given way to lush green views in all directions. And inside, a neglected, ramshackle farmhouse now boasts rich French country colors on all its walls. Don’t be afraid to test your creativity in playful ways, even if you muff it and have to start over. The playful energy all of us have not far beneath the surface helps us feel young and free, regardless of our body’s age.

3. Follow your highest hopes and dreams. Strangely enough, researchers who investigate longevity are finding old age can be a peak period for more, not less, creativity. "We always think of winding down in old age," says Judith Salerno, Britain’s deputy director for the National Institute on Aging. "We need to begin thinking about late life as an opportunity for people to explore." So in the years that used to be considered old age and dotage, now we see experience as an incalculably rich resource. Don’t settle for a shut-down life where the resources of youth are just vain memories; tap your rich experience, whether through art, invention, social service, or transformation of the environment. A higher number of age will only mean you can realize your highest potential and develop talents you never knew you possessed.

4. Dedicate time each day to creative projects, and have faith in yourself. Whether your gift is to be a writer, painter, actor, or a healer of personal relationships, you need to devote time to it every day. “But I can’t do it,” people say, “it’s too big!” So just try breaking your larger projects into smaller, more manageable pieces. As St. Francis says, “Small beginnings, greater ends.” Don’t try to write the whole novel or you will clam up and get scared. Maybe today you will just write one paragraph or carve one lock of hair onto your sculpture, but that will unlock your greater resources. Over time, something will just lift you up. A power coming from deep within you will fill in the blanks, making the universe—and yourself—richer, more beautiful, and full of the wealth of creative life that has no age.