Living History

While visiting various cities and historical monuments on an epic road trip in 2012, I was struck by the contrast to my school history classes.  Seeing sites like the Kearney Archway, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Statue of Liberty and the Boston State Houses all helps bring a sense of reality to the past.  When before, it was a meaningless and confusing jumble of names, dates and places, now I have a frame of reference for events I’ve learned about.

This makes me wonder how we can bring history to life for today’s students.  How do we connect these facts of the past to their lives?  For example, I was struck (and a bit embarrassed by my consumer nature) when looking at an old covered wagon that took entire families’ belongings on an arduous journey into unknown territory.  I had just completed a move of my own, following the Oregon Trail backwards, with possesions for just myself that would easily pack four covered wagons!

What are the connection points with the diverse and unique students learning history today?  We know that we must learn from the past in order to prevent repeating the same patterns over and over.  I think this is one of the core needs in reforming education–connecting academic content to the everyday lives of people, now and for their future.  Knowledge then becomes applicable and relevant, and even better, engaging!

 

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Practice Saying No

It is important to most of us that we are liked by others–we want to belong and feel good in our relationships.  This has a frequent side effect of saying yes to people and activities that are not aligned with your goals, purpose or values.  Sometimes we get to the point where we’ve said yes to so many things, just to make other people happy, that there is no time left to do what makes us happy.

Enter the art of saying “no.”  You don’t have to say no forever, just no for now.  You can be nice about how you say no.  Use phrases like, “That sounds like a great opportunity, I’m just going to have to pass right now.” or “I really appreciate your asking me, I’m just not available to help with this right now.”  Avoid making excuses.  Just say no, and stop talking.  You can even refer the asker to another person you know who might be more available or interested.

As you practice saying no, you will find your time opening up and shifting to your own priorities and values.  When you give up pleasing others at the expense of yourself, you’ll find yourself more focused, energized and optimistic.  And, you leave yourself room to say yes to the really amazing opportunities that come along!

Forgiveness

One of the most toxic things we can do to ourselves is to hold grudges or hold onto negative thoughts about or towards another person.  We usually feel that we are somehow hurting that person who hurt us by spending a lot of time and attention in negative ways toward that person.  Or sometimes, we just keep reliving the trauma or incident and being angry over and over again.  Who does this really hurt?  That person?  No, they are usually off doing their own thing completely unaware of the stress and negativity you are under due to their actions.

The only person you are hurting is yourself.  Wouldn’t you rather be free of that old issue, let it go, and move on with your life?  Anger and hate are like a poison to our bodies, both physically and psychologically.  When you are willing to forgive the other person for what they did, and truly let it go, ongoing health problems can magically disappear and you will often begin to feel better emotionally.

So, are you willing to let it go?  Are you willing to forgive?  Forgiveness is not condoning the actions of the person, it is merely saying “I know you were doing the best you could with the limited skills, knowledge and abilities you had, and I forgive you.”  It doesn’t make it okay, but at least you don’t have to keep wasting your time, energy and thoughts on that person.

So go ahead and forgive them.  Then forgive yourself, too, for whatever you need to be forgiven for.  You are an amazing being and you deserve to have happiness and joy in your life.

Following the Signs

In life, we get lots of feedback to let us know when we are on the right track or if we are off course.  These signs can come from the external world, such as comments from people in your life and obstacles coming up as you try to make things happen.  They can also come from inside yourself, as a gut reaction, an intuitive response or just a sense of knowing what to do or not to do.

We’ve all have those signs show up.  The ones that warn us we are going off course are yellow alerts–just little warning lights that come up over and over and get stronger and stronger if we ignore them.  Sometimes it feels like we’re being hit upside the head with a 2X4 when we get some feedback!  If it gets to this point, you can likely look back at your life and see other more gentle alerts that were there all along but you didn’t pay attention to.

We also get lots of small alerts or green lights when we are on the right track.  Sometimes these are even harder to see, because we write them off as luck, or happenstance, or serendipity, not as clear messages from the external world or our own intuition to point us in the right direction.

So how can you use the alerts and signs you are given more effectively?  Pay attention.  Notice when something comes up related to a question you’ve had or a problem you are trying to solve.  Thank the source of feedback, out loud or just in your mind.  Don’t write it off as chance–if you act as if these bits of feedback are intentional signs, you start to see more and more of them.  And that gets you to using your internal and external guidance systems in ways that catapult you toward your dreams!

In the Mood

Have you ever waited to do something until you felt you were in the mood?  Or declined to do something because you weren’t in the mood?  What determines our mood?  We usually think it is our circumstances, something outside of our control.  But in truth, what decides our mood is us.  We have the opportunity to choose our response at any time to any situation we face, changing the mood we experience.

You may have heard stories or experienced times when two people were in the exact same event and responded completely differently, resulting in a different mood.  For example, if you are stuck in rush-hour traffic, you can choose to enjoy your favorite music, audio book or program while driving and have your car stocked with snacks and something to drink, knowing you are going to be spending a long time in the car, often not moving.  Or you can get angry, reacting to the situation, blaming the other drivers, honking your horn and working yourself into a state of stress and increased blood pressure.  The same situation, two different responses.  Do you imagine your mood would be different if you chose the first response rather than the second?

It really is up to you to choose your mood.  People can be happy for no reason, and as Marci Shimoff says, there’s no reason not to be happy most of the time!  So next time you’re not in the mood, decide to change it and see what happens!