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Monthly Archives: October 2017

Good vs. Evil in the Classroom

31 Tuesday Oct 2017

Posted by Holly King in Uncategorized

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I’ve always been partial to the Disney villains in animated movies.  I’ve also always been partial to the “naughty” children in my classrooms.  Coincidence?

Animated Disney villains have been traditionally shown as pretty flat, one-sided characters that essentially share the same trait of being evil.  My favorite Disney villain, Lady Tremaine (Cinderella’s wicked stepmother), always attracted me because she was closer to a normal person but just had evil tendencies and was plain ol’ mean.

Over the past six years, I’ve been obsessed with Disney’s Once Upon a Time, a clever look at and remix of favorite fairy tales.  The series has examined the complexities of heroes and villains, who are traditionally thought of as good and evil, respectively.  However, for one of the first times, Disney digs deeper into the background of each character, as well as their ongoing choices, showing that they are really just humans with layers of both good and evil.  Their outward behavior may be labeled as evil but come from good intentions, and both heroes and villains alike engage in “evil” behaviors.

My favorite Once Upon a Time character, Regina/Evil Queen, grows the most throughout the series as we see her battle with her power-seeking nasty behaviors as she works to act more like a hero and allow the good within in her to shine.  Disney did a similar look at another famous villain in the live-action film, Maleficent.  We see how the villain became the way she was, and how the behaviors of others impacted her choices.  We also see how her behaviors were borne from the choices she made with good intentions.  Both Regina and Maleficent typically act from the best of intentions, with the resources they have in the moment.  And, for Regina, with the support of her friends she makes better choices and learns from her mistakes.

In the classroom, we often deal with children who have challenging behaviors.  Sometimes we slip into the labeling of “good” and “bad” children, rather than focusing on the behaviors we would like to see change.  I think I’ve been partial to children with challenging behaviors because they represent an opportunity to make a difference.

Just like Regina and Maleficent, these children are often doing the best they can with the knowledge and skills they have at the time.  That child who acts out to get more power and a sense of control is just telling us she feels out of control and maybe needs some extra attention.  The child who runs into or hits other children is letting us know he is struggling with entering into groups or that his body is growing faster than he can integrate.

Our children are people first, with all the layers of experiences, skills, feelings, reactions, knowledge, etc.  They may engage in behaviors that are undesirable, and it is our job to teach them how to use new skills to get what they need.  We have a wonderful opportunity to help children grow and learn as they manage their behavior and learn self-regulation, just as Regina had to practice controlling her learned impulses to use dark magic to get what she wanted and instead operate as part of a family.  When we get caught up in labeling children as one thing or another, we miss out on the complexities of them as individual, precious human beings.

How can you help children practice new skills rather than relying on old negative behaviors that have worked for them in the past?  How do you honor children as complex humans?

Love is All We Need

11 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by Holly King in Stress/Burnout

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When you get right down to it, love is the essence of everything good, nourishing and uplifting in life.  So maybe the Beatles and Mary J. Blige are right–all we need is love.  I’m not talking just about romantic love with a partner, but the close relationships you enjoy with other family members and friends.  Love is more an experience, and a state of being rather than an action.  We often stop ourselves from giving and receiving love out of fear.  The fear of what another person will think, of being rejected, of getting hurt, and on and on.

When we let these fears rule our lives, we are pushing away love, holding it at bay.  We can choose to act lovingly towards others regardless of our fear.  We can even love another in the face of unloving behavior from them.  It all comes down to choice.  You have the power to determine how much love you want to receive by how much love you share with the world.  It’s time to move away from fear and insecurity and toward love.  Here are some tips to bring more love into your life:

1. Start by loving yourself.  If you can’t love you, how can you let anyone else love you?  Take some time today to appreciate who you are–the miracle of you.  Acknowledge the body parts you love and ask forgiveness from the parts you habitually criticize.  Love those parts instead.  Pay attention to your unique qualities, skills and knowledge that make you amazing.

2. Practice being loving, no matter what the circumstances.  Talk gently to people–the way you would like to be addressed.  Use kind words, stay positive and do small acts of service for others.  This demonstrates your appreciation of each person you interact with and starts a ripple effect of love.

3. Forgive people who aren’t acting loving toward you and move on.  You don’t have to condone their actions, or agree with them.  But don’t hold on to negative thoughts about them or about yourself.  It is  a waste of energy.  Bless them for doing the best they could with the limited skills, resources and knowledge they had in the moment.

4. Play with a dog.  Dogs are nature’s models of love–we can learn a lot from them.  Spend some time with a furry friend and relish in the joy and love they bring with them.

5. Be present.  Notice the world around you.  Look at the people you pass, the trees and bushes as you walk, the colors of the sky, the lighting and shadows in your office.  Just be in the moment and appreciate that you live here, now.

Bring some more love into your life, and spread the love to others.

Raise Your Vibration

04 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by Holly King in Stress/Burnout

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What messages are you sending out to the universe?  Are you putting clear intentions out followed up by taking action, or are you living in fear and scarcity, cancelling out any positive intentions you set?  We are all made up of pure energy at the subatomic level, and this energy is vibrating at a particular speed.  This vibration varies based on the input–our thoughts and emotions–that are dominant in our bodies.

The lowest vibration emotions are fear, despair and guilt.  Even anger has a higher vibration than fear, because you are more likely to be moved into positive action when you are angry.  Disappointment, irritation and boredom and moving closer to center, with satisfaction, enthusiasm and excitement on the other side of center.  Passion, joy and gratitude keep moving up the ladder, with love being at the highest vibration.

The other thing to note is that you attract and are attracted to things and people who are vibrating at a similar level to you.  You can’t attract the things you want if you are not a vibrational match for them.  You can’t hang out with high-vibration people for long if you are not also vibrating at that high level.

So, when you raise your vibration by focusing on love and gratitude, you begin to shift the things and people that are attracted to you.  You can also raise your vibration by putting good fuel into your body in the form of high-vibration food as close to its natural, organic state as possible, and drinking pure water.

The point is to focus on being in alignment with what you want to attract into your life by raising your own vibration to match the energetic vibration of your desires.  So give up fear, despair, and anger, and move toward joy, gratitude and love to raise your vibration.

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