4-13-2018

Mary’s Minute

           

"If people did not love one another, I really don't see what use there would be in having any spring."

                                                                        – Victor Hugo

Spring is finally here, we hope, and we are all ready for it!  The sun is shining, flowers are blooming, and trees are budding with bits of green.  These elements alone put a little spring in our step and joy in our hearts. 

Is the change of season enough to make the world a better place?  I think we all agree that a place or a season is not enough.  Spring only has meaning if we have love in our hearts.  In fact, all things that bring happiness only really matter, if we first love one another.

Loving one another has a lot of different elements.  It relates to little things like being kind and polite to those around us.  It means being committed to causes that help others.  It can mean making our life’s work focused on helping others.  It is a spirit of joy within us that spreads to others in all we do.  Without that inner joy – without that love for one another - spring is meaningless.

When you see new growth pushing through the warm earth and cast your eyes across the horizon where blue skies touch green trees, reach deep in your heart and rejoice that spring is here, and especially that our love for one another gives spring meaning.

                                                                   Have a great week!

                                                                                      Mary

4-6-2018

Mary’s Minute

“Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly.”

                                                         ~ Robert H. Schuller

A few months ago I fell in love with the color of a kitchen in a magazine.  I tore the page out and imagined painting my kitchen and dining room the exact hue.  After toting it around for a few months, I went to my brother’s paint store and had the paint mixed.  As I started painting my walls, I was not as convinced as I was in the magazine, but I decided that it was better to do something wrong than to do nothing at all! 

A few days ago I found myself in a situation where I wanted to talk to someone, but I didn’t know what to say.  I had a sleepless night living with regret of staying silent.  I found myself thinking of my painted walls – better to do the wrong thing than to do nothing at all.  In that moment, sadly I did nothing.  

Sure we like to do things right.  Working towards perfection is something for which we strive, but I would rather live with making the wrong move than that of making no move.   After all, making mistakes is part of the learning process, so if what we do is right, it is a win.  If it is wrong, we learn from it. 

The burning question you all have is: do I like my paint color?  I actually think I do!  The even better news is that I have not injured myself painting my very high walls!

                                                               Have a great week!

                                                                                 Mary

3-16-2018

Mary’s Minute

“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.”

                                                            ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”

                                                              ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I admit that sometimes I am the fool described by Emerson, believing in luck.  My analytical son loves an argument about the scientific reasons why “luck” doesn’t exist.  I do not need an explanation for everything, and can happily believe that unexplained good fortune can happen!  I also believe in preparation and hard work.

There is a children’s book called “Penny Wishes” in which the main character, Penny sits by the sea tossing pennies in the ocean making wishes.  In the end of the book, Penny realizes that she cannot just make wishes without doing anything to make them come true.  Luck and wishes are not enough, we must also act.  We cannot sit around and hope that some good luck will come our way. 

I firmly believe that the harder we work the luckier we get, but tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, which for me is a day that symbolizing good luck.  Don’t stop working for your dreams.  Don’t stop understanding that effects are driven by causes, but I think it is also okay to believe in the beauty of good luck.  On St. Patrick’s Day and always, may the luck of the Irish be with you!

                                                                 Happy St. Patrick’s Day!                   

                                                                               Mary

3-9-2018

Mary’s Minute

“Good is the enemy of great.”

                                                                                     ~ Jim Collins

Sometimes we all crave getting to a point of being settled where we do not have great highs and lows, but can just settle in.  The problem is that when we settle in, we often settle for mediocrity.  Let’s face it, mediocrity can be pretty easy.  It is a place where we are not great.  We are not happy, but we also are not bad or sad.  Mediocrity or even “good” can be classified as good enough.  We avoid discomfort in this state of being.

Discomfort allows us to push for more.  Out of our failures come our greatest accomplishments.  Out of our sorrow can come our greatest joys.  In Greek mythology the phoenix was a bird that rose out of the ashes, and I believe that we need to have lows in order to push us to greatness. We need to have disappoints and failures in order to rise out of the ashes like the phoenix into greatness.

Let yourself make mistakes.  Allow yourself to feel pain. 

Teaching and life may be easy if we settle for “good” but the author Jim Collins reminds us that good can hold us back from being great.  You deserve to be great in everything you do.  Getting to great - getting to true happiness is worth enduring the lows and making mistakes. 

Allow your discomfort to push you beyond what you thought was possible. 

                    

                                                           Have a great week!

                                                                          Mary

3-2-2018

Mary’s Minute

“Where there is great love, there are always wishes.” 
                                                               ~ Willa Cather

“If you don't learn from your mistakes, then they become regrets.”     

                                                               ~ John Cena

I pride myself in living my life without regrets, and I would like to think it is because I do my best to learn from my mistakes. This week I have been thinking about wishes versus regrets. I lost a very dear first cousin this week, and I have to admit that I have a lot of wishes.  Bill was a cousin and a great friend. He was so much fun to be around, and he loved adventure and serving others. “Where there is great love...”  I cannot live with regret that I did not get down to Georgia to see my cousin more often, but I can’t help but I have wishes. 

In our personal and professional lives, we must learn from our mistakes so that they do not become regrets. Living with wishes because we have great love in our hearts is a beautiful gift. Wishes turn the ordinary into extraordinary. Wishes keep us going when we feel discouraged. Regrets feel us with despair and hopelessness. When we look at our students, we cannot regret that we did not give them our very best, but we will always wish for more. 

When we have great love in our hearts (love for our families, love for our friends, love for our students, love for our community, love of nature) we will always have wishes.  I will always choose wishes over regrets. 

                                                  Have a great week!

                                                         Mary 

2-23-2018

Mary’s Minute

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

                                                                                     ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Last night I heard a great story that made me think of this Gandhi quote.  I won’t use her name since I didn’t ask permission, but she will know who she is if she reads this.   The story begins when I witnessed the delivery of a sweet treat a couple weeks ago.  I thought the good deed was nice, so when I saw the barer of the gift last night I told her how impressed I was.  It was then that I got the rest of the story… This person told me how a couple weeks ago she was having a really bad day.  She was discouraged and sad.  She was at a low spot, deep in the throngs of worry.  She said she made conscious effort to pull herself out of it, and the surest way she had to do that was to do something kind for others.  She looked around and quickly found a way to spread kindness by making a dessert to share with a couple.  This is where I entered the story since I witnessed the exchange.  I was impressed with the good deed.

Helping others makes us feel good, and it makes me smile that the hero in this story has an overt understanding of that concept. 

The other neat part about this story is the ripple effect.  This person felt good by doing something for someone else, the people who benefited from the tasty treat had a great feeling, and as a witness to the act of kindness I am further inspired by all the good there is in people. 

                                                                    

                                                                         Have a great week!

                                                                                            Mary

2-16-2018

Mary’s Minute

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

                                              ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

When tragedy strikes we cannot help but see the bad – the evil – in the world.  I still believe with all my heart that there is so much more good than evil in the world. 

I marvel every day at the good I see.  We see it in small ways when strangers smile and say hello, and in big ways when we hear about people heroically sacrificing their lives for others.  People give of their time, talent, and treasure to help people they may never personally know.  There truly is so much good in this world; there is so much light.  In times when the world turns dark, we must remember that it is light that drives out darkness.  It is good - it is light that can defeat evil.  

We are heartbroken, but we cannot let the darkness make us forget the light.  We cannot be complacent, and we cannot forget the sadness, but we also should focus on the good.

We must continue to work on prevention.  We must plan for the unthinkable.  But we must focus on the good!  We must see the good in others, focusing on the light and not the darkness.  You are light; you are love.  Please don’t let the darkness in the world make you forget that. 

                                                                           Be the light!

                                                                                   Mary