Getting Better All the Time...

Today in NOTL:  Sunny with a few clouds and cold, with today's high 22F/-5C.  *shiver*

So it's been a tough couple of weeks with this cold/virus making the rounds; I think some of us have had two bouts of it.  Bleech!  We seem to be peeking out from under though, finally.

It's hard, though, when you're not able to keep up with the work you do b/c you're ill and you're NOT getting that regular paycheck from the 9-5 grind everyone complains about.  We love what we do, but quiet days mean no income.  It's a real tightrope to walk when things get slow as they have each year around this time.

The idea of blocks - that if we're working hard to walk in trust, affirm the good, etc., and NOT seeing prosperity then something is keeping that prosperity from us - is a sticky issue.  The Law of Attraction and the Power of Positive Thinking notwithstanding, a lot of folks who are working those are not getting the results the high-powered sales folks like the Secret teachers are - or anywhere close.  That's ok; after all, you can only sit in one chair or live in one house at a time, eh?  Thoreau would say any more than that is superfluous.

Still, many spiritual workers mention that they *should* be seeing more satisfying results of their spiritual work than they have.  To me, that points to one of the problems right there: they're flowing energy to the lack of satisfying results.  Nevertheless, we can always take some action to increase the good in our lives, so I asked the Angels about it, specifically for my abundant life.

I got an interesting response; basically, they told me to let go the old stuff I was carrying around.  I instantly did a forgiveness check, as forgiveness (or the lack thereof) is a huge block to good.  Instead, they directed me to my former career as teacher and I realized they were right.

I loved teaching.  I loved my classroom, I loved creating activities for my students, I loved my practice as a learning therapist helping kids to read better and improve their grades.  I loved being with other teachers and talking shop.  I loved visiting teacher stores and picking up bright posters for my classroom.

Being a teacher was never a job for me, it was an integral part of me.  I said 'I'm a teacher' the way other people say 'I am in the Who's Who' or 'I have won two Oscars.'  I was proud to be a teacher and took, my first year, a wonderful woman as a role model, Catherine D.  She was gracious and well-spoken, she never raised her voice, she commanded respect from the students and faculty simply by being the person she was.  To my rookie eyes, she was the consummate professional and I strove to become a consummate professional in my own right.

I think I did.  I kept myself in the classroom - my laughter and sense of fun, my stubborn refusal to back down from the hard aspects of teaching or to tolerate disrespect, my idealism - but I added her gracious manner of dealing with parents and students, refusing to be drawn into anger, comporting myself with the dignity appropriate to a position which placed me of necessity in the role of model to my students.  I am proud of my work in the classroom, proud of my ability to establish rapport and trust with students of all the races in my class.

It's hard to let that go.  When I must introduce myself, I always refer first to the fact that I am a former classroom teacher and second to the fact that I am one of the Angel Ladies.

And the Angels pointed out I was clinging to the past.  I am not a classroom teacher anymore; I do not have a private practice as a learning therapist.

So I thought about that and decided to do a brain dump.  This is a test-taking strategy I used to teach my dyslexic/test-phobic students:  as soon as you get the test paper, use the back of a sheet to write formulas, lists, processes, anything you are afraid you won't remember.  Once you get it onto paper in usable fashion, you are free to answer the actual questions on the test.

In my case, as I make the techniques, tips, and strategies that made me successful in the classroom available to others who can use them, I free up energy for other aspects of my life.

As a learning therapist, I used to create organizers for my students all the time, putting information in a meaningful structure for them or creating a structure they could use to organize information helpfully.  Now that I'm creating art, I decided to use my expertise to create an organizer for artists and crafters who offer a variety of products.  I called it the Art Genie, lol.

I'm working now on a guide to assist people in creative problem-solving, to 'thinking outside the box,' if you will.  Following that will be a creative writing guide to help folks who have a story get it out of their head and onto paper and other guides and ebooks of successful techniques I've used in and out of the classroom over the years.

I'll let you know the results.   No art today, but here's a beautiful shot of the local clock tower in the snow, taken by Tom and posted on the weather website.