I just interviewed The Bubble man Geoff Akins last evening. An educator and performer he is living his dream empowering children by blowing bubbles! Yes, that is right, blowing bubbles! It did not come easy, keep tuned for the release of this interview very soon…
So, why is empowering a child so important. We all agree as parents we want the best for our children but recently I felt that all of us in the adult community globally have to ask this question… “How can I empower a child?”. The future generation and the future of this planet reside in the palms of the children of today and their outlook on life, their perception of who they are, what they can accomplish and how they should treat the environment around them.
What they are experiencing most of the time is news flash of the current circumstances, maybe it’s because what their parents are talking about, maybe that’s what their neighbors are talking about….is it wrong to talk about reality and the current circumstances? Maybe it is also important to equip them with the skills to perceive the possibilities of the future despite the current circumstances. Success is experienced through the storms of failures and every successful man and woman has their own story to tell. One might think, what could I do, I am just one person….why not just let the mass movement just flow in the direction of social gloom and environment melt down. If you cannot fight it join it?.....surrender, give-in, throw in the towel….what’s the point anyway…
“I have a dream” MLK
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” Mohandas Gandhi
In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists” Eric Hoffer
BECOME a DREAMER: Dream a dream of a changed world filled with people optimistic about the future, visionaries determined to make a planetary change for our children and their children.
BECOME THE CHANGE: take a stand wherever you are to make that change you wish to see….increased self-awareness, compassion for others, a restored blue planet, every child fed and clothed with a roof over their heads, a healthy body, emotional and spiritual balance…the list goes on…
EMPOWER yourself to BECOME THE WHISPERER: smile at a child, teach them to smile and pay it forward to create more smiles….read to a child and teach them to read with others and create growing knowledge….spend time quietly and experience the connection with your creator and teach a child to do the same to link one human spirit with another and cast the net wide…..
One child…one family…one community….then the world….
When we empower a child, we empower that child within each of us.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Paul Hawken's commencement address: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING
A friend of mine emailed this to me and wow...read on..
Inspiring words from one of our time's true heroes
Subject: Paul Hawken Commencement address
"You are brilliant, and the earth is hiring."The Unforgettable Commencement Address to the Class of 2009, University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009 By Paul HawkenWhen I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful." Boy, no pressure there.But let's begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation - but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don't poison the water, soil, or air, and don't let the earth get overcrowded, and don't touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food - but all that is changing.There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn't afford to send any recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here's the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand data But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. "One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver's description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown - Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood - and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit.. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, and non-governmental organizations, of companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history.The living world is not "out there" somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. Think about this: we are the only species on this planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time than to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can't print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it. In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe - exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a "little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven."So I have two questions for you all: First, ..can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end. Second question: Who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would become religious overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead the stars come out every night, and we watch television.This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, challenging, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn't stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her sideYou couldn't ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hopefulness only makes sense when it doesn't make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.Paul Hawken is a renowned entrepreneur, visionary environmental activist, and author of many books, most recently Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. He was presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters by University president Father Bill Beauchamp, C.S.C., in May, when he delivered this superb speech. .
Inspiring words from one of our time's true heroes
Subject: Paul Hawken Commencement address
"You are brilliant, and the earth is hiring."The Unforgettable Commencement Address to the Class of 2009, University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009 By Paul HawkenWhen I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful." Boy, no pressure there.But let's begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation - but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don't poison the water, soil, or air, and don't let the earth get overcrowded, and don't touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food - but all that is changing.There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn't afford to send any recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here's the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand data But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. "One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver's description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown - Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood - and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit.. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, and non-governmental organizations, of companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history.The living world is not "out there" somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. Think about this: we are the only species on this planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time than to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can't print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it. In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe - exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a "little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven."So I have two questions for you all: First, ..can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end. Second question: Who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would become religious overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead the stars come out every night, and we watch television.This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, challenging, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn't stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her sideYou couldn't ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hopefulness only makes sense when it doesn't make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.Paul Hawken is a renowned entrepreneur, visionary environmental activist, and author of many books, most recently Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. He was presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters by University president Father Bill Beauchamp, C.S.C., in May, when he delivered this superb speech. .
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Dare to Believe in a Child
Good morning everyone!
This beutiful article is written by my friend Kare Castle. She is also the author of Gracie's Desire and I have the privilage to interview her next week. Gracie's Desire will be part of Backpack 4LIFE, a children's personal growth and development product I am working on diligently.
By God's grace I will have that out soon and in the mean time I will be pre-launching an eBook package in 2 weeks to give you a glimpse of how we as a society can raise socially and environmentally conscious children...
http://www.bluemarble4life.com/
To REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER Children Globally.
Here you go...I present to you
Dare to Believe in a Child
By Kare Castle
coachingwithkare.com
secretcastlebooks.com
The other day, I met an extraordinary child outside of the supermarket. As I approached the entrance to the store, a boy of about 10 stepped up and said, “Hi, my name is Joshua and I have written a comic book. Would you like to buy a copy?” Impressed by his confidence, I stopped to take a look at Josh’s book. The artwork was pretty good, and he definitely had a captivating storyline, replete with interesting details, good dialog, and a cliffhanger to leave the reader wanting more. But what impressed me even more than his work was Josh’s vision. Here’s what he wrote on the last page:
Thank you for your support in my comic book business. Since I left you intrigued with my story, you should go to my email address and leave your contact information so my parents (employees) can let you know when the next issue is coming out. Please take my story as an inspiration in your life that you can do anything you want as long as you work hard for it.
Now, here is a boy who knows what he wants and believes that he can create it. And he also has parents who believe. How do I know this? Well, the fact that they have signed on as his “employees” to help him with his business is a pretty clear demonstration. Not only are they managing his email, but they probably help with photocopying and putting his books together, and, most impressive of all, mom was spending her Saturday afternoon sitting outside of a supermarket to support her son as he boldly took action to manifest his dream.
You know that old saying, “Behind every successful man is a strong woman”? Well, I believe that behind every successful child is someone who believes in him/her. Researchers in the field of education have a strong base of empirical data that demonstrates the power that teachers’ expectations have upon the success of their students. In a famous study conducted in the ‘60s (Rosenthal, Robert & Jacobson, Lenore, Pygmalion in the Classroom; Teacher Expectation and Pupils Intellectual Development, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1968), students with varying initial IQ scores were randomly selected to be identified to their teachers as students that could be expected to do well. At the end of the school year, those who the teachers thought would do well did more than twice as well as the average student.
Now, if a teacher’s expectations can have that much of an impact upon a child, imagine the kind of power parents can have to affect their child’s success. As a teacher with more than 20 years of experience working with children, I have seen this power demonstrated with both positive and negative effects. Knowing the power that I have as a teacher, I have always chosen to believe in my students’ potential. However there have been times when it was difficult for my faith in a child to overcome the negative expectations of a parent. As a reading specialist, I work with children who are having difficulty learning to read. So often, when I speak to the parents, they tell me a story about how they themselves struggled with reading, or with academics in general, so they expect that their child will have a similar experience. When I am able to convince the parents that their child has the ability to learn, and they change their expectations, I always see a shift in the child’s beliefs about him/herself, which results experiencing greater success.
For a dramatic example of the power of a parent’s faith in a child, I recommend reading the autobiography of Dr. Ben Carson (Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, Zondervan, 1996). It is the story of a boy who, despite being teased in elementary school for being stupid, overcame the odds and became the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. And standing behind Ben, every step of the way, is his mother, who refuses to let him believe he is dumb, sets high expectations for him and his brother, and supports their achievements with tenacious faith that stands firm even in the face of her sons’ own doubts.
Whether you are a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, or anyone that has any kind of a relationship with a child, I want you to know that your faith in that child is more powerful than you can imagine. Your faith in a child’s ability to succeed has the power to manifest the kind of self-confidence that will empower them to make their dreams come true. Your faith in the lack of a child’s ability to succeed has the power to hold them back. How will you use your power?
Does your child have a dream, a desire, or an ambition? Will you dare to believe in your child dreams? What if your six-year-old daughter told you that she intended to sell her crayon drawings from a stand in the front yard? Would you discourage her from trying, believing it unlikely that anyone would stop and pay money for her artwork? Would you be afraid of her feelings being hurt if her drawings didn’t sell? Or would you dare to support her self-confidence, set-up the stand, and advertise to the neighbors? That’s what the mom of one of my first grade students did, and that little girl sold twenty dollars worth of drawings at two dollars apiece.
And what if your child doesn’t have a dream? What if, like Ben Carson, he does not believe in himself? Will you dare to believe? And will you do everything in your power to help your child learn to believe in himself? The way to do that is to do just what Ben Carson’s mom did – set high expectations and provide every opportunity for him to experience success. Success breeds confidence and motivates us to strive for more success. What kinds of opportunities can you create for your child to experience success? You can start small, celebrate every accomplishment, and watch how your child’s ambitions grow with his confidence. Your faith will surely grow as well and, when it does, the possibilities will just keep getting bigger.
This beutiful article is written by my friend Kare Castle. She is also the author of Gracie's Desire and I have the privilage to interview her next week. Gracie's Desire will be part of Backpack 4LIFE, a children's personal growth and development product I am working on diligently.
By God's grace I will have that out soon and in the mean time I will be pre-launching an eBook package in 2 weeks to give you a glimpse of how we as a society can raise socially and environmentally conscious children...
http://www.bluemarble4life.com/
To REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER Children Globally.
Here you go...I present to you
Dare to Believe in a Child
By Kare Castle
coachingwithkare.com
secretcastlebooks.com
The other day, I met an extraordinary child outside of the supermarket. As I approached the entrance to the store, a boy of about 10 stepped up and said, “Hi, my name is Joshua and I have written a comic book. Would you like to buy a copy?” Impressed by his confidence, I stopped to take a look at Josh’s book. The artwork was pretty good, and he definitely had a captivating storyline, replete with interesting details, good dialog, and a cliffhanger to leave the reader wanting more. But what impressed me even more than his work was Josh’s vision. Here’s what he wrote on the last page:
Thank you for your support in my comic book business. Since I left you intrigued with my story, you should go to my email address and leave your contact information so my parents (employees) can let you know when the next issue is coming out. Please take my story as an inspiration in your life that you can do anything you want as long as you work hard for it.
Now, here is a boy who knows what he wants and believes that he can create it. And he also has parents who believe. How do I know this? Well, the fact that they have signed on as his “employees” to help him with his business is a pretty clear demonstration. Not only are they managing his email, but they probably help with photocopying and putting his books together, and, most impressive of all, mom was spending her Saturday afternoon sitting outside of a supermarket to support her son as he boldly took action to manifest his dream.
You know that old saying, “Behind every successful man is a strong woman”? Well, I believe that behind every successful child is someone who believes in him/her. Researchers in the field of education have a strong base of empirical data that demonstrates the power that teachers’ expectations have upon the success of their students. In a famous study conducted in the ‘60s (Rosenthal, Robert & Jacobson, Lenore, Pygmalion in the Classroom; Teacher Expectation and Pupils Intellectual Development, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1968), students with varying initial IQ scores were randomly selected to be identified to their teachers as students that could be expected to do well. At the end of the school year, those who the teachers thought would do well did more than twice as well as the average student.
Now, if a teacher’s expectations can have that much of an impact upon a child, imagine the kind of power parents can have to affect their child’s success. As a teacher with more than 20 years of experience working with children, I have seen this power demonstrated with both positive and negative effects. Knowing the power that I have as a teacher, I have always chosen to believe in my students’ potential. However there have been times when it was difficult for my faith in a child to overcome the negative expectations of a parent. As a reading specialist, I work with children who are having difficulty learning to read. So often, when I speak to the parents, they tell me a story about how they themselves struggled with reading, or with academics in general, so they expect that their child will have a similar experience. When I am able to convince the parents that their child has the ability to learn, and they change their expectations, I always see a shift in the child’s beliefs about him/herself, which results experiencing greater success.
For a dramatic example of the power of a parent’s faith in a child, I recommend reading the autobiography of Dr. Ben Carson (Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, Zondervan, 1996). It is the story of a boy who, despite being teased in elementary school for being stupid, overcame the odds and became the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. And standing behind Ben, every step of the way, is his mother, who refuses to let him believe he is dumb, sets high expectations for him and his brother, and supports their achievements with tenacious faith that stands firm even in the face of her sons’ own doubts.
Whether you are a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, or anyone that has any kind of a relationship with a child, I want you to know that your faith in that child is more powerful than you can imagine. Your faith in a child’s ability to succeed has the power to manifest the kind of self-confidence that will empower them to make their dreams come true. Your faith in the lack of a child’s ability to succeed has the power to hold them back. How will you use your power?
Does your child have a dream, a desire, or an ambition? Will you dare to believe in your child dreams? What if your six-year-old daughter told you that she intended to sell her crayon drawings from a stand in the front yard? Would you discourage her from trying, believing it unlikely that anyone would stop and pay money for her artwork? Would you be afraid of her feelings being hurt if her drawings didn’t sell? Or would you dare to support her self-confidence, set-up the stand, and advertise to the neighbors? That’s what the mom of one of my first grade students did, and that little girl sold twenty dollars worth of drawings at two dollars apiece.
And what if your child doesn’t have a dream? What if, like Ben Carson, he does not believe in himself? Will you dare to believe? And will you do everything in your power to help your child learn to believe in himself? The way to do that is to do just what Ben Carson’s mom did – set high expectations and provide every opportunity for him to experience success. Success breeds confidence and motivates us to strive for more success. What kinds of opportunities can you create for your child to experience success? You can start small, celebrate every accomplishment, and watch how your child’s ambitions grow with his confidence. Your faith will surely grow as well and, when it does, the possibilities will just keep getting bigger.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
What we can do to help GREEN earth!
I received this from GREEN America and I am still a student of getting this done and I would like more people to be aware and we can all do something...go to this website and get
13 Ways to Go Green and Save Money.
http://www.greenamericatoday.org/emails/canews/20090519/
13 Ways to Go Green and Save Money.
http://www.greenamericatoday.org/emails/canews/20090519/
Movie: The Ultimate Gift
This movie had me crying because it expressed everything I am striving for as a person. It was a great gift to watch it and I reflected a lot on my own journey. Just wanted to share it with everyone.
Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5B2D30583742A6CD&search_query=the+ultimate+gift
Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5B2D30583742A6CD&search_query=the+ultimate+gift
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Can we afford to buy more GREEN products in this economy
During a recent interview with Paul Hannam he agreed we must have the mindset that while it might seem we are paying more now for GREEN & organic products, in the long run it is much more cost effective and nurtures the environment in the process. Stores like Wal-Mart, Fritos and Clorox’ with their new "Green Works" cleaning products are increasing the awareness to how critical it is to work towards environmental restoration...check out this awesome site...especially women in business! Coming soon...my interview with Paul Hannam...stay tuned! http://www.biggreenbreakthrough.com/green-business/economy-consumers-buying-green/
Interested in raising kids who are socially and environmentally conscious...are you a parent,? a teacher? a friend? someone who cares about what happens to our future generation...TRUTH is...its for everyone...join our special community at http://www.bluemarble4life.com/ and help us grow! Our mission is To REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER children globally
Interested in raising kids who are socially and environmentally conscious...are you a parent,? a teacher? a friend? someone who cares about what happens to our future generation...TRUTH is...its for everyone...join our special community at http://www.bluemarble4life.com/ and help us grow! Our mission is To REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER children globally
Friday, May 8, 2009
Gratitude is humility awakened
We teach and remind our children to say “thank you” in pursuit to instill in them positive virtues. Many of us are extremely good about conveying the same when in receipt of a gift, a compliment, a positive gesture from those around us. However, in the business and craziness of life I believe that it has just become a lip service. Eye contact for instance is a novelty and taking the time to really appreciate and acknowledge those around us has become cumbersome. Just as the “hellos” and “goodbyes”, the “thank you” is just another word we automatically utter on auto-pilot.
Then there is our ego telling us that it is absolutely sufficient to provide that lip service, after all that is better than what some people do which is to just walk away with the Starbucks coffee or sandwich with an attitude that as a paying customer it is in their right to receive service without acknowledging gratitude to the service provider.
There are many who walk around with a chip on their shoulder determined to put up harsh walls and maybe it is because they feel unacknowledged inside. When I think about what we can do, just little things to heal those around us and emanate joy around us I think of looking into the waitress’s eyes as she brings my lunch and saying to her “Jenny, thank you, that looks really delicious”…or “Justin, thank you for that coffee” as I receive my skim soy latte to go!
Looking into one’s eyes is so very important to acknowledge their presence, it also acknowledges that you are here and now “present” as well. It gives meaning to the other when we say thank you by addressing them by name even if they are just a stranger. After all a stranger is someone we haven’t met and how many times have we walked into a coffee shop every single day to purchase that cup of coffee from the same person waiting on us never to acknowledge their presence?
When you awakened to be present in that moment, even if it is just a simple gesture of buying a cup of coffee, and you appreciate the service being provided to you, you will feel a sense of humbleness which automatically makes you say “thank you” from your heart, you make eye contact, and you smile, and you “connect” because the recipient “feels” your gratitude and you acknowledgement with his/her heart as well.
Imagine teaching our children to say gratitude in this manner. Wouldn’t that make a difference? Imagine us adults taking a precious moment and getting off that cell phone and just being present to acknowledge the people around us.
This mother’s day is a perfect time to practice the gift of gratitude from the heart and believe me the flowers and gifts are wonderful but gratitude from your heart will melt your mothers into tears. Acknowledgement and a true sense of “yes I see you and I appreciate you” is something that will warm the heart and fill the soul.
To be in that space of giving gratitude from the heart, we must be in a space of humility and when we do so we will see that giving from this space is easy and fulfills us equally as it is fulfilling for those who receive this gift of gratitude from us.
I dedicate this article to all the mothers on this earth who are often the givers, the teachers, the nurturers, the providers…today I acknowledge you and who you are and would like to thank you for your presence and life. Thank you and may your life be blessed as it is a blessing to others.
Written by Elizabeth Zachariah
Twitter me @Elizabeth_4LIFE
Coming soon....Backpack 4LIFE....A unique program TO REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER CHILDREN GLOBALLY
Then there is our ego telling us that it is absolutely sufficient to provide that lip service, after all that is better than what some people do which is to just walk away with the Starbucks coffee or sandwich with an attitude that as a paying customer it is in their right to receive service without acknowledging gratitude to the service provider.
There are many who walk around with a chip on their shoulder determined to put up harsh walls and maybe it is because they feel unacknowledged inside. When I think about what we can do, just little things to heal those around us and emanate joy around us I think of looking into the waitress’s eyes as she brings my lunch and saying to her “Jenny, thank you, that looks really delicious”…or “Justin, thank you for that coffee” as I receive my skim soy latte to go!
Looking into one’s eyes is so very important to acknowledge their presence, it also acknowledges that you are here and now “present” as well. It gives meaning to the other when we say thank you by addressing them by name even if they are just a stranger. After all a stranger is someone we haven’t met and how many times have we walked into a coffee shop every single day to purchase that cup of coffee from the same person waiting on us never to acknowledge their presence?
When you awakened to be present in that moment, even if it is just a simple gesture of buying a cup of coffee, and you appreciate the service being provided to you, you will feel a sense of humbleness which automatically makes you say “thank you” from your heart, you make eye contact, and you smile, and you “connect” because the recipient “feels” your gratitude and you acknowledgement with his/her heart as well.
Imagine teaching our children to say gratitude in this manner. Wouldn’t that make a difference? Imagine us adults taking a precious moment and getting off that cell phone and just being present to acknowledge the people around us.
This mother’s day is a perfect time to practice the gift of gratitude from the heart and believe me the flowers and gifts are wonderful but gratitude from your heart will melt your mothers into tears. Acknowledgement and a true sense of “yes I see you and I appreciate you” is something that will warm the heart and fill the soul.
To be in that space of giving gratitude from the heart, we must be in a space of humility and when we do so we will see that giving from this space is easy and fulfills us equally as it is fulfilling for those who receive this gift of gratitude from us.
I dedicate this article to all the mothers on this earth who are often the givers, the teachers, the nurturers, the providers…today I acknowledge you and who you are and would like to thank you for your presence and life. Thank you and may your life be blessed as it is a blessing to others.
Written by Elizabeth Zachariah
Twitter me @Elizabeth_4LIFE
Coming soon....Backpack 4LIFE....A unique program TO REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER CHILDREN GLOBALLY
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Raising an Authentic CHILD
Who arrives at work?
Who arrives in front of the laughing 7 year old who opens your front door?
Who arrives at the bar?
Who arrives at Thanksgiving dinner?
Who arrives at the parent-teacher meeting?
Who arrives at the bachelor or bachelorette party?
Who arrives at the funeral?
Who arrives at the hospital as mom slowly leaves us all?
Who arrives at the weekly neighborhood get together?
Who arrives in front of the bathroom mirror?
How many of us are looking for a solution to empower the children in our lives to live a better tomorrow?
As you ponder on these questions I invite you to explore the very child inside you. How have you treated this child and where is this child right now? Who are you at these various occasions and places? Do you have a version of you for every situation in life, a face or mask you wear?
Will the REAL authentic you step forward.
When you open up and share your experience typically every single person has either experienced an awakening moment, is going through one and experiencing its symptoms. Each of these moments typically comes with a big bang! Loss of income, health, marriage or relationship or something to drive one into seclusion and have intimate thoughts of life’s very meaning. It is when you have one of those journey’s that you start experiencing this “other” “you” inside you, another set of consciousnesses, asking you some serious provoking probing questions of you that make you tremendously uncomfortable and you step into the zone!
I call it the zone of TRUTH. You can’t fool yourself in this zone. You see yourself for what you are and there are no ifs or buts about it.
Yes, when you are in this zone you cannot imagine how you got there and more importantly how to get out. When you do after having an epiphany (spiritual growing pains!) you typically wise up and if you don’t the universe will keep sending you the same until you do wise up and learn the lesson. For many of us, we want to teach from our experience and prevent the same for our children and our friend’s children, the neighborhood kids, grand kids, god kids…those KIDS who populate this BLUE earth. We wish them to wake up or become aware and be conscious and mindful of the life they are living, not to live through a set of beliefs that are outdated and poisoning to our society and to our environment.
Then we shy back and think me?!...who me?! How can I help the children live an authentic positive life? How can I teach children to participate in restoring our earth? How can I teach compassion and love for everyone?
Or…can I?
As we consider our participation of exploring the possibility of reaching out to our future generation that inner voice keeps arising and choking us with thoughts of impossibility.
ME?!
How can I help raise children that live an authentic positive life? How can I teach them to participate in restoring our earth? How can I teach compassion and love and tolerance?
I am not qualified! I cannot be a teacher of authenticity when I am on my very own journey to master this very virtue?
Aren’t we all mothers for a new earth and isn’t it our responsibility collectively to nurture and usher in a conscious awakened generation? We look and constantly see and feel overwhelmed by the dire emotions that flood society these days…the economy, the environment, health care, education…it is endless. Can we afford to sit and watch and do nothing?
We are each just one person but we collectively are a family and we are able to re-build and re-construct our home, our society and our world. It only takes one person to believe and to say “I can do this”, I can be authentic and I will teach while I am learning another to be authentic.
We must raise that inner authentic child within us as we teach our children the importance of dreaming and visioning and having a positive outlook on life. We must believe as we teach them faith in a higher power, God or the universe, whatever your spirit believes to be true. We must take small steps every single day, every single moment at the very places we are placed in our existence to play our small part. Yes, pick that trash, be mindful of re-cycling, and take time to be joyful and playful, and give and share what you have with those who have less. So what if you can only give five dollars this month to a charity, this could be several meals to a child 3900 miles from you. So what if you can only tithe and give community hours this week, you are providing valuable help to an organization near you. So do it and share the experience with a child and allow them to learn from you….
We must take our children, or our children’s children or our neighbor’s children through this very journey we are taking. We do it together and so we teach each other and our future generation that it is possible to heal, to connect humanely with each other and that we don’t have to keep listening to the doom and gloom being reported everyday but instead we focus on our little positive world in which we thrive and this happiness will soon osmosis out and touch others and then it will spread wider and wider throughout our global family.
I challenge you to meet yourself and ask those questions I listed above and take it from there. Something is better than just sitting and doing absolutely NOTHING!
So..here is the deal…in the beginning…there is intention…there is YOU…we have to become authentic to nurture an authentic new generation…one child at a time….
Be the CHANGE that you WISH to SEE in the WORLD….Mahatma Gandhi
Written by Elizabeth Zachariah
Twitter me @Elizabeth_4LIFE
coming soon...Backpack 4LIFE A unique program TO REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER CHILDREN GLOBALLY
Who arrives in front of the laughing 7 year old who opens your front door?
Who arrives at the bar?
Who arrives at Thanksgiving dinner?
Who arrives at the parent-teacher meeting?
Who arrives at the bachelor or bachelorette party?
Who arrives at the funeral?
Who arrives at the hospital as mom slowly leaves us all?
Who arrives at the weekly neighborhood get together?
Who arrives in front of the bathroom mirror?
How many of us are looking for a solution to empower the children in our lives to live a better tomorrow?
As you ponder on these questions I invite you to explore the very child inside you. How have you treated this child and where is this child right now? Who are you at these various occasions and places? Do you have a version of you for every situation in life, a face or mask you wear?
Will the REAL authentic you step forward.
When you open up and share your experience typically every single person has either experienced an awakening moment, is going through one and experiencing its symptoms. Each of these moments typically comes with a big bang! Loss of income, health, marriage or relationship or something to drive one into seclusion and have intimate thoughts of life’s very meaning. It is when you have one of those journey’s that you start experiencing this “other” “you” inside you, another set of consciousnesses, asking you some serious provoking probing questions of you that make you tremendously uncomfortable and you step into the zone!
I call it the zone of TRUTH. You can’t fool yourself in this zone. You see yourself for what you are and there are no ifs or buts about it.
Yes, when you are in this zone you cannot imagine how you got there and more importantly how to get out. When you do after having an epiphany (spiritual growing pains!) you typically wise up and if you don’t the universe will keep sending you the same until you do wise up and learn the lesson. For many of us, we want to teach from our experience and prevent the same for our children and our friend’s children, the neighborhood kids, grand kids, god kids…those KIDS who populate this BLUE earth. We wish them to wake up or become aware and be conscious and mindful of the life they are living, not to live through a set of beliefs that are outdated and poisoning to our society and to our environment.
Then we shy back and think me?!...who me?! How can I help the children live an authentic positive life? How can I teach children to participate in restoring our earth? How can I teach compassion and love for everyone?
Or…can I?
As we consider our participation of exploring the possibility of reaching out to our future generation that inner voice keeps arising and choking us with thoughts of impossibility.
ME?!
How can I help raise children that live an authentic positive life? How can I teach them to participate in restoring our earth? How can I teach compassion and love and tolerance?
I am not qualified! I cannot be a teacher of authenticity when I am on my very own journey to master this very virtue?
Aren’t we all mothers for a new earth and isn’t it our responsibility collectively to nurture and usher in a conscious awakened generation? We look and constantly see and feel overwhelmed by the dire emotions that flood society these days…the economy, the environment, health care, education…it is endless. Can we afford to sit and watch and do nothing?
We are each just one person but we collectively are a family and we are able to re-build and re-construct our home, our society and our world. It only takes one person to believe and to say “I can do this”, I can be authentic and I will teach while I am learning another to be authentic.
We must raise that inner authentic child within us as we teach our children the importance of dreaming and visioning and having a positive outlook on life. We must believe as we teach them faith in a higher power, God or the universe, whatever your spirit believes to be true. We must take small steps every single day, every single moment at the very places we are placed in our existence to play our small part. Yes, pick that trash, be mindful of re-cycling, and take time to be joyful and playful, and give and share what you have with those who have less. So what if you can only give five dollars this month to a charity, this could be several meals to a child 3900 miles from you. So what if you can only tithe and give community hours this week, you are providing valuable help to an organization near you. So do it and share the experience with a child and allow them to learn from you….
We must take our children, or our children’s children or our neighbor’s children through this very journey we are taking. We do it together and so we teach each other and our future generation that it is possible to heal, to connect humanely with each other and that we don’t have to keep listening to the doom and gloom being reported everyday but instead we focus on our little positive world in which we thrive and this happiness will soon osmosis out and touch others and then it will spread wider and wider throughout our global family.
I challenge you to meet yourself and ask those questions I listed above and take it from there. Something is better than just sitting and doing absolutely NOTHING!
So..here is the deal…in the beginning…there is intention…there is YOU…we have to become authentic to nurture an authentic new generation…one child at a time….
Be the CHANGE that you WISH to SEE in the WORLD….Mahatma Gandhi
Written by Elizabeth Zachariah
Twitter me @Elizabeth_4LIFE
coming soon...Backpack 4LIFE A unique program TO REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER CHILDREN GLOBALLY
When the Weight of the World strikes Deep within Your Soul BE a HOPE Whisperer
Have you had those days when it seems no matter how positive you tell yourself to be there immerges within you an emotional world wind?
You try affirmations, and you try meditating and it helps some but then those negative emotions bubble up and comes back and you keep trying and it starts to get so frustrating because you just want to get back into a space of calm and balance. One of my favorite teachers is Guy Finley and he teaches about letting go and he teaches about observing yourself and what you are feeling. In a recent weekly Key Lessons titles “The Secret to Healing What Pains You” I had a realization that the pain I was feeling was related to what someone once did that pained me and when those memories emerge that part of myself emerges. I learnt that I must have the awareness that this part of me still exist inside me and I must acknowledge this and then surrender that part of me for divine healing. I believe acknowledging is key, it allows for acceptance within you and that in itself triggers the healing process. While affirmations and meditations helps this surrendering is a profound action within you, it is so subtle but very deep. It was an understanding that gave me ‘permission’ to be ok with the fact that it still hurts. It is the Ego in us that drives us to want to do something so that we don’t feel chained by that pain and we do everything to rid it using external mechanisms.
I found out that the HOPE whisperer is that part of you that says it’s ok to be in pain and to take time to be kind and gentle with yourself as you allow the healing to take place. I also believe that this HOPE whisperer is that genuine authentic part of you that is compassionate towards you and also allows you to be compassionate towards other people’s pain.
I was talking to a dear friend of mine going through a very troubled situation herself. I identified with her pain because it was about her child and as a mother it was almost an instantaneous understanding of the depth of her pain. It is when we connect to those around us who are hurting that we have the opportunity to be HOPE whisperers for them. Sometimes all it takes is listening and quietly sending them feelings of love and compassion as they speak, the silent whispers of your love sent through your energy is profoundly healing to the other. After your interaction they might even say how much better they feel after your conversation…you know because you were the HOPE whisperer sending quiet doses of compassion and love.
We must do this for our children as well. Many of them might not even speak out their pains because we “adults” don’t understand what they go through, especially our teens. Instead of amplifying the situation by worrying be a HOPE whisperer and send them love and compassion through your heart to their space and just make an intention that whatever it is that they need as a solution will be given to them. Believe me it makes a difference. I believe it is critical especially for us parents to send that positive energy to our children constantly as they are much more sensitive. Just give it a shot and you might even be surprised how your relationship with them “magically” improves.
Again, it begins with you and what is within you and then apply it to those around you and see what a difference it makes.
Be a HOPE whisperer to someone today…..and every day.
Written by Elizabeth Zachariah
Twitter me @Elizabeth_4LIFE
Coming soon...Backpack 4LIFE...A unique program TO REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER CHILDREN GLOBALLY
You try affirmations, and you try meditating and it helps some but then those negative emotions bubble up and comes back and you keep trying and it starts to get so frustrating because you just want to get back into a space of calm and balance. One of my favorite teachers is Guy Finley and he teaches about letting go and he teaches about observing yourself and what you are feeling. In a recent weekly Key Lessons titles “The Secret to Healing What Pains You” I had a realization that the pain I was feeling was related to what someone once did that pained me and when those memories emerge that part of myself emerges. I learnt that I must have the awareness that this part of me still exist inside me and I must acknowledge this and then surrender that part of me for divine healing. I believe acknowledging is key, it allows for acceptance within you and that in itself triggers the healing process. While affirmations and meditations helps this surrendering is a profound action within you, it is so subtle but very deep. It was an understanding that gave me ‘permission’ to be ok with the fact that it still hurts. It is the Ego in us that drives us to want to do something so that we don’t feel chained by that pain and we do everything to rid it using external mechanisms.
I found out that the HOPE whisperer is that part of you that says it’s ok to be in pain and to take time to be kind and gentle with yourself as you allow the healing to take place. I also believe that this HOPE whisperer is that genuine authentic part of you that is compassionate towards you and also allows you to be compassionate towards other people’s pain.
I was talking to a dear friend of mine going through a very troubled situation herself. I identified with her pain because it was about her child and as a mother it was almost an instantaneous understanding of the depth of her pain. It is when we connect to those around us who are hurting that we have the opportunity to be HOPE whisperers for them. Sometimes all it takes is listening and quietly sending them feelings of love and compassion as they speak, the silent whispers of your love sent through your energy is profoundly healing to the other. After your interaction they might even say how much better they feel after your conversation…you know because you were the HOPE whisperer sending quiet doses of compassion and love.
We must do this for our children as well. Many of them might not even speak out their pains because we “adults” don’t understand what they go through, especially our teens. Instead of amplifying the situation by worrying be a HOPE whisperer and send them love and compassion through your heart to their space and just make an intention that whatever it is that they need as a solution will be given to them. Believe me it makes a difference. I believe it is critical especially for us parents to send that positive energy to our children constantly as they are much more sensitive. Just give it a shot and you might even be surprised how your relationship with them “magically” improves.
Again, it begins with you and what is within you and then apply it to those around you and see what a difference it makes.
Be a HOPE whisperer to someone today…..and every day.
Written by Elizabeth Zachariah
Twitter me @Elizabeth_4LIFE
Coming soon...Backpack 4LIFE...A unique program TO REACH, TEACH and EMPOWER CHILDREN GLOBALLY
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