Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year....Old Thoughts


Happy New Year! It’s the year 2012 and, interestingly enough, I am in Guatemala. The Mayans, the indigenous population in the region, believe that December 21, 2012 is the end of the world as we know it! Wow! How does that affect my life?  Actually, not much…
The new year is an opportunity for me to reflect. I have never been one for making resolutions. I find myself trying to be better each day of the year, and, making promises that I often don’t keep just gets depressing. So I don’t do that anymore. Instead, the secular New Year is an opportunity for reflection and a time to dream. Some of those dreams actually happen! So what are my thoughts this day, the 1st day of 2012?

About work: Kahlil Gibran says:
“You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons,
And to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud           submission towards the infinite.”

I have traditionally been driven by my work. During our child-rearing years I was immersed in my teaching. Most of my day (often 12 -15 hours a day) was occupied with work.  I love my work and find great solace in knowing the effect I have on others in the educational world. And, even those years of obsession, I remember feeling extra gratification that I was actually paid for the work I was doing! What a bonus!!! I know I have something more to offer than the ordinary practice of teaching and I feel confident in my ability to help affect change. I want to continue to do that. And, I think there is more.

As I explore new places in the world I am learning that people in other lands think differently about work. The work they do is no less valuable, nor is it any less valued. Work, for most, is a means to make life more enjoyable. But it is not life itself!

I remember my father who was so absent from my life because he was always working, trying to make ends meet. In the last days of his life, he shared with me his regrets of not knowing me enough, of being separate, and of having lost time because of his need for more money. And, that no matter how much money we had, it was never enough. Time together was what he lacked the most.

In my own life, I saw around me the business of people’s lives… the focus on work, on paying the bills, and of being able to buy more things. I too was caught up in that, and I knew it wasn’t where I wanted to be.

I remember exactly when it happened. It was 2005 in a Yoga class when, at the end of the class, I stopped to talk to a Yoga buddy of mine, Jacqueline. Jacquie is a photographer by profession and, at that time was studying to become a yoga teacher. “Do you work everyday?” I asked her one-day. “Whew”, she responded with a lift of the side of her mouth and a scrunch of her forehead. “Are you kidding?’ she said. I realized then that the unfulfilled quest for income was relentless and I also recognized the possibilities that I was missing. Perhaps it could be possible to work, to make an impact, and also to fill my life with other activities, interests and forms of creative expression.

Guatemala, City
I started to write more regularly, learn to play guitar, attend weekly drumming classes, and plan trips to the places in the world that I had never been. Our children were still at home at that point and, although they were teenagers, they still filled my minute-to-minute thoughts.  I knew they would be ‘grown up’ soon and the time for change was coming. It was a scary time for me too. Of course, we who are parents of grownup children know that the role of parent is always there. Wherever in the world I find myself, I am close to them too! And, a new dream began to grow… a world of possibilities and freedom that I am now able to live.  

My work has changed drastically over the last few years. My attitudes about money have helped shift my intentions and motivate me to change the way I work. Instead of maintaining a constant direction of ‘making money’, I want to share my gifts. That means that, often, I work for no money. I do it in different places of the world. I try to make myself available wherever in the world I am asked to go, and I get to travel at the same time. Paul and I find ‘alternative’ ways of generating income (like renting our Toronto home) and have modified the way we spend substantially.

Fort Cochin,India
Friends from the streets of
San Marcos, Guatemala
I am more and more appreciating my work and often remind myself that I am working even when I call it volunteering. How lucky am I that I get to do that?! And, I realize that in a sense I am working even more than I was before, because it is completely a part of my daily life and practice.

I am more mindful of the benefit I provide to Giovanni, for instance, in spending hours with him practicing his English so he can talk to tourists who want to buy his artwork. Or the kids hanging out on the street in San Marcos, with whom I am setting up a time to cook together so they can both learn cooking skills and eat! Or spending time in the local schools in Kerala, India where teachers benefit from direction and guidance in creating inclusive and exciting co-operative classroom communities.
Eurnakulam, India

I am excited about learning new ways of providing. I am involved with learning how to teach through technology, of bringing the concepts of co-operation and building a less competitive environment into each small community where I am. I bring new ideas to cultures that yearn for global education and haven’t yet figured out how to educate their youth in a world that is constantly changing and needs to shift paradigmatically and practically.

I don’t know what is in store for me in 2012. I only know I remain open to possibilities, seek out ways of helping, and continue to hope that my presence in this world makes a difference. If the Mayans are right in their predictions, I know I want to do everything I can to change it.  As Kahlil Gibran says:

Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.”

In the meantime, I wish all of you who are reading my blog (and even those who are not) a new year full of adventure, joy, excitement and love. May we each find health, balance, strength, meaningfulness and purpose.  And may we all work less, play more and realize the joy of both.






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