Week 2: Reading - Smile. Respect. An A.

Smile. Respect. A.

As I read The Art of Possibility I kept thinking that this is how I try to live my life (and I say “try!”); I was raised to see the glass as half full.  Now with that in mind, I’m not always “Giving an A,” but of late I have been trying to.  This chapter truly resonated with me the most.   As I read it so many thoughts and stories flashed through my mind.

As Zander stated, it needs to come from a place of respect. When I first started teaching, classroom management I felt (and still do) is key.  Someone told me about the green, yellow, red card discipline chart for the younger children.  So I adopted it.  Well, it lasted two weeks.  Tommy, a five-year-old boy was always on red!  He came in the class, and virtually moved is card to red from the get go.  He was the Red Card Kid!  And this was not good! I threw the poster out.  There was no way this child or for that matter any of the children would feel successful or get an “A.”  There wasn’t any respect! 

I try to bring this respect into my everyday life.  Now, when I have to talk to a customer service representative, if they are nice and helpful, I always ask to talk to a supervisor and tell them how helpful the representative was. I say hello and smile to people I don’t know. Once while I was watching a dumb movie, Eat, Love, Pray with Julia Roberts there is this yogi who has this dumb goofy grin on his face all the time; and he is happy all the time.  Then I started to think about monks and their grins, and other yogis I have seen, and their grins.  And then I started to grin during yoga, and I could hold a pose longer.  I realized that I smile most of the time.  And there you have it.  Smile. Respect Give yourself and others an A.