This has been a difficult day with a lot of tears…but then, it is really on these kinds of days that significant growth can take place. As I am attempting to make a paradigm shift between being an achiever and being a contributor, two friends contributed by making me take a hard look at myself. They did not “sugar coat” or tell me what they thought I would like to hear, hence the tears, but perhaps showed greater care for me by being honest.
How will I be a contribution today? “Unlike success and failure, contribution has no other side” (Zander, 2000, p.57).
The story about the starfish and the quote “it certainly makes a difference to this one” (p.55) really struck me!
I thought back to a blog post I wrote in May about worrying about the significance of my action research. One of my students had taken the initiative to work on Ricci Adams’ NoteTrainer (www.musictheory.net) at home. One morning I found a printed sheet on my desk when I got to work showing that she had done 110 note examples and scored 100%!
I wrote in that blog post that even if she is the ONLY one who is a better note reader because of my teaching and project, it has been worthwhile! This is good to remember as I transition from summer to school year and remember WHY I teach!
I made the comment to my husband that I feel like this book has been written for me… not in a “feel good” way, but hopefully a life-changing way. “Remember Rule #6” is perhaps the hardest lesson today, but it is probably the key to breaking the hold of the calculating me that developed in “measurement world”. (p. 81).
Of all of this week’s reading, this is what I feel I must take to heart:
“When we follow Rule Number 6 and lighten up over our childish demands and entitlements, we are instantly transported into a remarkable universe. This new universe is cooperative in nature, and pulls for the realization of all our cooperative desires. For the most part it lies a bit over our heads. Angels can fly there because, as you may have heard, they take themselves lightly. But now with the help of a single rule, so can we.” ( p.97)
The tears have dried, and I feel more open to embrace what is still to come!
Sources:
Adams, R. (2000-2009).Musictheory.net. Retrieved
August 6, 2010, from http://musictheory.net
Zander, B.& Zander, R. (2000). The art of possibility. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press
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