Back to School

School starts today in my town, and even though my kids are past school age, and my own classes don’t begin quite yet, I find my mind is affected by memories, and by the emotions (excitement, anxiety, relief...) of others in my neighborhood.

Sewing sashiko quilting for Japan Camp.

I feel an urge today to hold my mission to teach up to the light, to become clearer about my motives and my philosophy, and review the techniques I have learned to make teaching more successful.

Loading our pit kiln for Ancient Art Camp.

As a teacher, my goal is to help my students to become better informed, more thoughtful and more creative, and to look at life from a wider angle. 

Reading comic books during free time.

In order to be a successful and effective teacher, I need to work very hard at the art of teaching- at how I plan lessons, how I talk to students, how I listen, and how I solve problems. I must remember that everything I do and say matters! All kids get turned on when they are really learning, and get bored when they aren’t.







My "Ideal Teacher" mantra is "I am Prepared, Present, Friendly and Open":

• I am Prepared: I have everything ready, including my emotional state, and plan my lesson so that no one will feel rushed or bored.
• I am Present: I set aside distractions, listen well, and stay centered on my students and the teaching moment.
• I am Friendly & Open: I radiate acceptance and have impeccable integrity (keep my temper in check), so we can build mutual respect and a bond of caring, and so that my students are all free to be honest and independent.

Playing marbles during Colonial Camp.

Agenda this week:
1. Journal:
What do I most want to teach now?
What are my feelings about teaching? What motivates me?


What are my strengths, and potential strengths?
What are my limitations and fears?

Am I able to motivate students with all types of personalities and learning styles? Where could I improve?


2. Evaluate my program & plan for improvement:
I have made a check-list of my idea of an Excellent Teaching Program, and today I will go through it and note where I can improve my program this year.

Making bread.

This week I will write some specific goals I want to reach as a teacher, and make a list of the specific things I’d like to improve-- activities, program structure, schedule, safety, discipline, supplies, work spaces, and furniture.

I will make a realistic time line for changes, brainstorm some creative ways I can reach my goals, and design a method for quarterly assessment.

3. Study:
Each fall I like to find and read a new book on teaching, and collect new ideas for motivations, routines, and projects. This year I'm reading "The Courage to Teach Guide for Reflection and Renewal" by Parker J. Palmer, which focuses more on the inner life of the teacher- he says "The entanglements I experience in the classroom are often no more or less than the convolutions of my inner life."

Labor Day

The first Labor Day was held on September 5, 1882, started by the Central Labor Union in New York City. In 1884, it was moved to the first Monday in September, to honor the American labor movement, the workers, and contributions we make to the strength of our country. If you work at anything, in or outside the home, this holiday is dedicated to you. 

Labor Day is, ironically, a day off from labors. Most schools start soon after Labor Day, so many people view it as the end of summer, and the last chance for a camp-out or picnic. Our Labor Day tradition for the last 25-years has been to go to our friends' house in the country to make apple cider.

Agenda Today:
1. Journal:
Since the theme today is work, it’s fitting to reflect this morning on the deeper meaning of my work, and begin to open my mind to new work adventures and paths I could take.

What are the principles and testimonies I want to focus my life on?
What do I think constitutes “meaningful” work?

What ambitions or goals do I have for the next years of my life- what work or activity would bring me the most personal fulfillment?

How can I be of service to the world? What group or cause do I truly long to work for, be a part of, and make an impact in?

2. Review my Mission:
Yes, I have a personal Mission Statement, which I use every week to decide if the work I plan is on target. Today I will look at my Mission with a critical eye, to decide if it needs adjusting-- Is it an honest statement of what I want to do with the next several years of my life? Will it give my life meaning, and leave me feeling honorable and contented? Is it an exciting, compelling, powerful mission that makes me long to get to work every day?

(If you haven’t done the work of writing a Mission Statement, I recommend How to Develop Your Personal Mission Statement by Stephen R. Covey.)

Today I will read my mission statement, one section at a time, and test each section:

• Visualize myself doing that work to its full extent: Does that image still thrill me?
• Can I see myself affecting my world and the people in it by doing this work?
• What would make it even better? What new work adventure might I go on?

3. Make apple cider:

Making cider is laborious, but in the same tradition as a quilting bee, we turn it into an all-ages time for fun and community. 

We work together all afternoon, rotating through tasks-- cutting apples, turning the press, and siphoning off the cider (and a heck of a lot of important conversation)-- then have a fantastic potluck dinner.

My apple pie potluck contribution, with apples from my tree.

First of September

So here it is September already, leading into the last three weeks of this sunbaked summer. September’s color is golden-yellow for the ripe grain, success, and balance at the center.

My late summer garden.

September is a wild, unpredictable month. Many people are preparing to go back to school, but my teaching cycle has just ended and I’m not sure when it will resume. I feel excited, awake, and a little anxious.

I have free time now to work around the house and yard, finish projects, and tinker with new ideas. I look under rocks and turn things upside down, sorting out the notions that come to me, holding each up to the light to see if it’s a keeper. I want to remain open, centered in myself, and ready to respond to whatever life brings me.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal:
Because much of my life seems to be in transition right now, I posted these questions on a sticky note in my journal, to answer throughout the month:

What is my pivot point today? (Where is my center?)
What baby step in a new direction might I take?
How can I celebrate this new direction (express it visually, integrate it with my teaching, share it with friends and family)?

From my journal: Today my pivot point is my garden- a little bedraggled and worn, but still beautiful. The new direction I plan to take is to experiment with an abstract painting, with the colors I see in our garden (gold, brown, orange, green, and pink). I am letting go of form in order to better express my feelings.

2. Work in the late summer garden:

Rooted- acrylic on canvas.

Grounding and a good connection to the earth makes the big changes go smoother. I stand firmly planted in the garden and call on it's quiet strength and solidity to sustain me through the confusions of this month. 

The summer has been dry, but with the rain we got over the weekend, our garden has new pep. With a little effort now the garden will shine for two more months with fall blooms and tasty vegetables.

1. Weeding: It's time to get all the weeds out. If weeds survive now they will produce enough seed to last for years! (I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, thinking about pulling bindweed from under the hedge...)
2. Planting: I planted fall spinach on Sunday, and next I need to put in a cover crop of fava beans in the back fence bed, from where I harvested the garlic.
3. Harvest green beans, tomatoes, raspberries, kale, peppers, and bok choy! I’m also going to gather nasturtium seeds (They need to dry for a week before I store them).
4. Store seeds: Once they are dry I will put all my seeds into zip-lock bags in the refrigerator, near the bottom, away from the freezer. (Note to self: Next spring, take bags out but keep them closed until the seeds warm, so moisture in the air doesn’t condense on the seeds.

3. Make seed bars:

I finally perfected a seed bar recipe! -just the right amount of crunch and chew and no crumbling! This seems like the perfect golden food to celebrate the end of summer.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c. of raw seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, poppy, flax, etc.) 
• 3/4 c. rolled oats
• 1/4-c. unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. peanut butter
• 1/4-c. honey
• 3/4 c. chopped dates

Yield: 20 bars-

1- Line an 8 x 8” pan with waxed paper (hang it over the edges for easy removal). Preheat oven to 350º.

2- Combine seeds and oats, and roast lightly in a dry frying pan, then pour into a bowl.




3- Combine in a pot: butter, brown sugar, peanut butter, honey and chopped dates. Heat until butter is melted and dates begin to dissolve- about 4 minutes.

Before baking.

4- Take off the heat, and add the seeds and oats. Stir well then pour into the prepared pan and press firmly. Bake for 18-20 minutes. 

5- Put the pan directly into the refrigerator to chill until firm. Pull the cake out of the pan by lifting the waxed paper, then cut into bars.

Equanimity on the Sabbath

Today is Sunday, which I celebrate as my Sabbath-- meaning that I keep it simple, slow-paced, and peaceful. 

Autumn Flowers- acrylic on board

It’s not possible for me to do NO work on the Sabbath, but I schedule very little work, and my work has a different focus and flavor. I take time out from busy-ness so I can practice deepening my inner life-- how I feel, how I behave, and how I connect.

My theme this month is balance, and I've decided to contemplate today how to bring a little balance to the swings I have in my temper. I have a well-developed amygdala- the reptilian brain- that sometimes hijacks me at the smallest hint of unfairness, criticism, or disrespect. My logic and self-control abandon me more often than I'd like, and I become befuddled, or snap out hurtful words.

I wish I could consistently draw on my equanimity-- that strength and stability that's available to me when I stay grounded and calm. With equanimity I am better able to stay poised under stress, and even-tempered in the middle of whatever is happening.

Equanimity opens doors: It allows me to be feel love without clinging to it, and fear without retreating. I am able to take on bigger challenges without scaring people off or collapsing in a puddle of anxiety.

Sabbath Plan:
1. All Day Meditation:
I begin my celebration of the Sabbath right away when I awaken-- I pause before jumping out of bed to remember God, and acknowledge that I have God within. I hold that remembering through the day, lightly, like a dove resting on my shoulder (I like to picture myself brushing the wings of Spirit with my loving attention). I remember to smile, and allow compassion to shine.

2. Journal:
Think about situations where I have recently lost my temper.

What specific feelings were involved? (anxiety, frustration, sadness, anger?)
What thought spurred the feeling, and was it really warranted?

From my journal: I just finished a week-long camp with three six-year-olds, and frustration was the flavor of the week... one thought was “Why didn’t you pay attention when I just now showed you how to do that?” I know that’s an unrealistic expectation.

3. Equanimity Practice:

I gave myself a henna tattoo last night as a reminder off my theme!

I know how to be calm. But calmness under stress is not easy: It takes effort and it takes practice.

In order to make it a habit, I practice the steps just like one would practice the piano. These steps engage me physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. When I get in shape, I can speed-shift through the steps in 10-seconds.

1. Ground: Stand with my feet planted firmly on the floor, and breathe slowly until I feel solidly connected to the earth.

2. Name my feeling (frustration, for example).

3. Soften my heart: It doesn't work to repress or deny what I am feeling, so I hold the feeling in love and light. Buddhists call it "leaning in". I accept that I'm feeling frustrated again, and forgive myself.

4. Open my mind: This is where I consider what is true about the situation, and say something to myself like "Cynth, you are not being realistic. Six-year-olds are not meant to stay focused and quiet".

5. Pray: "Let the Light of Love shine through me. I am calm, cool, and grounded."

Here is a graphic I made to tape to my mirror - go ahead and make a copy for yourself!

"It's easy to continue, even after years of practice, to harden into a position of anger and indignation. However, if we can contact the vulnerability and rawness of resentment or rage or whatever it is, a bigger perspective can emerge. In the moment that we choose to abide with the energy instead of acting it out and repressing it, we are training in equanimity, in thinking bigger than right and wrong." –Pema Chodron

New Hungry Ghost Moon

The Chinese call the seventh new moon the Hungry Ghost Moon. This whole month is called Ghost Month, and special ceremonies take place today, and on the full moon, and again on the last day of the month. 

Today the Hungry Ghosts are let out of hell to roam the earth, looking for entertainment, and seeking out their enemies. The Hungry Ghosts have two incarnations- they are the spirits of unhappy, homeless souls, and also they are a symbol of our unhealthy cravings and insatiable greed. They are depicted with huge, round bellies, large mouths, and very thin necks. They are always hungry, but never satisfied.

The new moon is my monthly time for “seeding” intentions. I write down what I hope to focus on in the next 30 days or so, and then give my ideas a period of gestation, like seeds in the soil, before I take action. Having this regular time each month to focus my goals has helped to give me clarity of purpose.

Agenda for Today:
1. Journal:
What might give my life more wholeness?
What am I hungry for? 

What are my unhealthy cravings and how can I release them?
What are my next steps in life?

List my intentions for the next month (August-July) in these areas-
Self, Friends and Family, Teaching, Artwork, Writing, Home and Garden, Work/Business, and Volunteer work.

2. New Moon Meditation:
Light a small white candle. Center, and feel myself fill with thankfulness for all I have now in my life.

3. Plan:
As the moon waxes, I expand-- plant seeds, make connections, and begin new projects. Today I will plan my first small steps.

4. Ghost Ceremony:

Today, the first day of the Ghost Month, I light incense for my unknown ancestors and all the other wandering souls. I'm not afraid that they will attack me, but I think the least I can do is take a moment to send peaceful wishes.

After I've said a little prayer to those Hungry Ghosts, I think a moment about my own hungry ghosts-- the cravings I have for comfort, cookies, and getting my way in life. As the incense burns, I picture my greediness floating away.

Blue Moon

Tonight is the full moon, my monthly time for action and release: I look again at the “seeds of intention” I planted 2 weeks ago at the new moon and decide on my next steps to take, I take those steps, then I release my expectations in order to clear space for new ideas and new intentions.

This is the second full moon in July, often called a Blue Moon. Actually the original definition of a blue moon is a fourth full moon in one season, and we won't have a blue moon this year by that definition. I'm going with the other definition- the second full moon in a month- because I don't have any better name for this moon. Both are correct, because it's folklore, and folklore is fluid.

So how often is 'once in a blue moon'? By the newer definition a blue moon happens every 2 or 3 years. By the older seasonal definition, it's the same odds. By a much older definition though, before the folklore of seasonal blue moons developed, saying 'once in a blue moon', was like saying 'when cows fly', meaning never!

Agenda for today:

1. Altar:

It's time to discern what to put on my altar for August. (For my thoughts on altars see About Altars). I generally keep it simple and choose only things that speak to me and feed me, and reveal what I believe in. I ask, what quality of Spirit do I want to invoke?

Today I add-

• ears of dried corn for the plentiful harvest.
• a purple candle, for abundance.

Each month at the full moon I put a motto or quote on my altar, to ponder. This month:

"What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action." 

-Meister Eckhart

2. Journal:

What opportunities do I feel on the wind this month? 
How can I be open to them?

Review the intentions I set 2 weeks ago, at the new moon.Do these aims all still seem vital?What are my next steps?How can I find the passion to be persistent?


3. Practice at my theme:
My theme this month is abundance- the profusion of blessings and fortunate influences that grace and shape my life- friends, family, society, and outside forces and situations. I achieve the greatest success by yielding to prospects brought on the wind of abundance.

Goals for this area might be to become more open and accepting of opportunities and alternative ways to proceed, to find ways to draw in more cash and other less tangible kinds of wealth, to become clearer about my finances and what I value in my life, to be more generous and giving of my time and resources, or to better show thankfulness for the flow of blessings and prosperity in my life.

My intentions:

• Listen (better) to the wisdom of others.
• Seek new ways to find students.
• Finish my committee work in a timely manner.
• Harvest the fruits of my garden.
• Enjoy the leisure of summer when I get the chance.

4. Take Action:
The full moon is a time to celebrate life, stay up late, see friends, exercise harder, and be more creative and outgoing. The crazy full moon energy builds and builds; it’s best to acknowledge it so it doesn’t throw me off balance. This surge of energy allows me to take action on intentions I set two weeks ago.