Goin' Papal

Whenever my card of the day is the Pope, I usually think of other people, wise people or teachers in my life or historical teachers that I might be currently reading about.  It might even be just some teachings without a specific person attached to them.

Today, that's not the case.  I look at the card and think of myself in my career as a teacher.  My eye is drawn to the fact that the Pope seems to be more in tune with one rather than the other.  Does he favor one over the other?  Is he more effective with one than the other? This has always been a problem for me.  Don't get me wrong:  I'm fair with respect to workload, grades, etc.  I want every student to succeed and have always been more of a "guide by the side rather than a sage on the stage"...long before that phrase became popular.  

The Pope reminds me to think about how I don't always know how to work with the students who are underprepared, overworked, and dealing with a host of non-class related issues.  What "sage advice" do I have to offer those students? It's so easy to teach those who are prepared.  But how can I be more of a true teacher for students whose lives are filled with all kinds of non-education related stress and struggles?  

 

Perhaps France

I got back to my art journal this weekend.  Why does it take a rainstorm for me to do that?

Books, books, books

Will I ever be able to stop buying and reading books?

It's not about the cup.

Cups have been a big theme lately in my daily card pulls, but the King of Cups is always a welcomed sight.  I think what appeals to me most is that he isn't looking at the cup; he's almost ignoring it. I also like the large, open hat. There's something so open (open-minded?) and free about it.  It speaks to me of possibility.   Is it possible to put our emotions aside and not be so burdened with them?  To not allow them from taking over everthing?  I think so.

So often we think that we aren't in contol of our emotions.  Indeed, a phrase like "an emotional rollercoaster" brings to mind something we can't control.  We're just along for the ride and have to endure the ups and downs.

The King of Cups tells me something different, namely, that my emotional response to the world isn't the meaning of the world.  I can deal with my emotions by asking myself why I feel x, or what might be another way I could look at x that would bring about a different, more mature and even authentic emotional response. Can I even take the emotion out of the situation and see it uncolored by my feelings?

Can we get better at this as we age?  I would like to think that my responses will continue to become more regal and not so self-absorbed.