Words...

[labelleizzy]

kineticphoenix gave me words.

Tea,

I start my day with tea. It's a habit. I prefer honey and milk, but can drink it straight unsweetened if that is what I have. Tea is gentler than coffee. Tea is more like being woken up by your sweetie caressing your hair than being woken by the alarm clock.

Universe,

Notes from the Universe I look forward to every day. How that guy (Mike Dooley) churns out such happy lively stuff every single day, I do not know, but am happy he does so.
The Universe in general? I am grateful every day that I live in it and it is kind to me generally, now that I have learned to be kind to the world around me as much as I can. This universe is a beautiful place.

Waldorf,

My most current soapbox. Still very strongly in the honeymoon phase of my relationship with this program, it is intentionally nourishing and educational at the same time. It has spiritual underpinnings and not only values the relationship built between students and teacher, it depends upon it. It also has a flexibility of mindset I have not previously experienced in educational paradigms. The adult is acknowledged to be the guide, but with the deepest respect toward the individuality of the student. The adult is not the expert on what the child needs, because every child is different. The child is the expert on him or herself, not to say that every child can verbalize what they need in order to grow, but what they need can be communicated and observed in other ways. The teacher will grow and change in response to the children, in the same way that the children grow and change in response to the teacher and what is brought to the classroom. That interchange, that is what conventional education doesn't allow for or admit happens. Conventional education is all about it being a one-way delivery system: the teacher is the expert and the child needs to grow and change and accommodate the information being Given From On High... I never liked that "you must be an expert" way of looking at the world that seemed necessary to teach in public school. I am not an expert. I am very good at a lot of things, and I know how to find out about things that I need to know more about. THAT is what education is: learning how to learn whatever you need to learn in order to survive, thrive, and adapt as necessary to be a functional and well-rounded human. Waldorf brings that, develops self-confidence and the ability to creatively solve life's problems, whether academic, social, personal or the world's. =) I love the optimism.

Dance,

My lifeline. When I don't get enough dancing in I crust over and stop being as juicy as I am at my best. Nowadays I avoid high-impact stuff like Irish (unfortunately, because I think it is beautiful) but have been working with eurhythymy and others like belly dance, for fitness and simply joy. I am calmer and happier when I get a chance to dance a couple times a week at a minimum. Looking forward to Lark camp, when I can hopefully belly-dance for an hour a day minimum... *yay!*

Discipline

This is an excellent word for me to explore. I struggled with self-discipline for years, not really knowing what it meant, nor really having a structure or an ideal to strive toward. My spiritual practice is a sort of discipline, as is keeping on top of the housework 15 minutes at a time, as is building the habit of getting rid of whatever doesn't serve me or love me in my life and support what I need to do...
Discipline of keeping my body moving after I've had my butt kicked doing dance for a month, overcoming inertia now that I'm back in my house as long as I am... no excuse to get out... it's harder for me to discipline myself than it is to make things work within an exterior framework... Being unemployed, it's hard to keep routines going, to occupy all my time, to meet all my goals. The alcohol fast for a year, that has been incredibly beneficial to my discipline. To my NO-power, and also to my I-Will-power. I am stronger now than I have ever been in my ability to say yes and to stick to my word, but also in my ability to say NO to things which aren't good for me. I am growing strong. I am growing lean, and I am finding my real life-priorities and staying with them more reliably than I have ever done. My word is reliable, more than it ever was. I have been growing a back bone. I have been growing straight and strong. That is what discipline, selecting a course and sticking to it, has done for me.