Blessings of Dragon-napping

If you look closely, you will see that the dragon is hanging upside down holding a sign reading "help me." My dragon (one of many I keep in the classroom) had been kidnapped.  Hanging from the ceiling was a pinata holding the first clue of my hunt to save said dragon.  If you look even closer, you will notice that the dragon is wearing a birthday hat.  He was kidnapped on my birthday and awaiting rescue.  The picture reminds me of the creativity, kindness, and silliness of youth.  And that at a time when many are having difficulty finding or keeping a job, I am blessed not only with a job, but with one I love.  I need to keep that in mind daily -  appreciate the blessings that surround me, especially those teen-aged blessings that keep me laughing, thinking, smiling, and young at heart on a daily basis.

What Keeps Us From Hatching?

"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."

C. S. Lewis

I love this analogy.  So often it seems so easy to just "keep everything the way it is," including myself.  So I wonder what exactly it means to hatch from the egg, especially if the egg is a perfectly good one.  Following the metaphor,as the baby bird must make an effort to crack the egg, we must make an effort to hatch and grow.   Yet the egg has offered security and safety; why would the bird even endeavor to leave a nice place, especially when effort is involved?  Does it naturally feel a need?  An urge?  Just knows the surroundings are beginning to feel cramped? What keeps us stagnating in the "same" place daily, allows us to feel satisfied with "the way we are."  Is it difficulty or is it fear?  Are we afraid if we take that step to hatch the egg and leave the nest that predators may attack? Fear can be immobilizing, but apathy can be debelitating.  

 If the baby bird were to avoid that natural push to peck away, how much longer would the security last before dying and death set in?  If we avoid our true nature, what becomes of us?  Do we stagnate, shrivel up, and eventually die to any possible new growth?  What of the differences we could make for those around us?  We affect others whether we mean to or not; whether for better or worse.  Believing all is well doesn't mean all is well. 

So maybe we should make an effort each day to challenge ourselves to be just a bit more; to help just a bit more; to try just a bit harder; and to make just a bit of difference in the world that surrounds us.  Remaining in the egg may seem easier, but "things are not always what they seem."

**If this is your copyrighted clip art and would like it removed, please let me know. 

From Must to Strive

"There are three musts that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy."  Albert Ellis

Interesting that the first two don't appear to allow for mistakes and the last would help keep mistakes from occurring.  In order to grow, we must be willing to accept our mistakes, not fear them.  Doesn't mean we should want to keep making them, but acknowledge the action, learn from it, and move on.  The biggest problem lies in attempting to cover up a misdeed by simply labeling it a mistake.  As a society, we often try to avoid accepting responsibility with, "Well, it was just a mistake."  Accepting one's mistakes does not validate them, nor does it excuse them.  But it does allow for opportunity, growth, and honesty.  And honesty allows us to realize that what we often want to label as a mistake is actually much, much more.

And maybe if we're honest, we can move forward with - I will strive to do well. I will strive to treat you well.  And in so doing, the world may not be easy, but it will be worth the living.

***Just me, just thinking.

A Battle for Self

Reading REVIVING OPHELIA.  Finding the information about the struggles of adolescent girls quite enlightening.  The following poem (draft form) presents some ideas I have gleaned from this work.

I am young, I am me,
I love what I love, can be what I will be.
I feel bold, I feel brave,
I'm a princess in a castle, a hunter in a a cave.
I might change the world, can change the world, will change the world -
Right after I run through the flowers and play in the mud.

I am an adolescent, I've lost me,
I am confused about what you want me to be.
I'm a teenager in my room, locked in myself, not what you see.
I am hidden from the world, labeled by the world, stunted in the world.
Right now I run from myself; I'm losing myself; I want to be myself -
but you are trying to tell me who I am.

Commercials, magazines, tv. They are not me, but what I see.
Telling me who I should be.
I'm yelling but no one hears.  The silence is deafening. 
Why do you get to decide who I am?
Why do I let you?

Who will win the battle for me?
Will I fight or  will I concede?

If conceding, the irony will be -
The world, others, society -
May have been better off with the real me.