I mean you're much awarded in your career. You know you've earned high honors and now
you're moving on to something that's new and maybe you'll have awards and maybe you'll
be the top of your field, whatever it is you choose, this or maybe you won't and does it
really matter or is it enough to be able to feed yourself and have people who love you
and that you love and can that just be enough and I think that's really a difficult thing in our culture.
Thank you for joining me for another episode of Life Snacks Lesson Plan. I'm Rachel and I
started this podcast during my 29th and last year as a high school teacher. The goal of my work with
Life Snacks Lesson Plan as well as my Live and Learn Patreon is to create a connection where we
are all teachers. We all have lessons and stories to share that can help others. I'm so fortunate
to be able to extend the four walls of my previous classroom to an unlimited audience
where we can all learn from each other and my guests are some of the most inspirational people
with the best stories and lessons I know which is why I want to share them with you.
Their words are something everyone should hear. It is my hope that you are able to take away
something from each episode to apply to your own life whether that be a career search, path to a
more fulfilling life or new ideas on current topics. So I'm very honored today to be able to welcome
former colleague and friend of mine. I was trying to think how many years I have known you
and it must be most of my teaching career. So if I started at Homestead in fall of 1997,
you were there then, correct? Yes. Okay, so it would be 28 years.
Holy cow. Yes. So Ann and I taught English together and then she became department chair
and wow, yeah, we've known each other for 28 years. So I will let her give you a little bit
more background on herself before we launch into today's episode. Well, gosh, that's like the big
question, you know, tell me about yourself. I'll try to keep it kind of in keeping with some of
the things I'm going to talk about today. So, you know, I kind of bounced around in my life. I didn't
start out in teaching that wasn't my intention at least I grew up in a small town, Wisconsin.
The oldest of nine kids met my husband here when we were at Wisconsin. He was a microbiology
major, but then became a pilot and I started out in engineering at Wisconsin and took a course,
my freshman year called Radio TV Filming Society, no social media back then, but I'm
fascinating and ditched engineering and kind of went that way. So I did my undergraduate work in
radio TV and film and then we got married right out of college and decided that we were going to
have a family right away. And so I went back to teaching got my teaching certification at the
master's level then. And he was working on his pilot certificate at the same time had had the
kids right away. And then I finished the teacher certification and was unable to get a job because
I hadn't taken English 101 and English 102. I had passed out of that and I done the extension test
or whatever at Wisconsin. So I had to go back and take English 101 and English 102 at Kichwa
Community College and all that. And in the midst of all of that, like, what's hearing from people?
Oh, you know, are you a teacher and all those old thoughts like those who can do those who can't
teach and all that kind of thing. So I did a brief little detour for air traffic control training
when I kind of started buying all that nonsense about teaching. So that did not work out. Eric
and I started our training. I was an Oklahoma City and he was in Miami. I mean, I'm a very same day
in I think 1980, something or other. And so I went back and I actually, you know, started teaching
and and loved it. It was a great combination for me for having a family, having travel benefits,
being a caregiver by nature. And I think being by a leader by nature, there were lots of opportunities
for me to grow into different parts of education. I know ultimately we're going to talk about how
I decided to leave teaching. So I guess I could just go straight to that. I think that I taught
for 30 years. I was in Lile, Illinois for a while, and then Peachtree City, Georgia, and then
at Homestead. And I think I started to feel like I was experiencing the same things over and over
again. And I know that you talked in your first episode about the Transylvanianists and I had to
say that every year when I taught Walden, I would, I would tell the kids probably for the last 10
years, you know, I'm not sure I'm going to be here next year because he leaves the woods because
there are so many other lives to live. And I think that that's really what happened for me, that
had been enough. And also there was, you know, there were some political times in teaching.
I retired in 2014. And so when there was an early out incentive, I remember I was sitting at the
awards ceremony as the department chair and soon the leaders was the social studies department
chair. And she said to me, are you going to take the offer? And I said, what offer? And she said,
well, there was an email this afternoon that the first five people who
want to take the early out option, you know, can have it. So there was that fear of missing out
of course, you know, so there was a quick discussion about it. And my kids were, well, as you know,
you worked with Molly in particular at Alpstead and she'd graduated and it just was just the right
time. So I think it was a matter of kind of noticing it for a long time and then just
finding the courage to take that step while the opportunity arose. Yeah, I can definitely relate
to that. Yeah, those darn trans and dentalists pushing us out of our comfort zone. So in your
time at all the places that you taught, do you have, I mean, we all have stories, but do you
have either a funny memory or something just memorable in general from your days in the classroom?
You know, I thought a lot about this one in the car, so you could everybody does. Yeah,
some of them are so art-gourmy and some of them are art-breaking. Yeah, I'm just gonna go with the
funny and maybe I didn't know why it always, it still makes me shahal. And it hopefully is
appropriate for this podcast, but it was the first time we actually had done a full-on bring the
buses in and vacate the school shooter practice. And I mean, there had just been such a ramp up for
this and we all had signs in our room that had our names on them and you know, we had to drill
the kids forever like they were supposed to follow us, like we left and have it big. Well,
my last name of course is Cook, C-O-O-K. And so here we are, everything's on and I am walking,
you know, proudly holding my five-banner high when Dave Markson and Todd Raina came to the
guidance counselor said, came up behind me and they were just like so worked up and I said,
what is going on? And they said, do you know what your sign says? And I said, no, I have no idea,
I'm assuming it's my last name. Well, of course, whoever had made the sign had put the
ear of the pole for to hold the sign over the half of the second O. And so from that
back side of it, no longer said Cook. We were out there marching and it was just, I'm asked so hard
and I still chuckle about it. And it was just, I don't know, it was a good reminder to me that
just to keep a sense of you are in the middle of everything. So yeah, one of many.
That's so, you just never know what is going to pop up in a day. Yeah. Yeah.
All right, so obviously you kind of keep in touch with what's going on in the world in general and
you still have a lot of friends in education. So what are some of the things that you have heard
as sort of primary changes maybe from when you left or even definitely from when we started
teaching? What are some of the things that you have heard as being kind of in the forefront
of how education has changed? I think probably a technology is the
component of the change. I mean, I'm so, I've been at this so long, I started out with the
Purple Ninja Grag Machines and I remember that the first modem that the German teacher in
H3 City used, you know, I was so, you're kind of making that squeaky scratching noise. So
it was so exciting we could connect with somebody in Germany so the kids could speak with that.
But I left, I mean, phones were really starting to be a thing when I retired and I am happy not
to have had to spend a lot of time dealing with that. I think they can be very helpful or productive.
I'm constantly searching online, but I also suffered from the addiction that I think that a lot of
people had including students and I was out before social media was as big as it was. And so I know
I spent a lot of my time and energy as a teacher dealing with emotional support for kids. So I'm
happy, you know, not to be part of that. I think that's probably the biggest thing I have heard
things from people about what that means for discipline in the classroom. And I think that,
you know, people are so tuned into the number of likes they have and the metrics on everything.
And I certainly had my experiences with parents in particular for grades, but also kids, you know,
who were just so worried about every little point. And, you know, there was not a whole lot of
love for learning. I think there was dimension in teaching. So I guess in a natural, I'd say
technology is the big thing and more demands for teachers even than when I was there. And I was
exhausted when I finished. So I just can't imagine being asked any more than I had been asked to you.
Yeah, everybody has had pretty much the same answer. And, you know, it's obviously something
parents are seeing as well with just the reactions of their kids when they ask them to get off their
phone or and then, you know, it's a whole other conversation to talk about the different, you
know, I actually had this conversation with the students. They talk about it in a different episode
of we had a candid conversation of why the phone is such a stronger pole than a book.
And how it's affecting their attention span is a whole other thing and just the want to be entertained
in these short bursts. So yeah, it's definitely I mean, when I started teaching, there were no
phones, there was no social media, it's just a huge difference. So it will be interesting to see
how that plays out. So if someone should, you know, I'm going to talk about, you know, later
also, I think that the brain is being wired by this constant use of the technology and the constant
looking for a little, you know, the hits of the, you know, the brain chemicals or the
satisfaction that they're going to get, you know, as well as the media as well.
Yeah, I there's a reason that the people who created this technology don't allow their children
to have it, which I find really interesting. So yeah, when you were teaching, I know you are
definitely for me personally on my list as someone who I looked up to in my field. But did you have
like a mentor when you were a teacher or someone or multiple people you would say you looked up to
in education? You know, I think throughout my experiences at the three different schools,
I don't know if I could pick one person in specific. I'd had the good fortune in all three places to
land in departments that were very collegial, very sharing, very willing to say, here's my stuff,
this is what's worked for me, and this is why it has not worked for me. So I would say,
that's probably just it that I was very fortunate to be part of really good teams in all the places
that I was. Yeah, we at lunch last week, actually, we're just talking about the past people in the
department at Homestead. And just the differences, you know, there's only a few of us now who have
been there for almost three decades or two decades and to watch the changes in personalities and
teamwork. There's just a few of us who can still kind of remember what it used to be like. So
there's changes there too. I would say people are still really willing to share things. It's just
now with teaming, we have like separate teams that gets kind of interesting compared to what it used
to be like. Well, of course, I probably should mention that I had the great fortune of working
with Joe Curley when I was teaming with him for American Studies. And that was, you know, I think
we mentored each other. So I maybe am looking to start working mentor in a specific way. I just
learned so much from him. And, you know, I hope that he learns some things for me. We just had
like a great opportunity to work on that connection between history and literature. And it was
fabulous. I don't know, 13 years or something, we got that class together.
Wow. Yeah, that was that's such a cool opportunity that I wish we could bring back a little bit.
All right. So we heard about how you knew you were ready to leave. It's funny how I just feel
and identify with what you talked about so much. It's not one thing. It's just sort of an accumulation
over time. And then it's just, okay, I'm ready to make that decision. So when you were thinking
about your next chapter, did you have some goals in mind for how you wanted that to look?
No, I really didn't. I, you know, I knew probably all along that I would travel. You know, like,
you know, Eric, he was the pilot for United and he's always, you know, he's tumbleweed. He likes
to go a lot of different places. And I figured probably somewhere that a long hike was in my
future because he had been probably for decades saying he really liked to do this hike across
England or this, you know, hike here or there. And I always said, no. But yeah, and I knew I was
going to be really involved with my family. Even by the time I retired, I had two grandsons and I,
you know, mom, I had just graduated from high school. So I wasn't just
her to have kids then, but I knew they were becoming down the road. So those were the two
things I knew that I was going to be traveling somehow and that I was going to be involved with
family in some way or another. I had no idea as far as a career went, if there was going to be one,
there wasn't going to be one. It's just sort of thought I would do one. As it turned out, I didn't,
but yeah. So I didn't have a specific climate. That was part of the anxiety that came with that.
Yes. Retire. So that's what we're kind of going to talk about in your lesson today. So that's what
I was going to say. If you went back knowing what happened after you retired, what you're about to
talk about, would you approach retirement differently or no? I don't think so. You know, and I think
that's part of what I've learned and what I've done after retirement is that you can't go back.
You can go back and you can look at it, but the past is past and the future is something,
it's a construct. You don't know and you're going to be here a minute or two now. So you can,
you should really work on being in the present. And I think all of those things that led me to
making the decision, the way that they made the decision, they were valid. And what happened to
me has like made such a difference in my life that, you know, it was, it was difficult at the time,
but I'm actually, it may sound strange, but I'm happy that it happened. So yeah, when we have those
sort of moments of adversity at the time, obviously it's painful, but you always look back and think
that made me stronger. Like I would not be the person I am if that hadn't have happened. So let's
get into that since we are alluding to it. So do you want to explain how that all went down
after retirement and then the lesson from it? I will. And I will apologize and answer Molly
who probably listened to this and she, she tells me she, she hates when I tell a story that she
feels guilty. And I, I just am going to restate for her that it's not her responsibility to
have made anything, you know, different for me at that moment in my life. I think everyone is
responsible to everyone else should be kind. But she did nothing. Oh, I think in particular,
in some instance. So, so obviously, I think that the awards ceremony was sometimes in May or something.
So it wasn't really too, too long before school was out that I decided that I was going to retire.
And then I retired. And of course, I was one of those people who never learned to keep her hands
down. So I was like, I every committee hour. And I was on, you know, as the department chair, I was at
curriculum, house, all that curriculum, console, last day of school, I remember even I had to go to
a district curriculum, a council meeting in the district office. And so when I came back to my
room, actually, everyone else was gone. I just like picked up my bags and walked out, which was just
kind of the surreal feeling after having lived, literally, almost lived at that school for such a
long time. And so, Evan was relatively new to Homestead at like tonight, been going to
at conferences with the, I don't know, two or three prior songs or something like that.
And of course, I was evidently involved with my family, I still am. And Molly is my youngest,
she had graduated and was on her own. And so it was sometime in July, I think early July, I want to
say, that there was a group I knew the Ink One Epic Conference from Homestead, I wasn't going.
That was normal, I knew that I had retired. And I was, it was late in the afternoon and I was home.
And my oldest daughter said to me, Oh, Mom, did you see that Molly went skydiving? And I have no
idea why, well, I do, I had a theory on why, why Nick at just absolutely hit me so hard. And I
think it was because, and again, Molly, she was 19, she paid for it herself. She was not required
to get my permission. She had no requirement to fill me in about it. But I think it was a really
concrete statement to me that my role as a mother was going to be much different now too, which,
of course, I knew she was already 19. Melissa and Jennifer by that point were, oh gosh, I don't know,
I'm they were older. Had me knew we had lost that wish that my children went to grow and leave
home. But I was standing by the kitchen sink maybe an hour later. And all of a sudden, I just
like couldn't breathe. And I ended up on the dining room floor, just absolutely outside of
myself is the best way that I can think to describe it. Eric was just sitting home from a flight.
And nobody quite knew exactly what had happened to me. And he, I mean, I was physically fine.
Just again, sort of had this sense of myself outside of myself watching me there. And so,
of course, he's a fixer. And he immediately began searching like, what is what were we going to do
about this? And within a few days, I had a whole program at my front door. And what I ended up doing
was the mindfulness based stress reduction program through giant cat itself. I did the home program.
So I got the book full catastrophe living and I had, I think there were four CDs at a time,
which are still available on his site, which I know it was the long tube. And I just began. And I was
I was pretty lost for most of the summer, I would say. I did a thinking, okay, job of hiding it.
You know, I interacted with people at a wedding to go to and I, you know, I made it through all
those things. But it was, it was an experience I hope never to have again. But in the end,
in the end, I came out the other side and I had continued with meditation. And I think it has just
made such a huge difference in my life. And from other people, I've met a huge difference in there
as well. So you think maybe it was just in that moment, that realization of the shift of identity?
I think so. Yeah, I think so. You know, and I think that that's, I hear this in a lot of the
people who are talking with you and also with people that I've talked with that, the numerous
trainings and retreats that I've gone to this identity, you know, the sense of self,
which is interesting because in the training that I've done, we've talked a lot about that notion
that self is a construct. There is no self. You can't sit yourself down and look at it. You
can't pick yourself up or carry it there. So there are all these stories that we've been telling
ourselves for so long, that really mindfulness is about taking the time to sit and notice
everything about what's going on around you in that present moment and ultimately to become aware
of the stories that you tell yourself and that you tell about yourself to others and to get to the
truth of what actually is through really paying attention to your life and what is going on in
it. So I think, you know, over these many years now meditating and thinking about myself, I know
that my go-to is to step up and, you know, fix the problem as Eric says, you know, anybody's got
a problem. I'm going to be there and sometimes I have to remember. I can see the patterns happening.
I take the time to step back and really watch what I'm doing. I can see it happening and
I'm working on being better about not always doing that. One of the exercises early in my
training, I think it was maybe the third class that I was at, we had this puzzle that was for
our homework. We were supposed to solve a puzzle and I don't know, do I know why? Do you hear without
going through some portion of the object or whatever? I had spent a good bit of time on it and it was
not coming up with a solution and I just decided I'm not going to do it. I don't think ever in my
life have I not finished a homework assignment or done what was expected of me and it was like
mind boggling to me to actually do that and then of course we had to go back the next day and,
you know, report our thought process of how we can solve the problem and I was like so excited.
I didn't solve the problem and the world is still going on without that. So, yeah, I think it's,
it is, I think it was about this awareness that the cell that I had presented for so long was
not there and I didn't have any idea what was next or what would be and I don't know at that point
I knew that there would be enough of me which is another context that I'm very interesting
and I was with great interest in anesteroelous story and I mean it's very inspiring and their
gratitude is also part of the mindfulness practice and I was interested and I thought a lot about
what I would do because one big component of mindfulness is non-striving and the notion that
you can accept that what is is and you don't have to try so hard for anymore and I was also
reminded that the notion of enough I think is so important too as you're moving on to something
else because I feel like a lot of people think well I was, I mean you're much awarded in your
career, you know, you've earned high honors and now you're moving on to something that's new and
maybe you'll have awards and maybe you'll be the top of your field whatever it is you choose
this or maybe you won't and does it really matter or is it enough to be able to feed yourself and
have people who love you and that you love and can that just be enough and I think that's really a
difficult thing in our culture and I again in the age of social media find that particularly
challenging everybody's comparing I mean I do this all the time I go I oh this person's doing this
and like this person's doing that and I'm missing out what am I doing and then I talk to other people
they're like oh your life is so cool and I say well it is cool it really is cool but you know
it's just crazy how we get all caught up in that notion of not being enough I was thinking of this
section this thing I read long ago and I looked it up so that I wouldn't miss speak about it but
it was Kurt Vonnegut one of my favorite authors he wrote an obituary slash poem for Joseph Power
and it appeared in the New York the New Yorker magazine in May of 2005 and this so these are the
words of Vonnegut truth story word of honor Joseph Power an important and funny writer now dead and
I'm wearing a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island I said Joe how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than you are that your novel Catch
22 has made a missing fire history and Joe said I've got something he can never have and I said
what on earth can that be Joe and Joe said the knowledge that I've got enough I thought that was
like really really an important thing not to get so caught up in the next chapter being
some award-winning mind-boggling something that it's okay to find enough you know and I mean I go back
to the transcendentalists right the row is sitting out there is his neighbors think he's nuts he's
wasting his time sitting out there and I know you're posting some links to some very Oliver one of
my favorite poets and a lot of her stuff is connected to mindfulness that's one of the poems that I'd
give you to post was called mindfulness and it's about just appreciating the time to observe to
be calm to be in solitude to be in silence all those things are so healthy I did not post any links
to any of the neuroscience but for anyone who's interested there's so much out there and we are
learning more and more and more about how the mind and the body are actually connected and so
why I was able to bring my myself into my body back to normal you know through the meditation
during that summer so again I encourage people to you know go and take a look at that if they're
interested there are people who are using mindfulness to help people quit smoking to stop overeating to do
you know all sorts of things yeah that's such an important lesson because one of the first questions
you get when you say you're leaving teaching is what are you going to do yeah what are you going
to do and for a while I just said I'm gonna breathe yeah I'm gonna breathe I'm gonna take a breath
and then I'll figure it out like you know I'll always have a plan but it's like they're waiting
for the bigger better what you know what about your pension what about like you're not even eligible
and I was like no but I'll figure it out and if like you said that involves me walking the dog
every day and picking up a part-time job doing whatever I will have a shelter I will be able
to eat I will figure it out I'm going to live yeah so it's an uplay I mean it really it's it's so
rewarding and again that's it's like you you're already doing my you know because you your instinct
was that you didn't need to do you just need to be and you went to the very focus or anchor that
most people use in meditation which is breathing and breathing is the anchor because we have to
breathe to live so you know it's the easiest thing to know is going to be there to come back to so
John Kibbenzens says I know that the meditation is is a practice and it's one way of
I'm dealing with anxiety or depression or loss of other things but he says it's and in the training
you learn about informal practices and formal practices so from the very beginning you know
you're be guided through breathing exercises and body scans 45 minutes for me in the beginning
they were absolute torture I mean to be still for 45 minutes at that point in my life was
that there were some days I just really I couldn't do it but then that was their pay to the permission
is there to do what your body needs and if you need to stop the body scan at that point you know
you know that's absolutely fine we're just going to take a brief pause here to let our guest gather
her thoughts and then also hear a short message and then we will see you back after the short break
to those of you who have followed me for a while you know that I value mental and physical wellness
personally I've worked with a few different coaches over the years and even been one myself
if you are looking for education and support in your own wellness journey I would love to invite
you to the wellness community I am currently in that keeps me accountable daily with my nutrition
and movement if you are a facebook user you can search for our free group called team mg this group
is led by my coach Megan Grimord who is a certified trainer and nutrition coach she offers lots of
education and support for your wellness journey if you want to get to know coach Megan more you can
follow her on instagram at all lowercase Megan M E G A N underscore Grimord G R I M O R D or even
listen to her on episode 10 of the podcast she has also created a discount code for my listeners
just go to her website www.team-mg.com and enter code lesson plan 10 to get $10 off any of her
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time so I appreciate her practicality mixed with some tough love to keep me going
so you were having success with the program at home obviously it was probably helping you you
were progressing feeling a little bit better where did your practice evolve from that first at home
program well I never do things like the long stretched out way I guess I think that's when
Eric was doing the research you know for the original program he saw some things about the
astronaut retreats which are 10 days of silence and there was one in October in Menominee, Wisconsin
there's a professional facility there and so I had decided that while I was feeling better why
didn't I apply for the professional retreat and so you know I had to fill out all the information
of like why I was considering coming in everything and I got a very nice phone call from one of the
instructors she said well you know it's kind of kind of quick actor an episode like this
what do you think I said no I'm ready to go and so she said well all right then let's sign you up so
in the meantime I went in for a mammogram and got an suspicious read and so I had to go in for
the biopsy so I called her back and I said out of fairness I may or may not have the results
before I go into 10 days of silence and I let her respect the silence and so maybe I shouldn't come
she said no we will we will deal with it however we need to deal with it so so I went and I did
find out that it was you know just a suspicious read and on the way out there but it was just an
overwhelmingly positive experience once I made it through the first five days there were uh I don't
know how many of us started but like each day and you see people not showing back up to their mats
and so you know where this group was growing smaller and smaller and I was ready to go home on day
five and I went to the instructor he had to sign up so you could speak to them um those were the
only people you could speak to and I told her again out of respect I didn't want to just I kept
my car keys with me that was the thing you're supposed to turn to me but I got my car keys with
me because I didn't want to be trapped there yeah but I didn't want to leave either so I um I said
I'm I'm think I'm gonna go home and she said I was just breaking all her rules but if you meet me
at my cabin at lunchtime um what about if I let you talk to your husband and I said well I think
I want to go home and she said well could you just make that commitment and I said okay yes I will
do that and so I met her at the cabin I mean I was for sure going home and I called and fortunately
Eric was there I think he was just leaving for a trip or something and he was fabulous I said I
could go and come home and um I don't know exactly what he said but he said well you know you you
do what you need to do but if you think you can make it I think it would be really important for
you and so I stayed and it was just um I didn't know this place that you get to where you are
sitting on your mat and you're you know that you're watching your breath and you're noticing
where in your body the ache is registering and then this thought comes through your mind about
someone that you hadn't like had an encounter with for 10 years and this this nasty encounter just
kind of flubs through and you notice it and then you notice where you're also feeling that in your
body where it's been stored and then you let that go and then you come back to your breathing you know
a thousand times if you need to just keep coming back to the breathing back to the breathing and
after 10 days of that I just felt like a new person just the places that I felt that I got to
now the big warning about that of course is that as non-straining as part of mindfulness
when you go back to the mat you can't be you know saying oh gosh I hope I get to that really deep
place again you just go back and you deal with whatever visits you at that you know particular
sitting but that is the big next step and then when that was still a warning of course it not well
I still wasn't out in the eating mode I still wasn't like what am I doing for my next career move I've
always worked I've always made money and so hardly because of that I think I went on and I took
you know the the John Capiton his program was through UMass and so I think that's the
why I started with the follow up training so you take the first MBSR and then you take another
class and then you take another class and then I think I ultimately I ended up in Kataluma,
California taking a teacher training class and I did the teacher training and the teacher certification
and came out of there thinking I actually was going to you know try to make some contacts here
you're pretty much on your own you establish your business some people do go to work for hospitals
they go to work for schools there have been programs associated with schools I know there's some
resistance to that at times because it does come John Capiton was in the he was the
umpornist who made it who brought to a secular setting so but in the end I didn't I didn't I just
kept practicing so I'm teacher certified and just happy to to do my thing and have to remind myself
to go to the mat constantly um have to remind myself to be kind constantly have to remind
myself to start judging myself and others constantly um remind myself to have a beginner's mind and
just to you know take in how beautiful the rain is today and wonder how this works
constantly so it's just a again I asked John I re-listened some things from John Capiton
within the last couple of weeks and this constant reminder that it's not a practice
it's your life it's about living your life in that way so that's where I've been will I teach
I still think about it but in the meantime I Eric and I he did talk me into the hike that he had
been wanting to do we started out we did the Wainwright trail in um Northern England so we
hiked from the Irish Sea to the North Sea with our ebony through it from one end to the other
and then we did the Portuguese coastal Camino a couple of years ago it was gorgeous and right now
we're in Portugal um kind of considering we've applied for a visa having a dualist citizenship
and Molly didn't that have the grandson's I knew she'd have kids at some point so we were spending
time uh have worked between family and travel just kind of where I was when I retired but with no
specific direction as far as a paid position goes and no rewards no awards no people say oh you're
the best at architecture I've ever had I you know none of that but like this still hold my
best so good yeah you're able to feel settled and just be like you said right and that's enough
yeah it is enough oh I like how you mentioned the reminders that you still have to give yourself
on a daily basis it's not like to go to these trainings and you're like I'm fixed I'm good
like I never have to continue to practice these things yeah yes so when we talk about the action
steps that people can apply to their own lives obviously there's a ton of resources and these
trainings and things um but can you share with us for the people listening what would you suggest
if they wanted to apply some of these practices to their own life I would say that um again I would
recommend the the program the Jack Harrison program because it's set up in an eight week schedule and
it has something every day so if you you know if you really I am not disciplined enough I have an
exercise you know unless someone says this is what you will do and then I'm okay at doing it so um
I could look for a program with that or maybe uh I felt like I was held accountable by that program
also even though there was nobody on the other end of it that's always the challenge I think when
I'm starting something because I think otherwise you'd say well I'm gonna meditate and you could
pick any one of thousands literally of um meditation leaders there and um and and maybe that would
work also so I guess you know maybe it's just fine to start just start start small don't worry about
you know if five minutes is a long time for you to sit that's normal and if you feel like you have
a monkey mind as they call it the entire time I mean I still have monkey mind there are days where
I'm like I get down and like well that was a day that was just a different day but then I can notice
well where was that monkey mind going to and why was that and you know and it can be some of the
same things that same person showed up in that 10 day retreat you know like show up tomorrow
has showed up a couple times in the past and it's not like it's a permanent fix but it's a way of
your life so I think just get started um and then remember too that the on the formal practice I
think this is one of the things I started to say earlier I didn't is the it while practice so there's
as much to be gained from taking that beginner's mind and raising your mindfulness you know making
it metacognition I'm aware that I'm being mindful right now I am going to stop and I'm going to sit
here and I am going to just listen to the sounds for for five minutes and I am going to be in control
you know and get rid of all the other things of course you will because things will you know but
you're trying and you just keep doing that and the other thing I would do is you know maybe um do
some of the research or just a little bit of looking around about the physical um benefits again
what the mind-body connection is it's way beyond just um you're being calm for a couple of minutes
it's just it's fascinating stuff and um so I would dig into that I did put some poems in the um the
links and I find those to be helpful also and that may just be my literature background that
reading makes such a connection for me but there's just some beautiful stuff that really
makes me feel and as I'm feeling those things um reminds me to keep you know to keep with the
mindfulness so I should be eating my ukulele you could um in your 15 minute lunch that you have
you know at school uh you know just notice even if it's just noticing how quickly you're ripped
open that you'll be you know gobbled it down or can you slow it down can you just uh reduce the
anxiety and the other thing I would say to put into practice and my my grandkids would probably
chuckle a favor with us is to practice kindness you know it was one of the principles that was
sort of added on at the end it's it's under generosity I guess and I think when people say
generosity they'd be like oh well you should donate your clothing or you should you know
mere money but I think generate or excuse me uh donating your kindness is is a really important
thing and again I had to work at this all the time you know some driver cuts me off at time you
know just as quick some days as everybody else but you know and Eric laughs at me a bunch when I
say well maybe that guy's trying to you got to get to the hospital or maybe this or maybe that
and maybe not but maybe so we don't know and so it doesn't it doesn't hurt to be kind and you
don't have to be let don't be get yourself trampled upon but just be kind if you like the world would
be such a great place if people could just be kind sure give a little extra grace when you when you
can't yeah so are you leaving us today with a poem oh I could I don't you know I have Helena
Bonham Carter reading the guest house and I think she does she does such a good job but I won't try
to compete with her but I will do that I have this one um written down okay so all right this is by
Rooney and if you go to any of the training with Snell hear him all the time so so again the poem
in translation of course the guest house this being human is a guest house every morning a new
arrival a joy a depression a meanness some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected
misager welcome and entertain them all even if they're a crowd of sorrows will violently sweep
your house and give us furniture still treat each guest honorably he may be clearing you out for
some new delight the dark plot the shame the malice meet them at the door laughing and invite them in
be grateful for whoever comes because age has been sent as a guide wow it's like being in your
classroom what a great message to end on and we're all human right we're just trying to be
and exist in the world yes yeah and again to be and to do is great but should be is is the the
most important that's awesome I thank you so much for sharing all of your what happened today so great
yes I hope you found Anne's words and mindfulness helpful it's so important to remind ourselves
to just be in the moment next episode I will be back with a new lesson and more takeaways to apply
to your classroom or to your life if you are looking for more lessons and more personal content
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