Tag: friends

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Another 365-day journey around the sun

So here I am again… Another journey around the sun completed. It’s been a weird one, but then it seems that nothing can surprise anyone anymore in 2020!

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Thank you, Friends 🙂

 

I’ve been enjoying summarising my years since 2017. Then another post followed a year later,with the latest one from China.

So what’s happened since?

  • I enjoyed most of my post birthday summer last year in Shanghai – having friends there too made the whole experience beyond exceptional!
  • I started having some work done on the house – actually more than had planned for and, my oh my, it’s still on hold and it’s still driving me bonkers :-/
  • I really got back into climbing and have been making progress, especially with my leading skills
  • I completed Climbing Wall Instructor (CWI) course
  • I’ve meditated (almost) on daily basis- if not, I substituted it with some positive affirmations. Perhaps one or two might have slipped through the net? But I guess that’s my opportunity to being nice to myself and truly understand that it’s ok to have a slip up and/or to make an occasional mistake.
  • I attended Wisdom Born of Stillness weekend retreat with Ajahn Brahm at Gaia House – and Ajahn Bear was there with me, of course 🙂
  • I attended Love To Break All Boundaries: Metta Retreat with the Venerable Canda at The Barn: things aren’t always so fluffy and easy as they sound, but they’re definitely worth it!
  • I’ve started yet another Masters degree! Yeah, I know 🙂 But I’m loving it, despite an occasional tantrum 😉
  • Despite some rather rubbish past experiences, I’ve braved the weird world of online dating again… This though requires a whole new and separate post, if not a book 😉 Maybe some time soon. I have a plan. You may hear it about in not so distant future 🙂
  • …and since you’re asking, yeah, I’m enjoying it this time 🙂
  • I’ve met amazing, supportive, kind and lovely people – I just can’t imagine not feeling grateful  for who (and what) I have in my life 🙂
  • I experienced being furloughed
  • I’ve been asked to be my good friend’s bridesmaid 🙂 We even managed to go on a great hen do in Spain and be back just in time for lockdown…
  • I might be getting more ideas about what I want to do when I grow up… 😉
  • I’ve learnt some online teaching skills!
  • Life goes on…

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Ok, the thing is that not everything in the last year was all hunky-dory…And of course I experienced a lot of emotional ups and downs. But as 2020 seems to generate lots of (so called ) negative feelings and emotions, I just wanted to focus on good and meaningful events in my life. What have I learnt? Hmmm….The biggest takeway for me was to learn to set up and/or assert my boundaries much better and develop abilities not to get sucked in into somebody else’s’ dramas (especially happy with this one!). The old Polish proverb ‘Not my circus, not my monkeys’ has finally started making sense to me. I’ve learnt freakishly lots about myself in a relatively short period of time. I recognised my strengths and excepted my vulnerable self more. I love being a human being , though this often requires that vulnerability, which I’m still working on. I enjoy being ‘a work in progress‘ kind of person as for me it’s more realistic, more true and authentic than pretending that I’m (almost) perfect. I know that there’s plenty I need to work on, but for now I’ll stick to being (just the right amount of) enough.

I think here’s only one more thing to say :

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME 🙂 🙂 🙂

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On gratitude

Recently I’ve had this overwhelming feeling of gratitude. I started paying more attention to what I have and noticed that  gratitude is something that arises pretty much on its own, there’s no need to force it.

I’m feeling grateful for little and ‘big’ things in my life:

  • for having a roof over my head, feeling warm, having food and clean running water, bed, clothes;
  • for my health, even though sometimes I need to attend to it a bit more that I would’ve expected. I’ve noticed that any dip in my health brings out some important message that I need to listen to, which is not necessarily directly health-related;
  • for access to education, my intelligence and desire to learn. I’m so grateful I can read and write and can speak and/or understand more than one language;
  • for having jobs that I really enjoy doing and for professional development opportunities;
  • for  freedom of choice, movement, speech; the fact I can vote;
  • for my family and friends.

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Although I put people at the bottom of that list, it doesn’t mean they are the least important thing in my life. Very often I find myself struggle to comprehend how lucky I am having so many wonderful, kind and fantastic people in my life. I’m not sometimes sure how it happened that our paths have crossed, but sure I’m very very grateful for it 🙂 Sometimes I catch myself thinking what I’ve done to deserve having them in my life, but then, does it really matter? They’re a part of my life and I’m feeling grateful.

So to all my friends and family, my acquaintances, colleagues, neighbours and strangers, who in one way or the other have had an impact on my life : I feel very lucky and very grateful that I’ve been experiencing my life journey with you. Thank you for being here 🙂

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From a teacher’s heart

I’ve been following the developments in America after the shooting at  Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland,Florida.

I’ve watched Emma Gonzalez’ powerful speech , I’ve watched other students‘ speeches, listening to them asking straightforward questions, and starting to take action. I cringed when I heard some politicians patronising those young people (and teachers) throwing those prepared empty phrases on them, offering words of comfort – maybe even sincere ones-  yet sounding everything but… Or maybe it’s just my cynicism talking now…

My own experience of being caught up in a mass shooting situation in Ft Lauderdale (!) in January 2017 really hit home and permanently imprinted in me that guns kill. And I was just a tourist, staying in the States  for several days, visiting my family; no one who, like those young people, have had to go through drills at school to prepare themselves for a potential mass shooting scenario. That tiny (?), yet powerful experience I had was enough for me to understand how dangerous guns can be , especially in hands of a mentally disturbed person! .

Parkland tragedy really scared me that my best friends’ children and my little nephew who live in America, are potentially at risk of another mindless, horrid school shooting- unless something is done. And fast! I was glad to see that after another tragedy, people in the US started talking about gun control issues. And now I believe that after those young people from Parkland took the matters into their own hands, when they said ‘enough is enough’, when they pledged to be the change they want to see, I feel truly hopeful. I hope that because of them, politicians and lawmakers will look at gun control issues and they will, perhaps slowly (maybe too slowly ?) start changing the law to ensure that people, and especially young people at school, feel safe and protected. 

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Anyway, it’s not really what I want to focus on today- I want to focus on impact those young people’s actions have had on me.  Frankly, listening to them  made me feel really proud to be a teacher. And it’s not that I wasn’t happy with my profession- far from that!  However watching those young people talking so fearlessly, so confidently and so passionately about their basic right to be safe at school, something that some adults seemed to have failed them to feel, made me feel extra proud and really hopeful for the future. I felt that my contributions to lives of any young people matter. It  hit me harder than ever that I help shaping future generations of people who will take the baton from us and carry it forward.  It made me feel good reflecting on my own practice and my efforts to be focused not just on young people’s education, but their emotional well-being and on bringing out what’s best in them, even if they often don’t believe in themselves. Those young people from Parkland are walking examples of how much strength,confidence and courage lie within human beings and I, as a teacher, want to continue to help my students dig deep -sometimes very deep- and find and foster those important qualities. I think it’s sometimes very easy to forget that behind all those bureaucratic processes and procedures that teachers must deal with there are young people, their needs, dreams and hopes. It’s easy sometimes to forget that behind standardisations, statistics and box ticking exercises there are strong, passionate individuals, full of potential that no one may know about until we provide them with an opportunity to flourish.

I want to thank you, brave and courageous young people from Parkland for inspiring me to reflect on my journey as a teacher. I am so incredibly proud of you all 🙂 Good luck on March 24th and although I don’t even live in the USA, I’ll be there with you in my thoughts, proudly wearing my March For Our Lives T-shirt 😀 I believe that thanks to you and your efforts there will come the time when no one will ever walk into a school – or any public space- with a gun and take lives.

 

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Like a fine wine…

“I’m like a fine wine. I get better with age. The best is yet to come.”

                                                /Richelle Mead/

Celebrating my birthday with some Lady Grey tea and violet and blueberry cake

 

Since my last birthday:

  • I’ve continued my mindful journey and meditated daily
  • I learnt that kindness may come from the least expected directions and from people who I would’ve never thought could extend their helping hand to me, as if they were there to balance out those who I thought would’ve been there for me when I really needed them
  • I’ve learnt to be a bit more assertive ( and I’m not planning on stopping any time soon! )
  • I visited Japan
  • I became an aunt of a beautiful baby boy ( and the first American in the family!)
  • I (finally!) went to Cuba ( and surprised myself I can still communicate in my broken Spanish 🙂 ) . Oh, and for the first time ever, my gut got defeated by Cuban water (or whatever was in it!). I won’t divulge further details, it’s a rather shitty story… 😉
  • I got caught up in Ft Lauderdale crisis (yes, I’ll write about it one day)
  • I started my blog (wow, I still can’t believe it sometimes!)
  • I’ve completed Positive Psychology and Demystifying Mindfulness courses on Coursera  (and started another one with one more waiting in the pipeline)
  • My health deteriorated (but I’m working on it and I’m getting better)
  • I moved from Asia back to Europe (so not such a big change 😉 )
  • I attended a christening in Poland and wedding in the UK
  • I’ve been living with a Buddhist community again
  • I started teaching again
  • I’ve continued meeting amazing, inspiring and supportive people
  • I helped Amanda to launch her first book “Creative Unblocking: Bypass Self-Doubt, Tap Your Genius, and Complete Your Best Work“

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But most importantly I realised how resilient and strong I’ve become, having had to deal with the whole plethora of issues which had landed on me like a ton of bricks within a very short period of time in a foreign country. I’m extremely grateful for all the lessons I’ve been receiving since my last birthday- they hit me on the head, poked me, tickled me, made me cry, made me laugh, but, first and foremost, have been shaping this fine woman that I am.

Happy birthday to me – the best is yet to come 🙂