The Power Of Positive Thinking

College-level on-going teacher education is referred to as “flex” credit, requiring that teachers attend outside-the-classroom workshops and activities--about nine hours per semester for part-timers like me. We used to be able to complete “individual activity contracts” which gave us flex time for things we were already doing if they met certain requirements. Since most part-time instructors work multiple jobs, this was a useful program giving us credit for things we were already doing, like community theater performances and volunteering at Special Olympics. But so many people took the contract route that no one was attending the actual seminars anymore--which was hard on the egos of presenters--and we no longer have that option. It’s workshop attendance or nothing. So, I reluctantly go to workshops that have little to do with my actual life--like “The Happiness Project,” where I got to listen to a “laughter yoga” enthusiast wearing Crocs tell how she doesn’t get information from any news source because it disrupts her “priming ritual” for a day’s worth of sheer, manic joy. Good grief. But then a young, bearded guy, who declared everything “Epic!” started to speak. And what he said was interesting. Less than a year earlier he had been stabbed fifteen times by an intruder and lived to tell about it--a miracle he chocks up to positive thinking. Hmmmm. In Louise Fatio’s The Happy Lion, the main guy figures out he already has everything he needs to love his life. I suppose “Epic!” guy would say I do, too.

http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Lion-Louise-Fatio/dp/0375827595

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Fatio

Content In The Chaos

Ten years ago, I thought I had it figured out. I knew what the landscape of the rest of my life looked like, and I was content in having all the loose ends sewn up. I was married to the person I would always be with, I had the only three beautiful children I was destined to bring into this world, and I was teaching part-time, sure that as soon as a full-time position came open, my career would fall into place as well. As a driven Type A experienced in more chaos than any healthy person would see in ten lifetimes, getting my life ducks in a row was of paramount importance. No surprises, just synchronized success. Yeah, right. One of my best friends (who also happens to be my fellow Type A mother-in-law) was given a magnet by her most capricious son that says, “We plan, God laughs.” Fitting, don’t you think? Of course, not everyone believes in capital-G God, but almost everybody attributes some sort of orchestration of all that is to some force--karma, Allah, Zeus, the Force---and acknowledges that power at work. So, the universe listened, chuckled, and blew every single plan I’d ever made right out of the cosmic water. But gave me in return an amazing husband and a tiny Scarlett to create our new little triad. In Louise Fatio’s The Three Happy Lions, a duo becomes a trio and everything works out much differently than planned. Thank goodness something is directing all this.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Happy-Lions-Louise-Fatio/dp/B0007EBL52

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Fatio