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| Toscanini: Read more about him here. |
This is some good ammunition that I’m going to add to my
cookbook of resiliency and coping techniques. Although Toscanini, the great
Italian maestro, was, more than likely pompous and mildly narcissistic, I love
his line. The story goes as this: once, in a fit of anger, Toscanini fired one
of his orchestral members. The member, on the way out the door, hollered at
Toscanini, some profanity. Toscanini replied “It’s too late for an apology!”
What a perfect response. The recipient of this response is dumbfounded. What
can one respond?
As a teacher for the better part of twenty years, we learn
to respond quickly to adolescent temperament while maintaining a level of
respect and, yes, a hierarchical structure intact.
The text The Art of Possibility, by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
gives us insight on flipping situations, or more aptly,
directing the energy of a situation or event using insight and asking the
question: what do we want to become of this situation? What do we want the
outcome to be? And How can all participants, willing or unwilling,
benefit?
I’ve given some thought to the idea of scarcity thinking. I
have been a victim and conscious participant of this type of thinking,
sometimes out of necessity and poverty, and sometimes out of survival. I’ve found a quote that I would like to share
on the status of victimization:
This quote adequately addresses the conscious shift that the authors allude to in their book. It is the idea of thinking in scarcity and the downward spiral. If you feed thoughts into the downward spiral, it gains momentum and grows in size. This is a brutal combination.
I am reminded of the holocaust story of the small girl who, in the camps, found a small raspberry and carefully wrapped it and placed it in her pocket for the day. At the end of the day, she gave it to her friend. What if the most beautiful possession that we had, we instead gave it to our friend?
I would like to suggest and experiment with the idea of the upward spiral. Perhaps this reaches out like rays of sunshine, lighting those in its path. . . . .
Kat, First off the graphic that I had chose to use within my blog post was direct from the reading and it is a great graphic to represent two different teaching styles. Secondly, I really enjoyed your week three blog post because I feel as if individuals do not give enough thought into scarcity thinking and the fact that their negative thoughts feed their downward spiral. You hit the nail on the head saying that it is a ‘brutal combination’. How can individuals project good-natured possibilities if all they are thinking about are the negatives in the situation? And yet they still wonder why black clouds loom over their heads… Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteKat - Your statement, "...we learn to respond quickly to adolescent temperament while maintaining a level of respect, and yes, a heirarchical structure intact", echoes my thoughts exactly. As educators, we are bombarded with both love and hate actions and statements. We have to develop thick skins and enormous hearts to maintain the level of professionalism required. I love the Survivor Psalm. Do you know the author? This is something that I woud like to have on hand to pass on to students who are in difficult situations, something I encounter all too often in my school. Having no school counselors results in teachers often listening to the stories students need to tell someone. Thank you for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks for sharing your transition. Healing comes after we've let go of blame and let the universe take care of that while we shift to looking toward the future. Powerful stuff. Thanks.
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