Author: Maria Johnson

Laughter

letter_l_erteLaughter.

It’s one of my favorite things.

I love to laugh, and I love people who laugh…loudly, robustly, from all the way inside their souls.

Yeah. That’s the right way to laugh.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to laugh, and boy, it was abundant.

We had a work in-service day, and I attended a drumming therapy session. I was pretty skeptical about it. I thought it was going to be one of those sharing circles, you know what I’m talking about — getting close to nature and all that bunk.

Well, let me take it back —  I don’t really think it’s bunk. That kind of deep sharing has a place in our lives. I’m just not sure the workplace environment is the place for it. At least, not for me.

But I went anyway, on the advice of a colleague with a fun spirit and a good sense of humor. At least if we were going to suffer, it was going to be entertaining.

Boy was I wrong. That was the most fun I’d had at work. Ever.

Here’s me, trying out a pretty djembe drum:

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There’s nothing like laughter to generate laughter. I don’t know if it was the physical act of drumming that was therapeutic, or the joy that came from having a good time, but I think today, the day after, I’m still enjoying the benefits of spending an hour beating on a drumhead and laughing.

What makes you laugh from all the way inside your soul?

 

Kindness

kKindness.

I have this quotation scrawled across the top of my gradebook as a reminder:

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting their own hard battle.”

It’s one of my favorite quotes, sometimes attributed to Plato, sometimes to Seneca, possibly correctly attributed to Ian Maclaren. Let me just say, who cares? I know, my English teacher sensibilities just imploded — it happens.

I like it because it’s a simple message. Be kind.

Be kind because you don’t know how the person you’re interacting with needs a kind word. A smile. A gentle touch.

Because most of us face our battles quietly; it doesn’t matter if we do so out of bravery, or stoic strength, or possibly even shame. The bottom line is that we all face battles.

I’d venture to say that those combative souls we encounter need the most kindness. Just a thought.

Love on purpose. Encourage intentionally.

Be kind.

 

 

Jackson 5

erte-jI had to.

I don’t know how many hours I spent dancing to this song.

Enjoy. I’ll come up with something deep and esoteric tomorrow.

For today, just put a little joy in your step, a little jazz in your swag, a little junk in your trunk.

Insecurity

iInsecurity.

Some days I have it in spades.

Let me just say that as a writer, I live in the land of insecurity.

Do my readers get me? Did I communicate what I meant? Does anyone even read what I write?

Sometimes I feel like I’m driving in heavy traffic, talking to myself, and suddenly, the teen-aged version of me asks, “Are you talking to yourself?”

It’s that moment when I’m embarrassed and can still laugh at myself all at the same time. I think that part is important — the ability to laugh. Especially at myself.

I know deep down my insecurity is just a feeling that goes hand in hand with the creative process. I create something. I put it out there.  You judge it. It’s all very scary.

And it’s all about me. Insecurity is internal: it’s always about me, me, me! What if I take that insecurity and turn it inside out?

What if instead of me, I think of you? What if instead of being insecure and being self-absorbed in my perceived short-comings, I move that energy outward and inspire?

I like that a whole lot better. It takes the attention away from me and places it on you — to encourage you — to inspire you.

Because if I can take a risk and write, you can take a risk to do whatever it is you were meant to do.

Insecurity. Inspire.

 

 

Hope

hHope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

                         ~ Emily Dickinson

cheaters never prosper

I recently vented at Patheos.com in a post titled When the Cheaters Are Teachers, where I reflect on disappointments with the public education system — a vent sparked by the embarrassing and disgraceful cheating scandal in Atlanta Public Schools. It’s pretty outrageous to think that so many professionals were easily compromised in the interest of … hmmm. In the interest of what, exactly? Bonuses? Bragging rights? Unbelievable and suspect test gains? Yeah, that.

We do no one any favors when we lower our standards or reduce our expectations. To teach effectively, we must look beyond the data points and see the unique individuals in the desks. We must meet them where they are and help them become what they can be.

It’s a complex problem because we can pretty much point a finger in any direction and find someone to blame, and I’m not talking about the 35 who were indicted. I’m talking about parents who abdicate parental responsibility when they don’t take an active role in their children’s education. Students who treat school as a social venue.  Officials who let policies overrule sound educational processes. And teachers who plainly, and simply, are not teaching.

What scares the hell out of me is that this might just be the beginning of a different battle I never expected, about fundamental values, ethical comprehension, poverty and opportunity; we need to have conversations about these topics that are forthright enough to make us uncomfortable.

Check out the rest of it here.

 

Goodness

gGoodness.

Don’t we all want it? Shouldn’t we all aspire to it?

I think too often we seek it in ways that will benefit us —  we try to internalize good for ourselves. One more slice of that delicious pie will fill us up, and make us feel good. Another drink. That pretty dress. Those awesome shoes.

A quick rundown of the definition of goodness from some trusty (rusty?) online searches consistently yielded the following descriptions:

1. the state or quality of being good.
2. moral excellence; virtue.
3. kindly feeling; kindness; generosity.
4. excellence of quality: goodness of workmanship.
5. the best part of anything; essence; strength.
.
I like those two definitions in boldface. The first one, especially, is something that I feel strongly about. There’s good in giving. Kindness and generosity are much greater than hoarding a pile of meaningless objects. It’s a gift that keeps giving, too.
.
The best kind of goodness is not material, and can’t be measured. There’s a certain reciprocity that comes from kindness and generosity, not that we should seek it for our own ends, but that in giving freely we are somehow blessed in return.

Friend

letter_f_erteFriend.

Fun, fellowship, faith, frolic, fantastic, fair, fond, forthright, feel, fulfill, fabulous, fealty, felicity, favored, flourish, forgiveness, familiarity, fruitful, festive, frank, fortifying, fraternal, fascinating, free, formidable, familial, facilitate, flexible, folksy, funny. Faithful.

A true blessing…

Talking, eating, playing, praying, saying, hugging, listening, learning, daring, dreaming, urging, cooking, texting, calling, running, speaking, nurturing, crying, whispering, mending, holding, caring, encouraging, teaching, trusting, accepting, being, cherishing, laughing, living. Sharing.

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
― C.S.Lewis

do ya like poetry?

Ya wanna like MY poetry?

I’m giving it away. I put together a little electronic chapbook with a selection of my poems.

You’re going to need a couple of things in order to get it because it’s published as an ePub file to be read on Kindles or Nooks.

So, all you Mac peeps out there, you can read it on your iPod, iPad, or iPhone, but you need to download an app first.

1. Get the app. I use a free app called NeoSoar Books.

2. Go to my online store at Lulu.com by clicking on the book cover below:

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3. Download it; it’s free!

4. Come back here and tell me what you think 🙂

 

Edelweiss

eEdelweiss.

I usually say daisies are the friendliest flowers, but for today, I’m going to say edelweiss is the friendliest flower.

Because it starts with E, and I wasn’t going to pick a weirdly exotic word although now that I think of it, I might have had some fun sending you, dear reader, off on a wild goose chase.

Or maybe not. Instead, I’ll regale you with a mushy little love story. Mine.

When John and I were married, he was serving in the US Army in what was then West Germany. We lived in a beautiful little town, Bamberg, and all of Western Europe was our playground.

Austria was just a short drive away, and we went often. The Alps, you know, ARE RIGHT THERE!

And edelweiss grows in the Alps.

So my honey picked a lot of edelweiss for me to put in my hair. It was very long in those days, curly and black. I looked like Yvonne de Carlo.

And he looked like Christopher Plummer.

Do you know where this is going?

Yes.

He often sang Edelweiss to me.

 

edelweiss