Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Grateful for my Teachers

Tags

Books, Colleagues, Friends, leaders, Life, mentors, Parents, Professors, Teachers

All of us have had teachers in one shape or form that contributed to who we are today. I’ve had some great ones. I had great teachers in grade school. I had terrific professors in my undergraduate and graduate studies. The best teachers I’ve had were my parents, my leaders in the military, and life itself.

My parents taught me how to treat family, how to be a man, and how to treat a woman. My teachers gave me insights into the topics I was studying that you could not get from a book. They demonstrated how the book knowledge could be applied to the “real world”.

My military leaders taught me what service was about. They taught me how to take care of my equipment, learn my job, and lead others. They also taught me things that couldn’t be measured—things like honor, discipline, keeping your word, and being honest, even when things get screwed up.

One group I didn’t mention are the group of teachers I have not met. These are the authors of all the books I’ve read to date. Teachers like Covey, Allen, Guise, Twain, Einstein, Hawking, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Tolkien, and so many others.

All of us have had great teachers in our lives. Life is the final one. Life tends to blindside us. We learn from the cuts and bruises life dishes out. We learn things like being thrifty, planning, always striving for something better, but the most important lesson of all—we learn to treat other people with decency and respect.

I love learning. I love learning from the greats. Whether it is a book, a quote, a video, or in-person advice, our teachers have helped us achieve what we are achieving today. Today, I am grateful for every one of my teachers. I would not be where I am today without them.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – Teachers as Champions

Tags

Caring, Champion, Dedication, Inspiring, Learning, Teachers, Teaching, Ted Talk

Image by rawpixel from Pixabay

We all had that one teacher that made a difference. In my case, there were a few. Rita Pierson is one of those teachers that treats her job responsibilities seriously and realizes the importance of her role as an educator. For me, my favorite teacher was Mrs. Feick in the 5th grade. She was so innovative. I think I learned more in her class than most of my elementary education combined. Rest in Peace Mrs. Feick.

Do you have a teacher that made learning fun? Did you have a teacher that held you to a higher standard, knowing you could do more? Did you have a teacher that made you feel like you could take on the world? Watch this Ted Talk. It is worth it.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Thank Your Teachers

Tags

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Critical Thinking, Dialogue, Grateful, Learning, Stretching, Teachers, Thank you

“Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher, that will be the biggest honour for me.” – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/a_p_j_abdul_kalam_717997?src=t_teacher

I was thinking about all the teachers that have contributed to my life. One of my best teachers was my fifth-grade teacher. Her name was Mrs. Feick. She made learning fun and she challenged us daily. She knew we could do more than we thought we could. You know what? She was right.

Other memorable teachers came during my college studies. I pursued technical degrees and really enjoy programming, databases, and solving problems. One of my teachers taught databases and it was so interesting interacting with him. He showed us so much. I think the best thing he taught us was how to think. He would always have us think through what would happen when we wrote a query or tried to manipulate some data set. He would have us think through what would happen if we did this or that before we wrote any scripts. It was awesome!

A good teacher will always motivate you to look at things in a different way. A good teacher will show you how important it is to really get out there and investigate things, read things, come up with your own viewpoints. They challenge us to challenge them and their ideas. A good teacher is always looking for students who will argue with them (tactfully and professionally) to hone our own ideas while they will refute and try to convince us of there ideas. It is a terrific exercise. The dialogue is where the learning takes off.

Some of my best teachers have also been in the business climate. I used to be a technical recruiter. Technical recruiting is a challenging career. One of my managers passed on little tidbits of wisdom here and there. One of these things related to competition. He said, “You know, Dave. You don’t have to do too much to beat your competition. You just have to do a little more.” He was right. If you always do just a little more, you’ll beat most of the competition in your field that is unwilling to do a little more.

I am grateful for the many teachers I have come across that really cared about their students. I am grateful for the many mentors I had coming up in technical recruiting. I am also grateful for the many scholars and authors I continually learn from by reading their books. There is so much to learn and so many people you can learn from.

Take some time today to be grateful for all of the people who have taught you something that has served you well throughout your life. You’ll be amazed at all of the people who have had a dramatic effect on your life’s trajectory. I know the teachers I have had impacted my life in so many ways. I will be forever grateful for those teachers that spurred me to think, to continue learning, and to challenge the ideas of others.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday

Tags

anguish, experiences, Joy, pain, pleasure, Suffering, Teachers

“Pain is a pesky part of being human, I’ve learned it feels like a stab wound to the heart, something I wish we could all do without, in our lives here. Pain is a sudden hurt that can’t be escaped. But then I have also learned that because of pain, I can feel the beauty, tenderness, and freedom of healing. The pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air! We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces.”―C. JoyBell C.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/wisdom-quotes

If you spend any time reading through other blogs in the WordPress.com blogosphere, you see a great many people in pain. Mental pain, physical pain, the pain of loss, the pain of failure, the pain of addiction, the pain of poverty, and so many other types of pain.

We all experience pain in our lives. Without pain, we cannot feel its opposite—pleasure. Both have to exist for us to feel one or the other. The same goes for beauty and ugliness, love and hate, laughter and crying. These opposites are here so we can distinguish one from the other. Once we have learned what pain is, we tend to run from it and pursue pleasure.

Pain is a double-edged sword. Wallow in it and you are in hell. Use it and you can sometimes find a way out of it. Pain identifies when I’m at my limit in the gym. Pain tells me I should be careful with my back. Pain tells me what I’ve lost and to treasure regaining that again in the future. Pain teaches me contentment when the pleasure returns.

Pain, like pleasure, is fleeting. Pain and pleasure revolve around each other. They are finite. They come and go.

Don’t get me wrong. I realize there are some folks out there whose pain is so deep that the only escape is medication and psychological help of one sort or another. I am not trying to minimize this.

The pains we feel in life are teachers. There is a saying, “Things are not done to us but for us.” – Harold Klemp. Pain can be a great teacher.

Have you ever come out of a challenging situation in your life and failed to learn something? I, like most, have had my share of troubles. When I go back through my journal and read some of those entries, I am almost brought back to that point instantly, reliving the pain, the fear, and the absolute despair I was experiencing at the time.

When I take the time to really examine these periods, from a more balanced and neutral point of view, I can see the lessons that I learned from those experiences materialize. If I had not gone through what I did, I wouldn’t have learned what I now know. In fact, my greatest learnings over my lifetime have been initiated by painful circumstances, painful relationships, or painful experiences. I am not advocating that you seek out pain to learn, just to be aware that when life gets hard or you are presented with a problem that appears to be unsolvable that there is a way out. “There is always a way.” – Harold Klemp.

For those of you who are experiencing loss. For those of you who are experiencing physical pain. For those of you afflicted with mental pain of any type, I send you good thoughts. I hope your pain passes. I hope that one day you can regain some semblance of normalcy in your life.

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

Tags

Carl Bard, Errors, Guideposts, Mistakes, Persistence, Teachers

Today’s Quote:

“Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.” – Carl Bard

As each of us pursues our dreams, we discover that making mistakes comes with the territory. These mistakes are not hindrances, but teachers. They teach us where we went wrong and give us new directions. These directions are the potential ways to continue forward.

Embrace mistakes. Mistakes are teachers. Mistakes are guides. Mistakes are the lamp posts along the unknown path to achievement.

I hope everyone is having a terrific Monday!!

Until next time…

Dave