Whatever the weather where you are, a Saturday morning is always a good excuse to curl up with a good book. Just add coffee and stir and you have the recipe for a perfect day.
Here’s a book list of holiday reading if you need some suggestions.
Enjoy!
Never stop questioning. Think for yourself. Remain ever curious.
Advice from Einstein, to every scholar, and by scholar, I mean every one of us:
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly you cease forever to do it.”
This advice is from J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan…and it works for all of us. Never stop believing in your goal. Or, if you notice that you do stop believing…it’s probably time to find the next goal or chapter in your life.
Because you? You were meant to FLY!
Happy Tuesday, Happy Summer…happy life!
Leave a comment to let us know your summer wishes. Feel free to share this post! ❤
xo~Lisa
ps: I took this photo and I’m pretty happy with the way it all turned out. 🙂
Photo by @english_musings
Good advice for a successful day & a happy life. Especially for us English professor/writer-types and creative people of all kinds. We need poetry, and song, and art, and connection, in all its forms. It’s good for the soul. It’s even better for fostering creativity.
I try to incorporate a little of each every day. How about you?
Make sure to take that little bit of time out to do some part of Goethe’s recipe for living a happy life.
Have a wonderful Sunday.
xo, Lisa (aka–The Happy Teacher)
We are all free to fly. Education gives us wings. We each have the power, the ability, and the freedom to fly. What we need is the belief.
This is why I write so much about the power of our beliefs. As educators, we need to closely examine our own beliefs. We need to know that we are showing up each day to do our best for all of our students.
For our students, sometimes, we need to get them to understand that we (teachers) will believe in them, until they believe in themselves. Until they believe that they are free to fly.
A child is not the place he or she was born, the amount of money they have, or the books they have read. The opportunity gap leads to a self-esteem and a belief gap. Often, the biggest obstacle first-generation students face when it comes to college success is not passing a class, or acing a test, but actually believing that they belong. Right here and now. In college.
Mentor a student. Help them believe. Change a life.
Thanks for reading.
xo~Lisa
aka, The Happy Teacher
The 20 Habits of Highly Authentic People
As part of my June challenge, I’m spending the month reflecting inward. This article from MindBodyGreen was a powerful reminder of how we can all (self included!) live a more authentically happy life. Build each other up. Spend time with yourself. Notice the beauty all around. Smile at a stranger.
This article from the Greater Good Science Center discusses the impact of academic mentoring, engagement and community building on first-generation college students. Research now shows that it’s the social emotional aspects of college life that can be challenging for these students, who don’t have a model of academic success to draw on once they are away at school.
How to Help First-Generation College Students Succeed.
image from greatergood.berkeley.edu/
Exploring the Idea of Happiness as Part of School Work
I’ve been exploring the science of Happy and happiness research for the past two years in my college composition classrooms. We look at the work of various psychologists and psychiatrists, (like Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar and Professor Dan Gilbert, both of Harvard) who are writing and teaching on the science of happiness.
This article from PBS Mind/Shift, “Exploring the Idea of Happiness as Part of School Work,” discusses what that looks like in the classroom, and why “happy matters.” I agree wholeheartedly. After all, the brain on positive is 31% more productive than at negative, neutral, or stressed.
My happy is:
In the classroom, connecting with students. 
The “Aha Moments” when that student finally puts it all together.
The struggle that finally leads to success.
A little creek with some big rocks for sitting on and thinking.
The path, the journey, and sometimes the destination.
A cup of coffee with a friend.
Pages of a book, sometimes filled with notes I’ve made.
Smiles of children that are my heart beating outside of my body.
Writing just one word that makes a picture.
Finding beauty along the way.
What’s your happy?
If it makes you happy, go for it.xo~Lisa
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” -Aristotle
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” Dalai Lama
College Ready 