YAAS 3 Are you shining your light as much as you could be? BLACKBOARD

Dear Difference Maker,

The last time I wrote, I did a B&B (Brag & Blab) about something I got to observe my son do in the face of a season-ending loss.  It was definitely a proud momma moment.  I have found that sharing is such a wonderful thing mostly because it encourages others to do the same.

Since that share, I’ve received so many B&Bs from you all.  It is absolutely thrilling to see so many successes coming in daily now, but even more so, is your willingness to step more fully into your greatness and just own it for the world to be uplifted and encouraged by.

Stop apologizing for your light: #1 Everybody has LIGHT and #2 there is enough LIGHT for everyone. By the same token, you don’t have to blind everybody with your light either!  Take it easy.  When you meet someone for the first time, do yourself and them a favor: start with a soft shine and work your way up to bright!

In my You Are The Light Movie there are two passages relevant to today’s message:

1-You do not need the world’s permission to shine Your Light upon the darkness.

2-You don’t have to warn the darkness that you are coming with the Light.

With that said, I’m ready to share how I discovered the magic of shining my light.

Reaching out …

Nothing is anything until you call it. If you call whatever is happening in your life right now a success, you will be energized by the opportunity smack dab in front of you.

If you are reading this, I believe life is demanding that you be more, not do more. You were born with everything you need to be all that you can be and more. Your success is inherent.

I have always had a special magic when it comes to children of all ages. Adults too.

I thought it was because I was my parent’s “problem” child. I was a problem for them because, unlike my quiet, perfectly behaving older sister, I talked back to them when I didn’t like the hurtful, authoritarian tactics they used to “teach me a lesson” about almost everything I wanted to do as a child.

During my senior year of high school, I became aware that I had what I considered to be a certain magic, with every child I met, regardless of who they were or what they had been “labeled.” I inherently understood those labels because of my own label of always being a “problem” for my parents.

I had a tough time in school. During my junior year of college, I wanted to quit because it was so hard.

I was working nights as a waitress, and I’ll never forget that pivotal moment when the realization hit me that if I quit college this is what I’d be doing for the rest of my life.  I didn’t love it and I needed something with a lot of creative license to it.

I decided right then and there I would “sit on myself” and do whatever I had to do to graduate. Something changed inside of me. I claimed my success and decided to “act as if” I could, and so I did. I started enjoying accolades, and I eagerly let myself be driven by the success I felt I was accomplishing.

Then as a teacher, I essentially became a workaholic, which kept my mind busy and my days full. I made it a point to do everything “the right way,” and I overextended myself intentionally, so I could feed the drive in me to prove my parents wrong.

Then life threw me a curve ball …

In 1984, I lost my first child at birth. Three months after that I had a miscarriage. A year later, I had a high-risk pregnancy and premature birth. A year after our son was born, I divorced my husband. Another year after that, I moved to a new state, and when all of my job prospects and interviews fell through, I found myself as a single mother of a two-year-old. I was emotionally and physically burned out and literally living on pennies, alone in a huge new city where I knew no one.

My life hurt so bad, it felt like someone running their fingernails down a chalkboard of my soul.

Since college, I had worked hard to do everything the “right” way.

And now, here I was. With the precious exception of my wonderful son, I had somehow managed to get everything in life that I did not want!

What I discovered as I began the journey of reigniting the light within me was that …

LIFE WAS DEMANDING that I BE more, not expend more.

LIFE WAS DEMANDING that I take it upon myself to learn empowering skills to deal with every aspect of my life much more effectively, so I could simply be the success I was inherently designed to be.

Now I’m doing something I never imagined over four decades ago. I’m helping teachers and parents who have a big heart and want to be making a positive, healing difference, but who are having difficulty working with today’s challenging children, as well as helping adults and adolescents who are less effective than they want to be with difficult people and situations.

In short, I teach people how to peacefully turn around big, scary, emotionally intense situations that are becoming the new normal in today’s classrooms, homes and workplaces.

At the height of my burnout, while wondering what I was going to do next to support myself and my son, an educational consultant friend of mine asked me point blank, “What is it that you do best, Mary?”

Without skipping a beat I said, “I make magic with the kids nobody wants in their classrooms.”

To which she replied, “Good, but I don’t think magic will ever sell! What is it exactly that you do with students that other educators are not doing?  What is the magic?”

For the first time in my life, I felt my purpose coming up through me, filling up the hole in my soul. I immediately grabbed some paper and a pen, and my system literally wrote itself. It’s the same system I’ve applied to my life, my second marriage, and my blended family for the past 40 years. I still love teaching it today.

Teaching these skills is super important to me, because I’ve seen how much life sucks when you feel like you’ve tried so hard, and yet it “appears” that you are failing so big. It is frustrating when you have a message to share and you don’t know how to get connection and engagement with all of the noise and distractions of today’s world.

I’ve also seen how amazing life can be when you DO know how to use your energy, vibe and tone to get students and adults to be fully engaged with you every step of the way.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg …

I’m writing this today because I’ve been thinking about you and wondering if, after the past year, you are feeling burned out?

For now, I’d love to get your feedback on what I just shared with you. Do you have a similar personal experience you’d like to share, but you’re not sure where to start? Are you having a difficult time putting into words what’s de-energizing you most right now?

I’d love to know more about where you are on your journey right now.

Click here and let me know your thoughts …

Make it a great day!

Keep It Simple & Straightforward