Hello All,
I wrote this blog post in October, 2018 about what I hoped would be my future…
After many months (almost 36!) of brainstorming, obsessive thinking, reading, researching, writing and revising, yoga practice and moment to moment experiences, the purpose of Landscapes for Learning is finally clear… I think.
When I started the Landscapes for Learning blog, I had no idea why I was writing publicly or where it would lead. Something inside me told me to start writing again after I had taken a rather long break post-publication of my first (and only) book, The Graphic Novel Classroom. I remember feeling silly writing about all sorts of disconnected subjects at first and for seemingly no apparent reason. I wrote publicly online to force myself to write more regularly and use the fear of potential criticism as a motivation to write as well as I could. Unfortunately, I don’t give a shit about being negatively judged, so I wrote as I pleased—which was kinda liberating when as an English teacher you are held to higher expectations for your communication. I decided it was okay to be a little lazy, and in hindsight I could see I was also tiring of being an English teacher. So, in a good way, I wrote as the unedited, authentic, honest me. It was the beginning of the exact challenge I needed. Less performance, more REALity.
I was also fantasizing about traveling the world to teach yoga, yearning to meet new people and see new places in the world because I was feeling stuck– in my relationships, in my hometown where I’d been living for more than 40 years, and in my job. I was as secure as ever (financially and otherwise) but I was bored, unchallenged, and static. I plateaued.
So, I called the blog “New Places, New Faces” at first, but later changed it to landscapes for learning because my co-teacher and I were in the middle of teaching a unit we called “The American Landscape.” The term stuck, attaching itself to my desire to travel and change my environment, both inner and outer landscapes. More than a year later while traveling on the leave of absence I had eventually taken from said job teaching, I finally saw the connection among my blog posts. It was an Ah-ha! moment, for sure! The posts made sense. The website made sense. I made sense. I had been articulating myself to myself for months and that’s how writing can perform as an amazing tool for self-realization. I figured out who I was while traveling on the landscapes for learning.
The notion of promoting our shared humanity through a love for learning, and even more specifically learning about oneself through landscape travel—-both inside and out —was the connection that ran through all of my posts.
Answering the question “Who am I?” both for myself and sharing in others’ journey toward their own self-realization is what I have always loved most about my life and my life in teaching. I am fascinated with being here as a human, even though it’s extraordinarily trying at times to be me and to live with the difficulties of connecting with people in this environment in this time and place. As the Buddha said, “Life is suffering.” The dude was wise. Once I stopped acting as though I was a victim of life– of circumstance or other limitations– and took responsibility for knowing and being me, authentically and honestly, I felt like I’d been born again, or more precisely raised from the half-dead life I’d been leading.
Once I understood how to control my own attention, I directed that attention inward and became self-aware. Once I became self-aware, I learned more about who I was and what I was like, honestly, — my thought patterns and how thinking affected my physical body. Once I realized how the mind-body connection worked, I could identify the bad stress that came mostly from fear and the good stress that resulted from voluntarily facing challenge through trial and error learning.
I also learned that caring for both my body and mind through consistent yoga practice, time outdoors in nature, meditation practices, gratitude, and journal writing trained me to respond more calmly, with mindful awareness, to potential suffering rather than react to it unconsciously. I noticed my reactivity level and began to choose more wisely to respond from a place of love rather than fear, from a place of integrity and balance, with mindful control. My nervous system was gaining more balance through gradual exposure and distress tolerance, all taken on voluntarily, willingly, and intentionally.
Because of these experiences, I grew more empathetic and compassionate towards others who I saw also laboring to understand themselves, manage their weaknesses and limitations, and cope with their own suffering. And because I felt so grateful for having learned so much from self-study, from traveling my inner landscape, that I vowed to remain a humble learner for life and share my traveling experiences with others– to share my self-realization process, my humanity, and my love.
Seeing all of the experiences in my life as happening for me rather than to me– as opportunities to grow into the continually blossoming person that I am meant to be is the meaning of life. To be [me] or not to be [me], is the question that I answered and continue to answer.
Traveling the landscapes for learning is a great way to create and maintain a lifestyle of love, meaning, good health and wellbeing. Through travel— inside to know and connect deeply with oneself and outside to know and connect authentically with others is the prescription for what ails us.
It all begins with attention, self- reflection, doing what’s difficult to live with integrity, responding to life rather than being its victim, and seeing all experiences as opportunities for learning, growth, and vitality. I really believe that embodying a landscapes for learning mindset and approach to life will enable you to grow stronger and wiser every moment of every day!
And, I realized, my identity isn’t just about me. Connecting with others and true appreciation and understanding of others comes from solid knowledge of oneself and one’s own human nature. If each of us can take responsibility for understanding our own humanity, we can connect better with others by focusing on our common, shared humanity rather than our differences. Perhaps knowing thyself is the ancient wisdom that will help restore more balance and sanity in our modern world.
Being the best YOU, knowing yourself better than knowing anything or anyone else, is the foundation for social justice. It starts with YOU learning how to be the best YOU possible– to be not only smart but wise! I am helping the world by “doing” me– by being the best, healthiest, happiest and vital person possible. This is my duty to self and to all.
The Landscapes for Learning life coaching, curriculum, workshops, journaling, and inspirational and motivational resources can show you how to be the best YOU possible too, to improve your inner life and your relationships.
This process is simple, but not easy. In fact, doing what’s difficult and challenging is the very source of developing wisdom to live a life of learning and deep meaning. It definitely helps to have a compassionate guide whose been-there-done-that to help get you on your path.
I am here for you!
