Mind Your Vowels and Consonants
In the last blog post, I talked about teacher behavior in the classroom.
To follow up, I would like to offer up some guidance on how to perhaps become more aware of our behaviors and in turn, make more powerful choices for better, more desired outcomes.
You have probably heard the idiom “mind your p’s and q’s”, right?
So, where did it come from?
In jolly old England, many people, especially working men, would escape to the pub after work to de-stress and forget about their problems.
Many wives would tell them: “Now, if you go to the pub after work, mind your p’s and q’s” (probably because they were not in agreement with their husbands going to the pub).
They didn’t want their husbands drinking in excess until drunk and out of control.
In England, beer is served in pints or quarts, thus the p’s and the q’s.
The wives were advising (warning?) their husbands to pay attention and be aware of their choice of size and quantity of beer they were consuming.
Well, I thought to myself, what could I come up with the help teachers/people remember the choices they have and to “mind them” (aka pay attention and be aware of our options and choices)?
Mind your vowels and consonants.
Vowels = A E I O U
So, now we would have: AFFIRM, ENGAGE, INVITE, OPTIMIZE, UNITE for the steps in our relationship building process with others to produce more harmonious and agreeable results?
AFFIRM the other person’s existence, beliefs, similarities, differences…who they are, but also to learn more about who we are
ENGAGE them in conversation and activities that give them, and you, permission to be curious, explore and learn more toward greater acceptance
INVITE them to join you and Venn Diagram what you have discovered and shared with each other so that you can harmonize your interpersonal interactions
OPTIMIZE the strengths in each other to be able to support, inspire and celebrate each other and see your place in the bigger picture of things (humanity)
UNITE and collaborate and grow together for the greater good of everyone whose lives you touch in order to bring hope to others
Vowels are the connectors to consonants. The word “consonant” is from Latin, meaning “one sound”.
Vowels allow us to make utterances, create words and communicate to others our needs, desires, hopes, dreams, affirmations, inspirations, and so on.
So, if we apply our vowels in all our relationships, we can create one sound together…harmonize…and bring sweet music to the world.
Just think of the power teachers have to bring sweet music into the hearts of children when they create their classroom culture on the relationship “vowels” (like the A E I O U above) and also create connections to a community of “one sound” that will harmonize greater understandings of peace, love, joy, grace, compassion, respect, validation and belonging into this world.
AFFIRM
ENGAGE
INVITE
OPTIMIZE
UNITE
A E I O U
You can do it too!
Image credit:
“Alphabet 20” by Leo Reynolds is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
