October 17, 2020 Linda Markley

SPIRIT Journey: PASSION

Can do's, Essential questions, making connections, Maslow before Blooms, Passion, Spirit of teaching, Spirit practices, Wholehearted teaching

The origin of the word passion and its subsequent meanings is a complicated one. Like the evolution of the meaning, the application in real life is just as complicated and something that we humans seek our entire lives as we pursue education, employment, meaning and purpose in life.

The word passion originally comes from
 the Latin word "patior", which means “to suffer”.  

The idea was that there was some force outside of you that would cause you to do something, in some way to suffer. It was used to describe an intense desire that originated in a wide range of emotions such as joy, grief, hope, fear, love and hatred. It definitely had a more religious context and use.  

Today, passion is used in so many somewhat controversial ways. It still is used to describe an intense desire and love for something or someone, but perhaps it focuses more on a force coming from within you rather than externally. To feel passionately about something today evokes either a strong love or a strong hatred. 

So, I like to think of my passion in this way: 
Rearranging the letters of passion = I pass on.

In every moment, we must be aware and make conscious choices of what we are choosing to pass on to others. It is a critical to who we want to be and how we want to show up in the world.

As Marianne Williamson says, “there is only love, and we are either moving toward it or away from it”.  That is the place where I will start with my deeper interpretation of the word passion. The closer you move to love, the more passion you will feel about everything and everyone. There is only love, and that should be the passion of all humans. When there is only love, then, there is no suffering. 

From this place of love, we are making the world a better place. When we share our gifts of passion, our pure, true love from the heart, we are contributing to the Greater Good of humanity. That is what I hear teachers tell me during my time spent with them listening to their stories on the Teacher Tales podcast.

 Teachers just want to pass on a love of learning to their students 
and the feelings of self-love that will help them 
find their place and value in the world. 

Teachers are struggling even more than ever now to feel that passion and clearly see what they want to pass on to their students and to the world. Their hearts are hurting and their vision is being clouded over by cataracts of bureaucracy.

We are moving closer and closer to fear every day. As a result, here is what is being passed on in the classroom right now:

• Teachers are being required to teach both face-to-face and virtually at the same time…basically two jobs!
• Teachers (and students) are being required to put their physical and mental well-being on the line during a pandemic. 
• Teachers are being forced to teach to a test and a test score and within a prescribed scope and sequence as if everyone and everything were programmed like a robot or created by a computer program, which, by the way, is also susceptible to viruses that can cause it to not function properly or even “crash”.
• Teachers are still required to gather data and be evaluated at any minute and held accountable to the scope and sequence and standards even in the midst of great inequity for students and challenges of technology and social-emotional well-being.
• Teachers feel they are no longer able to teach what they love and that the love of children and what is in each one’s best interest and needs is being placed secondary to data and rankings. 
• Hearts are being broken, and I pass on a love of learning has been reduced to just “I pass”.
• Feelings of rejection, betrayal, abandonment and fear are replacing love in the classroom.  
• Love of learning, love of teaching, love of children, love of teachers is hiding under the desks as if a tornado were coming or a shooter were in the building. There is so much fear and anxiety permeating the walls of the classroom instead of love and joy. 

THIS.MUST.CHANGE!!!  We must find a way to return to love.  

There is a path through the SPIRIT of teaching, and we must each do our part as a village to raise this child as a healthy, happy, worthy, whole human who is a blessing and gift to this world.

But also, the village needs to recognize, acknowledge, support and lift up the teachers who are suffering in their hearts because of their deep desire to pass on all their love of learning and love of children in service to the greater good of all of us! 

What can teachers do to keep the flames of their passion going and glowing brightly? Lift and hold each other up!

1. Sign up for the weekly Sunday Spirit Spark Newsletter on this website.
2. Subscribe, share and listen to the Teacher Tales podcast on this website or through your favorite podcast app.
3. Use the SPIRIT lessons and resources on this website as the yellow arrow guides on your teaching “Camino” every day.

Finally, follow the spirit of teaching and incorporate PASSION into your lesson plans each day.  By doing this, you will be setting your intentions from the heart.  

 

This is what it might look like in your plan book:

Essential question for the day:  PASSION

What do I want to pass on today?

Can Do Statements:

I use love to end all suffering, both internally and externally.

My actions and my words only come from a place of love. 

I light the way for myself and others with words and actions of love. 

Best Practices for today:

I check in with my heart and the hearts of my students regularly, but especially when there is conflict.

If things are not going well or as planned, I choose to pass on those things that will keep me from showing up as my best self.

Even if we do not meet our goals today or get to everything being asked of us today, I will be gentle, kind, loving and understanding with myself and my students.

 

For more ideas, best practices and tons of resources to bring more PASSION into your life, go here 

Listen to this Inspirational Song Playlist for Teachers and see what you have passed on to children.  Enjoy!

Photo credit: rustam-mussabekov-H_gFk_kWeUI-unsplash