Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Happiness is not caring who gets the credit

Another thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is this desire for recognition. Why is it so darn important, anyway?
If making other people successful and happy is what makes us happy, then what's the point of being so worried about myself.

I watched Mingyur Rinpoche talk about this the other day, and have read about it elsewhere. Turns out, I guess, that if we focus on pursuing our own happiness, it's like chasing a phantom. But if we focus on others' happiness, what do you know, we find our own.


So here's my plan:

What I really want here is not my own fame, recognition, or even some fancy job. It's the success of my students, the piecewise, grass-roots construction of a more human education system, one that enables every student to succeed--one that's not a filter, but a fire that lights the potential in every young person.

So here's what that means: Who cares who gets the credit for anything? What's important is that new strategies are tried, and the data is faced with honesty and integrity, and the results are made known, and improvements can be made.

And further, that means focusing on my sphere of influence.  The people in my immediate sphere, my own kids, my students, my school, are the most likely to benefit from my actions. Success in my own home or classroom may not bring me more followers on Twitter, but it will be real.

Not that I won't keep sharing what I do on Twitter. I've learned a ton from the teachers and others I follow and chat with on #satchat, but really, ground zero is right here in front of me every day.

That's ground zero for the kids I have the greatest impact on.

And so, ground zero for happiness, as long as I don't care who gets the credit.

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