Bringing Our Souls to the Classroom

Every time we get angry at a parent, student, policy, or the union, we are affirming that we want more of it even though our conscious mind is repelled.

Author Louise Hay once had a teacher who told her she could never dance because she was too tall. My gr.5/6 teacher told my parents I could never go to university. In both cases, we were guided by these negative affirmations that delayed or impeded our goals.

Our students know when we are happy and when we are stressed, indifferent, angry, or tired, this comes across loud and clear especially to behaviour problem students. I had a Principal once who did not have children but had dogs; she was a dog lover always making dog analogies for students. It was a bit much but one thing was true, dogs behave adorably around us when they sense we are calm and happy and if they sense fear and stress they will harass us. So that Principal’s analogies sometimes were relevant and helpful.

My favorite show of all time is Lost. The show was about an island mysterious by it’s magnetism. So it is with affirmations. They are mysterious. In our lifetime, we may never will fully understand them. But by just realizing the fact that consciousness is made of energy + the fact we already know that energy includes electricity and magnetism, we become open to infinite positive possibilities.

I want to share my ideas about affirmations in the life of a teacher with you. Love, joy, peace, and a sense of well being in our schools is the future and it has begun. We can change our classrooms for the better. Our thoughts are the tools towards this. An affirmation is anything you say or think. Positive patterns of affirmations bring about positive change. All we have to do is take responsibility. How many times have we talked about responsibility in regards to students. Every word and every thought we have create our classrooms. Our ability to create the best classroom is hindered by negative thoughts which are very tempting to have when we have stress in the classroom. But every time we get angry at a parent, student, policy, or the union, we are affirming that we want more of it even though our conscious mind is repelled.

Negative affirmations often win out because they are habitual. I spent a few years doing affirmations only once a year and with less feeling then my negative affirmations and sometimes I would go several days without saying any affirmations. This led to the opposite of what I wanted happening. We need to understand that our students don’t want to misbehave or fail an exam but they give off that impression if we do not consider the negative affirmations that are going on in their mind day in and day out.