Spoken Into Being

Classes started this week, and like many I've taken so far, it deals largely with how social-emotional learning effects the brain. This fascinating idea of training your mind to the point of changing the way your circuits are wired in the way you handle your emotions for the rest of your life is revolutionary. If you intervene in the behavior of a child, you are literally changing the brain of that child. A thought  that is both frightening and empowering. That gray lump of tapioca pudding inside your noggin is so crucial to every aspect of life, that it can be rewired simply by how others train you to react.  It's how things like the cycle of violence, the poverty of inner city schools, and bullying all effect how children are able to succeed later on.  If children are taught effective strategies in regulating their emotions and responses, they are actually being taught how to rewire their brains to better succeed.  Giving them a simple plan like deep...

It snuck up on me today.  That cold breath that creeps under my rib-cage and sits like a weight on my heart. Sprouting like a weed on my contentedness.  I wouldn't call myself lonesome, I have more then enough smiles and company to keep me laughing, but the lack of familiar sometimes creates a gap between who I was and who I'm becoming.  I find myself longing for the people I know, the rooms that are familiar, and the church services I grew up in.  Instead everything is new. From the apartment we live in, to the people who greet us, and the pew that we sit in--nothing is what it was two weeks ago.  Never did I think that this change would be as unsettling as it has been.  But when you uproot your life, what can you expect? In order to grow, sometimes transplanting is inevitable or you'll never be capable to achieve the potential you were meant to be. Shake off the dirt from where you were and sink your roots deep where you are now....