Who am I...
I am a product of my teachers.
My first teacher is the outdoors.
As a child, my parents chose a community that would foster my growth. It was close to a pool and 3 parks. My mother had us out the door right after breakfast and only in for lunch and supper. I spent more time outdoors than in. My dad was from the East Coast and I immersed my time in the salt water every summer for 2 months. Through my parents’ choices, my love and appreciation for nature and water grew.
In nature, I find peace and surrender.
My second teacher are the children in my life.
I loved being a babysitter. I, then, became a teacher. I am a mother of 3 grown independent children. Through the children, I learned that there is no such thing as control. Each day, I had to look at what worked and what didn’t. I course corrected a lot!! When the situation wasn’t working, it was not the child who was at fault. It was what I was doing that did not work. This is not what we are taught!
In children, I find the power of a question.
My third teacher are the animals in my life.
As a child, I have had gold fish, gerbils, cats, and dogs. Most of these in my teenage years when I was strong enough to convince my mother that I could care for them. Each one has been my teacher. They have taught me love, patience, caring. I learned compassion and respect for all living things. I also got up on a horse one time. In that 1 minute, yes, one minute, it taught me that I was never in control!
In animals, I find the power to let go.
My fourth teacher are my friend and family.
They constantly hold the mirror up to me so that I can look and create differently if wish to truly reflect on what I do see. And, it’s not always pretty!!
In relationship, I find the power to keep moving forward.
My fifth teacher is my culture.
I am a French Canadian who does not sound French. I am a conundrum. As a child, my English Canadian dad was being threatened weekly by thieves breaking into his High School lab and by political activists planting bombs in front of his school next to the Armory. There was unrest and there was hatred of a language and a culture. I lived one foot in the French culture and the other foot in the English culture. I saw how Montreal blended both together to make something special. Why did others not see this? And here I was a child of a French Canadian and an English Canadian subjugated to a hatred that made no sense in my world.
In this space, I find the power of allowance.
I am a teacher who is in allowance of others.
I truly see who is in front of me. That is my gift! This is me!