A Language Understood By All + #MyPostMonday Linky Featuring The Week's Best Original Content

Have you ever had a favorite teacher who inspired you to do more than you ever thought possible? An example of pure motivation during my elementary school years was Mrs. Dietrich my 6th grade teacher. She most likely motivated me to do more than any of my other teachers up to that point. And believe me, that was hard because school in general bored me. Her reading group was more than just a monotonous reading group. We not only read the stories, but she had us make something tangible to represent what we were reading. It intrigued me. I remember one time making a wooden bed and fashioning a little pillow to represent something from a book we were reading. I know that I must have been motivated because I never did homework, until this special reading group.  I thought about schoolwork beyond the time I was actually in school....which turned out to not be a whole lot after 6th grade.

Another teacher that motivated and inspired me, even shaping my life for the better, was my piano teacher, Auldine Dycus. She was the most patient teacher ever! She never got upset--not even stern--if I came back without having practiced much, but she carefully taught me all that I was willing to learn under her tutelage. I learned about the circle of 5ths, major and minor scales, arpeggios, chromatic scales, relative minor keys, and other music theory. I learned the 'Moonlight Sonota' by Beethoven, 'Fur d'Elise' by Debussy, 'Liebestraum' by Liszt, and other beautiful songs. But what I learned most was because of her kindness and charity. 

I was an independent and strong-willed child during my middle school years. I would ditch school any time I could, despite knowing that my grades would suffer and that I would be looked upon with disapproval. I felt like I'd fallen through the cracks. I wasn't in honors classes and I wasn't on any particular teams or clubs. I didn't have many friends, and the ones I did have weren't really close. So I left. I'd end up at the craziest places---anywhere but school. Sometimes I would walk for miles to Mrs. Dycus' home and ask her if I might play on her piano and practice. She said I certainly could and let me stay there while she went and ran errands. I'm sure she told my mom about it, although it was never mentioned. Eventually I was sent to a private christian school that was out of town to finish 8th and 9th grades. It was a day prep school that had a great choir program. I thrived there. I think I stopped piano lessons soon after that. But I know that it was the kindness and influence of Mrs. Dycus that got me entrance into that amazing school for 2 years.  And  because piano was never something that felt like drudgery to me, I continued my interest in music and eventually minored in music in college. 

Of the two teachers I've mentioned here, I have to say that Mrs. Dycus had the more far-reaching effect. Although both were very motivating, something extra happened with Mrs. Dycus. She was kind. She heard me. She gifted me grace. 

 

I love 'The Kindness Diaries' with Leon Logothetis! If you've never seen it, you must! It's on Netflix and I catch it on KBYU TV. The premise of the show is that no matter where you go in the world, there are people that are kind. Leon proves his point by traveling in a tiny car or motor bike from point A to point B, with no money whatsoever. Whatever he gets from kind strangers is how he will continue on his journey whether that is food, lodging, entertainment or even gasoline. Once he traveled around the world, and once he traveled from Canada to Argentina. The people he has met, the things he has seen, are transformative! And he has done this multiple times.  The show documents the places he goes and the people he meets. Every episode, he will surprise someone who manages to touch his life profoundly. He will assess what they do, how they do it, and what they need to accomplish it. Sometimes he will give a personal gift and other times he will help them in their quest to help others. It's amazing!

I hope that I can be one of the kind strangers that someone meets and who maybe restores hope in their world. We need more of it, that's for sure!!! 

 

 

Today is "My Post Monday!", a curation of my picks of the week's best original content. It's all about posts from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize(Affiliate links welcome)