Week 17HJ MKMMA...Curious Adventurer...

Aimee Mullins' Ted Talk was phenomenal! As a teacher, I am all too familiar with the conundrum of letting kids explore and be curious but also being stuck in a place where we also worry about working within "the system" that tries to teach kids what "society expects". I love that she allowed the children to come in and explore her legs with no adults allowed and the amazing conversations and learning that took place in that experience for the children (and for her too)! Allowing them to ask questions and use their imagination to learn and grow...which is intrinsic to all children.

There are so many times, just this year, I've joked with my teacher team about how we want to put "Do Not Cross" police tape on our doors and keep the "adults" out...because in a public, Title 1, low performing school we have extra "support"...which many times feels less supportive and more as if it takes away from all of the fun that learning can be, because of the added "to do" list of "all the things". The best lessons that get the most engagement from my students are the lessons that allow them to ask questions and explore new ideas. We are currently working on a grade-wide STEM Fair project with popcorn as the focus. My students have come up with some of the best questions and ideas about what makes popcorn pop and so much enthusiasm about this project, it was refreshing to see the joy that curiosity brings. They were all so excited to talk about popcorn, it was amazing!

So how do we, as adults, get back to that childlike curious adventurer? I love that Aimee had the following insights which can be applied to so many areas of life: The conversation is no longer about overcoming deficiencies, it's a conversation about potential...no longer a conversation about loss, but a conversation about the power to create whatever they want to create, design from a place of empowerment. Understanding our collective humanity, we can discover the full potential in our humanity, we need to celebrate those heartbreaking strengths and glorious disabilities that we all have. "It is our humanity and all of the potential in it that makes us beautiful."

Mark's words also really stuck with me:
*Pure potentiality.
*You are here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow.
*That curious adventurer is not self-conscious at all.
*There are no common people. There is greatness in all of us. The world has a need for your gift!

*We are living by precedent, not growing and challenging ourselves. When we are not growing, we are not happy. We repeat the same problems...money, weight, relationship, etc.

*Get off the "circumstances" that are holding you back from the life that you desire! The real heroes journey is finding your authentic self!

I just love that this course focuses on our true selves. We take the color test at the beginning of the course to identify who we truly are according to how we innately were as children. This was such a mind-blowing concept for me and I am amazed at how much I am growing back into the person that I was as a child...the person who wants to grow and find out who I really am and what I am meant to do.

There's a song that I loved as a child, which I haven't thought of for years. But it came to mind over and over this week after listening to the webinar and it is true for all of us...

"I am a promise. I am a possibility. I am a promise with a capital "P". I am a great big bundle of potentiality."

I am on a journey to become the curious adventurer that I was meant to be and I love it!