Good goes 'round

I find myself walking a little lighter these days--a nice change from the past few weeks--and since it most definitely isn't from the five pounds or so I have defying gravity out over my feet (and the unmentioned number of pounds that have spread themselves everywhere else), I pondered what it might be.

Patience seems to have found me this school year. In situations with students that would normally make my blood pressure sprint to a boiling point, I remain irrationally calm. In fact, I am so irrationally calm, I haven't written a single referral for discipline. I'd say I generally average thirty referrals a school year.

For all the rock 'n roll late night parties this baby seems to be having in my belly, could he be the calming source? What's the lesson he has been sent to teach me? Only time will answer this theory...

Maybe it's just "my year." Teachers go through cycles of on and off years, and in the off years, you sometimes survive purely because you know you're due an "on" one soon.

And yet this scenario should have me completely freaking out:

(that would be stacks of Valentines to send to pen pals in France, grades to enter, maps to puffy paint for my blind student, and eight weeks worth of lesson plans that need to be compiled and clear for the poor soul taking over for me).

I owe part of this sense of calm to a reconnection with my oldest friend, who has helped me clear out in two phone conversations what would have probably taken a month of yoga classes. Just like polishing the black spots off of good silver, she has shined me up quite nicely and cleared out the gunk.

I owe the other part to being keenly aware of my breath as of late (and it's not just because there's a cantaloupe in there restricting it!). When you notice that your inhales drag up your shoulders, tense up your neck, and become stuck in the back of your throat, you immediately make the adjustments to roll your shoulders back, tuck your chin into your chest to release the neck, and open up the mouth to sigh a good, long, cleansing, releasing, let-it-all-go and give-it-to-the-universe exhale.

When we breathe in goodness, perhaps we also put out goodness.

Good goes 'round.

Maybe that's why it's an "on" year.

You can make it an "on" month by becoming a follower of the blog. Three lucky winners will receive Valentine's deliciousness in the mail. You have until January 31.