Work or Play?

The masters in the art of living make little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their minds and their bodies, their education and their recreation, their love and their religion.  They hardly know which is which.  They simply pursue their vision of excellence in whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing.  To them they are always doing both.    -Zen Buddhist text


We like to classify things, don't we?  We like to give things names, put them into categories, group them, and define them.  We've been taught since we were very young that this is necessary for us somehow, that this is an effective way of approaching life.  I believe that we see this tendency of ours as an effective way of controlling things, and of controlling our minds.  After all, if I have something that I don't know what to do with, that can be frustrating and stressful.  Is this an A or a B?  Does it belong in this group or in that group?  Is it for Tuesdays or Wednesdays?  It gives us a sense of comfort to be in control, to know how something is defined, exactly what it's used for, and exactly how to explain it to others.

But what does that do to potential?  Once I define something as "play" or "recreation," then it doesn't belong in the workplace, does it?  Once I define something as "work," then I'm going to avoid doing it at home, even if I enjoy it.  We're taught not just to categorize, but to build walls between categories so that the things that we consider to be of one category won't interfere with what we consider to be of another category.

Of course, this is often a useful tendency.  I'm often somewhat shocked to see some of the things that some teachers do in classrooms that are very clearly simply entertainment, and that have practically no pedagogical value at all.  I've taught students in language classes, for example, who spent tons of time in previous classes watching movies and playing video games--and who haven't learned what they need to know for this new language class.  And they're often in classes with students who had teachers who taught an awful lot, and who have a very strong base in the language.  Guess who does well in the class?  I find myself feeling awful for the students who watched a lot of films, and wishing that their teachers understood better the need to use the class time actually teaching and modeling and answering questions rather than simply pressing "play."

Looking at that example of an extreme, we can see one reason for which we do separate things.  Do I really want to take my car to a mechanic who spends all their time watching videos on social media, even while working?  Obviously not--there needs to be separation.  But that's not what this passage is talking about.  Would I prefer to take my car to a mechanic who sees his job as a necessary drudgery that he performs so that he can pay bills, or to someone who loves his job so much that he can't wait to come into work so that he can problem-solve, fix things, and improve things?  If his job is intellectually stimulating to him, and if he enjoys it, then he's found a great gift--work that he enjoys doing.

But what if all of us can find such a way of looking at the work that we're already doing?  What if there's a lot of enjoyment to be found in the jobs we have, but we just haven't looked for it yet because we've categorized it as "work," and we just know that there isn't anything enjoyable to be found there?

This does actually happen to me sometimes, depending on the school I'm teaching at.  Sometimes the stress just builds and builds until I even dread going to work each day.  I do my best to work my way out of such feelings, but they do arise at times, and they're difficult to deal with.  I have to remind myself that I have the privilege of working with young people who are in the process of learning what they can about life, living, and education.  And in my own very small way, I have an opportunity to contribute to their education, to help them to learn how to learn, to help them to understand some of the choices and dilemmas that they're going to be facing as they move into adulthood.

But the most important thing I can do is keep in mind that working with these young people can actually be fun--and that my journey to school each morning isn't a trip that ends in misery for eight hours or so, but a way to get to a place where I enjoy myself while helping young people to learn things that may help them later in life.  And it's up to me if I see it as fun or if I see it as a tedious and annoying chore--and I much prefer to see it as fun.

So my goal is to pursue excellence with the kids I work with, and to try to help them to learn, and to enjoy their company.  And when I think about it in the right way, I understand that my ability to go work with these young people every day is a privilege that I'm very fortunate to have, and that whether I enjoy the experience or not is completely up to me.  Is my job a joyful part of my life, or a dreary and drab and tedious annoyance?  It's so very true that the answer to that question is completely up to me, and the way that I answer it can strongly affect my happiness and my fulfillment in life.

A Break--A Paragraph a Day

Finally, Christmas break is here.  For most non-teachers, I'm sure this break that we get for Christmas--as well as the more significant break that we get in the summer--seems to be a bit excessive.  After all, we get more than a week off (at this school--other places get two weeks, and colleges get up to four!), which is something that most other people don't get unless they take vacation.  But for me, this vacation is an absolutely necessary element of teaching, and one that if they took it away, I probably wouldn't be able to teach any more.  I suppose this is one way that relativity is obvious--the level of exhaustion that people experience in their jobs is relative--I've had jobs that don't take nearly as much out of me as teaching does, and I haven't really felt any need at all for vacations.  As a high school teacher, though, my levels of exhaustion are much, much higher.  And as I imagine things, my level of exhaustion isn't anywhere near the level that an elementary school teacher reaches constantly, being the main teacher and caretaker for up to 30 or 40 very young children all day, every day.  I love the breaks I get, though, and for the next ten days or so I'm going to do everything I can to relax and recover so that when we start back up, I'll be ready to go until the next break, giving all that I can to try to help a bunch of young people learn certain things that they're supposed to learn.  If I make the most of a break, then I'm helping out the people I'll be in direct contact with after the break, for I'll be much more effective then.  If I didn't get the break, my effectiveness would continue to diminish until it eventually would simply disappear.  So the next time you get a break, don't feel guilty about it, but make sure that you take the time to rest and recover, for the people you deal with after you're back from your break will much appreciate the fact that you've rested and helped yourself to become more patient, more compassionate, and more effective.

Too Much--A Paragraph a Day

Some of my students today told me that another teacher of theirs had assigned them to read a rather long novel over the Christmas break and to write a letter based on that book.  I told them in all seriousness that they should ask that teacher if he understands what "break" means.  We take breaks for a reason, because we're tired and we need to renew and rejuvenate ourselves.  I've known far too many teachers over the years, though, who really have no respect for students' need to actually take a break from school and to be able to spend some time not worrying about assignments or readings or anything school related.  The Christmas break is the perfect time to allow students to unwind and to allow the material we've covered all fall to sink in, to allow their minds to process things that need to be processed without placing any more academic demands on them.  I never have any guilt taking a break, because I know that in the long run, my breaks are going to be make me far more capable of accomplishing what I need to accomplish than working myself to exhaustion or frustration would make me.  I feel very bad for the students, and I also feel bad for people who will never take breaks from their jobs or their families or other obligations.  Rest is sometimes much more useful in many ways than continued effort is, and once we learn this lesson,  we can make our lives more restful AND more productive, and I hope to never deprive myself of rest when it's genuinely needed.

Taking a Rest--A Paragraph a Day

One of the things that I like best in this world is a day when I don't have tons of obligations, when I can look at the weather report and see that we're supposed to be hit with a severe rainstorm that's going to last all day, and I can say to myself, "It's a rest day."  A day with heavy rain doesn't allow for many of the chores and tasks that I normally do around the house, so when it happens, I try to take advantage of the weather and do as little as I can on that day--and it's wonderful when it happens on a weekend.  After all, I spend the whole week working, and my normal tendency over the weekend is to get some work done here, stuff that I can't do during the week because I'm busy at work.  I don't feel that I overwork myself, because I actually enjoy doing many of the chores that I do around the house, but it is nice when nature tells me on a given day that I'm not going to be doing any tasks at all.  Of course, the temptation to do work online then comes up, but I've gotten pretty good at rejecting that sort of thing in favor of a nice nap or some time reading.  We all need rest--that's a given in life, non-negotiable--but many of us are reticent to take the rests when we have the opportunity to do so because we feel somehow guilty, like for some reason we should be doing some work on Saturday or Sunday afternoon simply because.  So I do my best to force myself to rest, to reject the temptation to do some online work in favor of lying down on the couch to nap for half an hour or so.  When we have the chance to rest, we should take it whenever it rears its head--otherwise we risk burning out, and then we won't be helpful to anyone at all in any way at all.

What Do I "Deserve"?--A Paragraph a Day

There is too little idea of personal responsibility;
too much of "the world owes me a living,"
forgetting that if the world does owe you a living,
you must be your own collector.   -Theodore N. Vail

I start with the above quotation because it seems to me that this tendency is getting more and more predominant among people, especially here in the United States.  Our tendency to feel entitled to whatever it is we think we deserve is getting stronger, and unfortunately, we're getting more and more willing to harm other people in our quest to collect that which we think we deserve.  Our characters are being warped by our thoughts of what we deserve without doing any work to get it.  The truth of the matter is that we truly "deserve" very little as human being who just happened to be born into the society in which we were born.  I believe that because we're born into a society, we are entitled to the very basics of life, such as food and shelter and clothing on a basic level, but anything beyond that should be worked for, should be achieved--because that's what helps human beings to grow and develop and get stronger in life, the effort and work that it takes to make a great career, to buy just the right house, to reach a state of abundance rather than wallowing in a state of want.  The world has a whole lot to offer us, but many people see what it has to offer and simply say, "I should have that because I deserve it."  They don't keep in mind that other people have had to struggle harder than they have, that many have come into the world with far fewer privileges than they've enjoyed--and perhaps, those other people "deserve" those things even more.  But life isn't about looking around to try to find things that I deserve to have--rather, it's about coming to terms with those things that I truly desire, and then getting to work to accomplish what I need to accomplish to get them.

A Privilege--A Paragraph a Day

Sometimes my job gets stressful--if you've ever experienced teaching high school or read anything about it, you know that this is true.  Stress is part of this world.  But that's not the end of the story.  There with the stress and the hard times is an opportunity to spend a lot of time with a lot of young people, people who have yet to find their own ways in life but who are doing their best to do so.  I have the privilege of getting to know an awful lot of young people who are facing many, many obstacles, but who still keep on keeping on, who still try their best to accomplish what they want to accomplish.  I get to know them as a teacher gets to know them, and sometimes I'm even able to talk to them about things like what they want to get out of life, what they hope to accomplish with their lives, what kinds of hopes and dreams and aspirations they hold in their hearts.  And hopefully, in a very small way that most of them won't even remember, I'll be able to contribute to their abilities to make those dreams come true.  Perhaps I can teach them study skills or writing skills or communication skills; perhaps I won't teach them anything, but I can help to instill confidence in them, and help them to be able to pursue dreams and overcome obstacles.  My work is stressful, but it comes with an incredible privilege--to share a tiny bit of the lives of some of the young people who will still be here on this planet long after I take my leave.  And that's a privilege and responsibility that I hope to live up to.

New Trials--A Paragraph a Day

 I generally hope that things are going to go well in any given situation, but experience tells me that this won't always be the case.  Sometimes, things turn out pretty poorly, and when they do, it's up to us to make the most out of a poor situation, so to speak.  I'm in that situation now, for example--I was hired at the school I'm at to teach Spanish, an area of expertise in which I have a lot of experience and training, and in which I'm quite competent.  We also have very good resources available to us for teaching Spanish, so I have plenty of materials for class.  Unfortunately, though, it turns out that I'm teaching only one Spanish class and three other courses that I've never taught before, and for which I have no resources at all.  In other words, I'm preparing every class from scratch, trying to scrape together materials and make a semester work for the students.  This is an incredibly stressful and time-consuming situation, to say the least.  So what do I have to do?  I have to do the job, of course, or leave the school--which would leave a whole lot of students without a teacher.  And when I do the job, I have to try to keep focused on the positive when I can find it.  I have to try to remember always that what I do, I do for the students, not for the administrators who have put me into this awful situation.  I have to try to find ways to make myself look forward to going to school rather than dreading it, and to look forward to preparing classes rather than hating the process.  If I don't make this shift in perspective, I'm in for a miserable semester, and who wants that?  How things turn out over the next few months really is up to me, and I'm not the only one affected--my students, also, will know if I'm miserable or if I'm enjoying the work that I'm doing.  And they don't deserve to have me at my worst as a teacher.

Common Sense on the Job?--A Paragraph a Day

Sat through another Zoom meeting today, a so-called training that turned out to be nothing more than a couple of people sharing a slide show online and reading it word for word as seventy other people watched.  This sort of thing is very aggravating to me because common sense says that if all you're going to do is read the text of a slide show, then don't force seventy other people to sit through it.  Just send them a copy of the slide show and let them read it themselves.  You reading it out loud isn't going to help anyone to understand it better, but you are wasting time for a lot of people who could be doing other things and who could read the slide show themselves in probably half the time that the meeting took.  I do wonder why it is that on the job, so often common sense is left out in the cold and people keep on doing silly things that don't really make sense.  I know that their hearts are in the right place and they're just trying to do what they're supposed to do, but it would be nice if every once in a while we could all see some common sense rather than being forced to sit there and listen to someone else read words that we're perfectly capable of reading on our own, at a time and in a place that are much more convenient and practical for us.

Work to Be Done--A Paragraph a Day

In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things
are needed: they must be fit for it; they must not do too much of it;
and they must have a sense of success in it--not a doubtful sense,
such as needs some testimony of other people for its confirmation,
but a sure sense, or rather knowledge, that so much work has been
done well, and fruitfully done, whatever the world may say or think about it.

John Ruskin


I like to work.  It helps to give me a nice feeling of achievement, of accomplishment.  Helps.  My sense of achievement usually doesn't come from the work itself, but the ways that I've put myself into the work to get it done, and hopefully to get it done well.  Sometimes I'm much more relaxed while I'm working than I am when I'm not doing anything.  I never want to get to the point at which I only want to be productive, but I don't mind liking the feeling when I have it.  It's very easy, I think, to allow work to overwhelm us, to take over our lives, basically, and I never want that to happen to me either.  I like work because I keep it in a balance--just enough work balanced with just enough rest balanced with just enough recreation.  It's a delicate balance to keep, of course, but one that's necessary.  After all, there's always work to be done, and we do it better when we come at it from a place of peace and balance rather than overwhelming ourselves with just another task to be done.  I like working, and I hope that I never stop working.  But I also hope that I never make work the center of my world, for that would be a very sad center when all is said and done.

Are We Doing Best by the Kids?--A Paragraph a Day

My wife and I were at the store the other day, and we saw a stand for Girl Scout cookies.  We went over to buy some, and I noticed something that I had seen before in other places that always disturbs me to a certain extent:  there were no Girl Scouts there.  There were a few parents, or possibly Scout leaders, but there were no actual Girl Scouts doing the work of selling the cookies.  We buy Girl Scout cookies every year not because they're wonderful (though they are quite good), but because we want to support the organization and the girls it benefits.  But the adults are taking over everything, and not requiring the girls even to be there.  In the past, selling the cookies was a way to get the girls to contribute to their own experience by raising the money themselves, yet now it seems that everything is just given to them, without them even having to stand by a table for a couple of hours, selling cookies that are very easy to sell.  A great lesson in seeing the need to do some work and the benefits of that work is now not a part of their Girl Scout experience.  It's similar to the basketball player at my high school who sent out emails saying "We're raising money for our team--go to this website to make a contribution with your credit card."  When I think of the other students who are actually doing some sort of fund-raising work, it's fascinating to me to think how the actual work is now not a part of fund-raising.  It's a shame to me, because there are many important lessons that these young people aren't learning that we used to learn at a young age, and that's going to be a detriment to them somewhere in their futures.