Dancing with Dragonflies

"I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole — and yet — and yet — it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!" —from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Curiosity is a curious thing (see what I did there?). Defined as the desire to know or learn about anything; inquisitiveness, its etymology stems from Latin, Middle-English, and Anglo-French. Curiosity is part of biology and a quality that many species possess.

For today's post, I once again present a case study:

A Case Study, or Dancing with Dragonflies

During my time living on a farm, our cat had free reign over our expansive yard. He loved following my sister and I around on our escapades through the surrounding shelter belt of trees.

The Mad Ones

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars." - Jack Kerouac

I have interesting conversations with a lot of different people wherever I go. My friends and family are included in this, yes, but so are the random discussions I have with people I've never met before. People like the elderly lady who asks for a second opinion on which brand of frosting to purchase at the grocery store. The funny cashier who never fails to make me laugh when I pick up my morning Starbucks. The bookseller at Barnes & Noble who suggests new novels to read. 

These conversations are ones that stick with me over the years. Call it fate, divine intervention, whatever you like, but I firmly believe that these interactions help us in our everyday lives.

Just a Different Kind of Confidence

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." -Neale Donald Walsch

The word confidence has roots in Latin and French. From the Latin root "fidere" meaning to trust, the word confidence is certainly a loaded word. It is defined as "belief in oneself and the power of one's abilities."

People often forget that confidence comes in many forms. We cannot simply wrap up a person's qualities in a box, tie it with a bow, and put them in a certain category. It does not work that way at all.

Camping Isn't Easy

Life has been busy for me, dear readers and fellow bloggers. It is August - the time of year that us teachers are once again preparing for a new school year. As such, today's post is once again a case study:

A Case Study, or Camping of Any Kind Isn't Easy

No one is in control of his or her life. As much as we'd love to think so, we have very little control in how everything tends to play out. What matters in the scheme of things is how we react to the circumstances we face.

I enjoy being busy. I like having a daily purpose and activities that make my long-term goals viable. Being busy, however, has its drawbacks. Stress is one of them. My first year of teaching was stressful in that I was teaching five different courses and creating all the prep work for them by scratch. I essentially lived in my classroom that year, as I spent more time at the school and less time at home. I could have pitched a tent and camped in my classroom, hobbit style.

Come As You Are

"You've got nothing to prove."

"Be yourself."

"It's your personality that really matters."

Sound familiar? We all know that these things are easier said that done. It's as though someone has flipped a switch in our brain to tell us, "Well, you can be yourself, BUT..." or "You've got nothing to prove, BUT...".

When it comes to who we are as individual people, it's easy to want to be 2.0 versions of ourselves. The simple truth of the matter is we are human. We are not made to be perfect, so why do we strive to be? That ingrained "but" clause negates anything that comes before it; i.e. we have difficulty simply "being ourselves" without adding anything on the end. For example: