To thine own self be true. Words from William Shakespeare written over 400 hundred years ago. I have whispered these words to myself so many times in my life, especially when I have felt that who I really was, wasn't good enough.  We have all felt inadequate at times. Being true to yourself means to act in accordance to who you are and what you truly believe. If you know and love yourself, you will naturally and effortlessly be true to yourself. But, we are all human, and with our humanity comes, at times feelings of inadequacy.  
     I recall struggling with this just a few years ago when I was living in New York City. I found myself in social situations where I tried to conform to what I thought others would want me to be, instead of  being "true to myself".  I was told by a gentleman that I was dating at the time, that my hair was not the proper color to 'fit in' with the other ladies at the "University Club" where he was a member. So for the gentleman, I darken my hair. I was not true to myself, I changed for his happiness, not for mine. I was perfectly content and satisfied with my appearance, that is until I was told that it wasn't good enough. Instead of being confident and deciding on my own, what my hair should look like, I changed to make him happy. When I look back at that decision, I am disappointed in myself for not having the confidence to 'stay true to myself'. But life is a journey and we learn by our mistakes. 
    I fell into the trap of not being true to myself and so do many young people. Teenagers believe that when they do things to please their peers, such as drink when they shouldn't, or behave and party in inappropriate ways, they will be popular and liked. They go against the advice of their parents or their own common sense only to find themselves in trouble and not accomplishing what they set out to do.
    Together, let's be courageous and accept ourselves for who we really are, not as someone else thinks we should be. Do not do what I did by changing and pretending to be someone else for the sake of pleasing another person just to gain their acceptance.       
     Being true to yourself requires you to be introspective and to know what makes YOU happy. It also means that you will not let others define you or make decisions for you that you should be making for yourself. 
   In my life, I have learned that when you are true to yourself, you allow your unique individuality to shine through! You become more open to the differences of others and you grow strong and confident. 
    Steve Jobs is quoted as saying: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Seems like good advice to me. Take some time to ponder the words of William Shakespeare, "To thine own self be true". 

Love, Ms.  B.

     Did you know that research reports that creativity is on the decline in American children? As a matter of fact, creativity has been on a continuous decline in America for the last two decades. 
     Kyung Hee Kim is a professor at the College of William and Mary is the leading researcher on this topic. What I find fascinating about Kim's research is that he compiled and analyzed scores on a battery of measures of creativity called the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (YYCT)-collected from normative samples of schoolchildren in Kindergarten through twelfth grade over several decades and concluded that; “children have become less emotionally expressive, less energetic, less talkative and verbally expressive, less humorous, less imaginative, less unconventional, less lively and passionate, less perceptive, less apt to connect seemingly irrelevant things, less synthesizing, and less likely to see things from a different angle.”.  WOW!
     In my opinion, creativity is nurtured by freedom. Freedom to be expressive and unique. I see so many parents and teachers stifling creativity in young people by causing them to conform to their standards, also by continuously monitoring and evaluating instead of inspiring and guiding. I believe the best teachers show their students where to look but don't tell them what to see. Teachers are to inspire, encourage and coach. All of this "adult-direction' and pressure to conform has restricted creativity in children's lives today.
     I was so disturbed by this research, that I actually Googled, "How to be a Creative Teenager". I was shocked to see that there is actually a WiKi on this topic. The WiKi made a list of 11 steps to being a creative teenager. Read through the list and see if you are doing the things listed below. If you are then you are on your way to "living creatively". If you are not doing the things on the  list, consider challenging yourself by adding at least one creative element to your life and see if it makes a difference in the way you view life. 

1. Be yourself. 2. Wear funky clothes. 3. Socialize. 4. Eat well and exercise. 5. Have a unique and expressive hairstyle. 6. Try new foods & compare and contrast. 7. Be happy. 8 Care about others. 9. Join a sport or hobby. 10. Challenge yourself. 11. Follow your religious/spiritual beliefs. 

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Cool-and-Creative-Teenager

"Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought."-Einstein

   I spent the day doing something that I wasn't sure if it would end up being a positive thing or a negative experience. Let me explain. As you all know by now I am living and working in Washington, DC. But, what you might not know is that I lived right outside DC back in the 80's and 90's, so this is like coming back home to me. It is the place where I was married, where my son was born, and where I began my teaching career.
     I've been here for 3 weeks now and today happens to be my son's 25th birthday; happy birthday Vinny! So, I was inspired to get in my car and drive into Maryland to see the home where I was living when my son was born. I also visited the school where I began my teaching career, and all the places that were a part of my life when I lived here years ago. I thought that seeing the past would hurt and make me sad but, surprisingly, it was a wonderful experience and a beautiful day because that it what I chose it to be. 
     When you look at life with great clarity, you will realize that your past is really something that is gone, it doesn't exist anymore. Everything that happens, happens now, in the present.  The only time the past comes alive is when we chose to re-live the past in the present moment. How we chose to bring our past to the present is up to us. If you re-cultivate regret, revenge or sadness, then that will be your present reality. 
     Memories are just thoughts and thoughts have no power or meaning whatsoever unless you give them meaning. You may choose to remember and live in pain like a victim, or instead you can have pleasant thoughts about the past here in the present.
   Let me explain it another way. Once you realize that you control how you look and feel about your life you put the ball in your court, so to speak. Your happiness is your responsibility alone.  Not your parents, sibling or friends, just you. If you define yourself by your past...how you feel you've been wronged, victimized or how you got the short end of the stick in life, you are living only a fraction of what is possible for you. Defining yourself by what has happened to you in life does not help you, it holds you back from true happiness and hope. Life without hope is hopeless. People who live in hopelessness do not live productive lives. We have communities of hopeless people who contribute nothing good to our society. 
    Life is the awareness of who you are today. Your dreams, your goals and your future. You and I are never defined by our past. The past is gone, it only comes back to life when we pull it into today. So when you pull your past into your present, only pull in the things that bring you joy and peace. Refuse to give negative memories and people who caused you pain a place on your timeline of life if they do not deserve to be there. My timeline is full of wonderful events that helped to make me the amazing woman that I am today. 
     Think about it this way....we delete bad photos from our timeline on Facebook right? We don't want them to be there. We fill our timeline with photos that we love to see because they bring us great memories. 
     It is the same in life. It is all in our control. Take control of your life, your emotions and your happiness. It is no one's responsibility to make you happy, it is all up to you. 
    It was a wonderful day. Happy Birthday to my baby boy. I love you more than words can say. Good night.
     

Hello, Tigers! Tonight I will write to you about the benefits of volunteering, but I woke up this morning thinking about my daily goals and I reminded myself to "live in the moment". I want to share my thoughts with you on this topic. I will admit that I personally struggle the most with this concept in my own life...living for the day and not for what the future will bring. I am constantly reminding myself to live in the moment.

My hopes for you are that by me sharing my own personal struggles, you will (in your youth) refrain from making the same mistakes that I have made in my life. So please know this; I have not mastered, "living in the moment" it is a daily life journey for me. I think of it like a tennis game. Sometimes I hit the ball right in the middle of the racket and make a great swing, other times I miss, but hopefully in the end I will win the game (despite a few bad swings). Sometimes that is what life is about, three steps forward, two steps backward. Just keep moving forward.

Have you ever heard the expression, "a carrot dangling on a stick?" This saying is a metaphor. The original metaphor tells of a boy sitting on a cart begin pulled by a donkey. The boy tied a carrot onto a long stick, and then he dangled the carrot in front of the donkey but just out of reach. As the donkey move forward to get the carrot, it moved the cart and the boy. But the point of the story is that the carrot always remained just out of reach...it was a trick.

Have you ever felt like there is a carrot dangling in front of you and you are constantly striving to get the carrot, but you never seem to reach the carrot? Let me illustrate it this way for you. Imagine that you are in elementary school and you are being bullied on the playground because you are smaller than the other kids. You say to yourself, "when I get to Jr. High they will stop bullying me because I will be bigger". So you wait in anticipation for Jr. High School. But then in Jr. High School things don't change....so you say to yourself, "once I get into High School it will be different". Then you are in High School and you face different challenges, so you say to yourself, "if I can only make it to college, things will be different". Then college comes and you find yourself with different struggles so you tell yourself that once I am married, then I will find happiness. Once you are married then you say, if only I had children, then I will be happy. The children come and you tell yourself that you will be happy when they go off to college. And so on and so on... never living in the moment, always thinking that happiness in 'ahead' of you but you never reach it just like the donkey never reached the dangling carrot. 

I find myself constantly doing this in life. I need to remind myself that it's a 'trick'; just like the dangling carrot. I too fall in the trap of telling myself things like; once I get another degree, I will be happy. Once I move to another city I will be happy. Once a find the love of my life, I will be happy...all the while I am living in paradise with everything that I want right here with me now. This kind of thinking keeps me from, 'living in the moment'.

So as your teacher, (an encourager of students) I encourage you to wake up every day and embrace life "in the moment". You will never have this moment again; you are here now. Having goals for your future is a wonderful and necessary thing to have but don't forget about the 'now' in life. Enjoy this time in your life, even if you think it is a terrible time, trust me you will look back fondly at these years!

Enjoy your day, the ocean, the palm trees, your friends, and family. Enjoy your years in high school. You have only one chance to make today special. Today will be gone in a few hours. So ask yourself today, "what wonderful thing do I want to do TODAY...and just do it!

Today is called the 'present' because it is a gift to us. Be grateful for the gift of today.

Think about it... I love you guys, Ms. B.

Hello, Tigers! I just got back from babysitting my good friends little girl. She is 4 years old and loves to swim so I decided to take her to the beach early and swim with her. I bought her a little pair of goggles so that we could look for little 'fishies' in the water. I patiently taught her how to put her goggles on and then we began looking for fish. She was delighted and having a great time. What a beautiful morning to share this with a little girl. 

A few moments later I looked at her and suddenly  realized that every time she comes up from under the water her eyes are closed! I said, "Sweetie, you realize that the purpose of the goggles if for you to be able to open your eyes under the water, right?" She gazed at me puzzled, so I demonstrated to her...I said, "Watch me...".

All of the sudden a light bulb went off in her little head and she said, "OH, I GET IT!". I chuckled to myself and we went on to have an amazing morning together being able to see lots of little fish under the water.

I just dropped her off at her mommy's and when I pondered the morning it hit me! That is what life is all about. Sometimes we have all that we need right with us to do amazing things but sometimes we need just a little coaching as to how to go about doing it right. We go through life blind but the whole time we have the ability to see, yet lack the knowledge of how to make it happen. Then someone older possibly wiser comes along and says...this is how it is done.

I hope that I can not only open the eyes of a little 4-year-old so that she can enjoy seeing the fish in the ocean, but possibly I will be able to open your eyes as well. I want to open your eyes to art, beauty, culture and life all around you. Listen to the instruction of others and ponder it...I do. Allow your eyes to be opened so that you don't miss out on any special blessings in life. Be open to instruction. Look for wisdom so that life may be fuller for you. Don't waste time doing it the wrong way...you will miss so much. Find someone who does it right and learn from that person. Seek wisdom so that you may become wise. Have a great day today. I will be painting all day. Tonight I will share my progress with you. Love, Ms. B.

Graduation was held at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and it was spectacular! Here's a glimpse of the evening. Click on the images to enlarge.