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I have been using the mantra almost constantly. Friday was our last day of school, and due to massive upheavals, layoffs ( yes, I still have a job) and whatnot, I am only going to be teaching in my school three days a week next year, and two days will be teaching in another school. The adminstration in our district has created this totally insane schedule where all the specialists ( art, music, and PE) are teaching in more than one building.. but it's nuttier than that. For example, I will be in my school ( let's call it school A) three days a week, and then at school B two days a week. The teacher from school B, while I am at her school has to go teach at school C . One of the days that I am at school B, yet another teacher will be at my school one day a week ( they have collapsed my former 5 day schedule into 4 , loading up on the classes). They are doing all this so that 7 teachers can cover 8 schools, and administration doesn't want any one school to have 5 different teachers. It's nuts, and it's also crazy making because all of us are very different in approach and style, and there will, of course, be comparisions among the kids, parents and staff .. kind of like what you guys talk about when you have to go in and sub or take over another teacher's yoga class, only on a massive scale. And, of course, other teacher wil still be there, teaching some of the classes on other days. This week, I met with the teacher who is coming to my school, and I felt very good about that. I invited her over, showed her the room, and she seemed relieved and happy because it is apparent that we have somewhat similiar styles and wasy of structuring our teaching. She liked the way I had the room set up and equipped, etc. Also, beacause no one else is coming in to teach her kids ( her schedule was collapsed to 4 days, and she is at my school one day) it's a little easier for her., plus she has only been there for 3 years at this point. She knows a lot of games and stuff I am unfamiliar with, I am going to help her as far as getting to know the kids and the school, and we are actually kind of juiced about trading ideas an making the best of it, since we have no choice.

The other end of it, though, is not so good. The teacher on the school I am traveling to has been in that building for 25 years, and is understandably angry and depressed about having to go elsewhere two days a week and have me on her turf on those days. ( Her schedule is actually full, and there is really no reason why she should have to travel, except that our adminsitration are bozos, as I explained above. )So although I am not taking it personally.. I am sure she would be this way no matter who was coming in.. , she is not into being either flexible or helpful. I did go over and visit the room , and her attitude was pretty much, "Here's my room, just make sure you put everything back the way you found it when you leave". She said did say that when school starts, she was going to go around to to the classes that I had tell them that they should be nice to me and respect me, because , as she put it"They are going to think they have to be loyal to me , and it's going to be difficult for you." Even though I know she meant well by saying this, it wasn't easy to hear. When I was walking back to the room, she introduced me to several teachers, and the universal reaction was basically what a tragedy it was that she had to leave on those two days. Again, trying not to take it personally, but.. such a contrast to the way the teachers at my school responded when I introduced "my " other teacher around.. just welcome. Period. Sigh.

So the blah blah blah has been in almost constant use, especially when I start tripping about having to go into this new school 2 days a week,( yadayada, the kids won't like me, they're going to want their other back, etc, etc, I'm not as good as she is, etc, etc. ) It really, really , helps.I also think it had something to do with this very cool dream I had the other night.

I was sitting outside on the grass in a circle with both of these teachers, we were all in sukkasana... and we had music books and other stuff we were looking at, sharing ideas, and stuff. The teacher at the school where I am going ( "Mrs. C"), was talking about some chorus piece she had done with her students ( she is a really great choral teacher, which is not necessarily my strong point), and then looked at me, as if I should start talking. I looked at her, and then she put her hand on my head ( somehow at that point we were standing up... she is a lot taller than me, so it was pretty easy for her to put her hand on my head), and it felt like she was listening into my head with her hand. She said, "You don't have anything in your head."I felt that that was true, that there were no thoughts currrently going on in my head, and said,"Yes.. that's what meditation is about, I have no thoughts right now." Then this really beautiful white light poured down out of the sky, through her hand and onto/into my head.. it was on the left side of my head, so the light /energy went all down through my left side. I got the sense that that was where it was needed. Wow, it was amazing. It was, exactly, as Erich says.. that even though she's not aware of it, this person is the expression of the infinite, and the gift of that dream was that I really experienced it. .. she is my teacher, God expressed....even when she is not knowing that she is and doing and saying hurtful stuff. It reminded me of a professor I had my freshman year in college.. I had been complaining to him about this other professor, who everyone knew was really mean and unfair to the students , and he said, "You have to learn the hard lessons in life from some people, that's just why they are here.. they teach you to deal with that."

O-blah di, oh blah da....