The Stress Is Worth It

Good morning, God, and thanks for this new day! We're in our third day of the new semester now, and the stress has kicked in--waking up at 2 in the morning, my mind all over the place getting things ready, trying to remember new names of new people, feeling the pressure of wanting to make sure that my students' experiences are worth their while. But it's a stress that's definitely worth it, of course. Teaching is what I've chosen to do, and I'm pretty good at it. And teaching allows me to make a positive contribution to the lives of other people--and a contribution that isn't limited to just the people in my classrooms. I may wake up in the middle of the night and I may spend hours on things that I'd prefer not to spend hours on, but it definitely is worth it--to me and, I hope, to the students in my classes.

The stress is here, I know it, and I hope that I'm able to deal with it effectively so that it doesn't make me less effective in the class. I hope that it makes me a better teacher, not a burned-out teacher. I'd prefer to sleep the night through, but during the school year I very often don't, even after as many years as I've been at this. So please be with me this semester--and every time I step into the role of teacher--and help me to give my students what they really need and more, and help me to deal with the stress so that my students never notice that I'm dealing with it. Thanks!

A reply:

You're welcome. It's gratifying to hear that you love teaching, for it is an important gift of yours, and one that's necessary among human beings. The fact that you take it seriously and that you stay focused on the students is very important, as you well know--you've had those teachers who simply didn't care and seemed to just be making a paycheck. You got very little out of their classes, and you don't want to do that to your students.

The stress is another issue. Perhaps it's time that you start taking seriously some of the stress-reducing techniques that other people have developed. They're out there, many of them, and they're not that difficult or time-consuming to do. One of your problems is that you don't tend to feel stress as stress--in fact, you thrive in stressful situations, so you often mistake them for things going just right. And things may be going just right, but still be stressful. Think about how you grew up and how predominant stress was in your life, and how you got "used" to it. Yes, you do know how to relax, but you're also very good at functioning just fine--even at a higher level--when things get terribly stressful. That, too, is a gift, but not one that you've learned to compensate for in other ways. It's like when you run a race--you run slower when you're running a 10k than you do when you're running a 5k because you need to pace yourself and save something for the end of the race.

But in your stressful situations, you're not able to pace yourself. You have to do what you have to do. So it's important that you find other things that will help you to deal with the stress so that you'll be saving something for later. Yes, you have your running, and that is helpful, but you run even when you're not under stress. It's not something you do specifically for stress. If you do find something for stress, such as some sort of exercise, meditation, or hobby, I think you'll find that your sleepless nights are fewer and your ability to be effective in the classroom even higher.

It's something for you to consider, at least. Enjoy the semester, enjoy the students, and enjoy your experiences.

New Starts

Good day, God, and thanks for this new day! I have a lot to do today, all of which is pretty pleasant, so it looks to be a good day. Of course, what I give to the day will mostly determine what kind of day it is, so please be with me to help me to give all that I can.

Starting next week, I'll be teaching five new classes with about 110 new students, so once again, I ask you to be with me during my new start so that I may be able to be an effective teacher for these young people who need effective teachers in their lives. I hope to be someone who can help them to learn the things that they need and want to learn, but mostly who can help them to learn how to learn. My goal is to help them to enjoy the learning, too, so that it isn't something that they're doing just to fulfill requirements.

So please help me on this new start to have patience, insight, love, discernment, and the necessary knowledge to help them to learn and to grow. I'm good at what I do and that fact helps me to be confident as a teacher, but I never want to grow to be too confident and stop seeing the needs of the students and mistakes that I may be making.

A response:

Good day to you, too. It sounds like it will be a good day if you go into it with a positive attitude--your attitude does more to make a day positive or negative than anything else, and if your perspective is focused on the positive, then the positive will be what you see and experience. And even some things that others may see as negative can turn out in positive ways for you.

As far as your new start is concerned, all you have to do is remember that when you ask me to be with you in any endeavor, what you're really asking for is the consciousness of the fact that whatever you do in my name, you're doing with the right motivation and in connection with me. I am with you always, so you don't have to ask me to be with you; when you do, it's like you're lighting a candle that you already have that was full of potential and that's now being useful and helpful.

One of the reasons that so many people feel so much anxiety is that they try to do everything themselves. They forget that they have a connection with me that never goes away and that never diminishes--but that they don't always tap into as they could or should. A prayer opens that connection, it doesn't establish it. When your heart is yearning for something and you ask for my aid, remember that the candle is always there and that it never burns down or out--but it does need you to light it in a very simple way.

You know from experience that the semester will be a good one. You're not facing any challenges at this point that will be difficult, but one never knows--with 110 students, there are bound to be some unforeseen issues coming your way. But you also know that the means to deal with those issues is within you and with you all the time--a simple shift in focus from doing everything yourself to asking for my help, an act that will strengthen the connection you have with me in order to deal with any situation in a way that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

Enjoy your semester, and enjoy your students' company. Help them to learn and to grow, and make the time that they spend in your class worthwhile. And have fun.

Good morning

Good morning, God, and thank you much for this new day--I hope that I'm able to make something special of this new day in my life.

I don't really have anything special to ask today, or anything in particular that I wish to discuss. I just want to say thanks for the day and thanks for all I have, and ask you to be with me so that I can treat others well and do things that are helpful to others. I don't really have anything in particular to ask for, either. So thanks!

A reply:

You're welcome. And I'm always with you, so I'll be with you today, as well. Enjoy all that it has to offer you.

Watching Lies

Good morning, God, and thanks very much for a new day in our lives. I really do appreciate this gift, and I hope that you'll help me to make the most of it! It's promising to be a very nice day, so I hope that I'm able to help it to live up to that promise in my life--and perhaps in the lives of others, as well.

As you know, we're in the midst of a presidential campaign here, and we have to be exposed over and over again to the candidates and their words. This campaign, though, seems to be different because we have at least one candidate who loves to lie, and who doesn't even care if he's caught at it. When he's caught in a lie, he'll just say something stupid, such as "I never said that."

The other candidates aren't as blatant as all that, but they do their share of twisting facts to make themselves look better. What's bothering me isn't the lies so much--they help me to determine whether I can trust someone or not--but the fact that most of the people who support these politicians don't care whether they lie or not. Even when they're presented with strong facts that prove that the person has lied, people support that person anyway, seemingly not caring at all that if a person is going to lie to you now and then deny it, that person is going to lie to you in the future--and possibly as an elected official who now affects our lives very strongly--and then turn on you when you call out that lie. And with the influence that comes from an elected office, turning on you can become extremely dangerous.

How can we allow things like this to go on? How can we embrace and support people who simply don't seem to care about the truth, and who are willing to manipulate us and deceive us at every turn? I'm very worried for the future of our country when I look around and see the terrible things that are happening.

A reply:

You're welcome for the day. I truly do appreciate it when you appreciate it.

Yes, what you mention is very concerning. I gave all of you a pretty decent mind that you can use not just to receive messages and comprehend them, but also to analyze them and judge their veracity. The fact is, though, that many of you choose to turn off your minds because you fear the dissonance that will result when someone you support says something that you cannot support. You fear losing the illusions that you've built up that make you comfortable and that give you a sense of safety.

The societies that you live in are different than societies in the past, but they're also very similar. People still have insecurities that plague them their entire lives long, and fears that keep them up nights. One of those fears is the fear of being wrong, and different people feel that fear at different levels. And when you add insecurities to the picture, that fear of being wrong leads to the fear of losing friends, losing respect, losing status, etcetera, because of being wrong. So rather than admit being wrong in a case like this, it's easier to simply continue to support a candidate even when the dissonance becomes extremely strong.

It's also human nature to deflect an argument to something else rather than face facts. "The only reason people think he's a racist is because of the press." "Maybe he did do that, but look at the opponent--that person did something even worse." When people do this, they're trying to protect a decision and/or belief that they've already espoused or made or developed. You find yourself now in the middle of a situation that allows people to believe things that aren't true--and worse, to choose to believe things that they have tons of evidence that they aren't true.

A lot of this has to do with a focus on the worldly things rather than on spiritual things, rather than on love and peace and hope. I've given you love to work with, and I've given you a heart and spirit that cannot be deceived. Yet you choose to do all your thinking with your brains, and to make all of your decisions based on logic and thinking. Right now, though, people are feeling more isolated from one another than ever, in a large part due to their new-found addiction to screens of all sizes, and that isolation strengthens the fear that they feel. And how do they deal with that fear? By constantly searching for more information--on those screens--and using their brains instead of their hearts and spirits.

It's going to get worse before it gets better. The current campaign is a symptom of a much larger sickness in your society than is evident on the surface--it's like a sore that indicates a cancer beneath the surface of the skin. It's definitely going to test everyone in many different ways. Peace and love are always possible, but people are choosing information and technology instead. It's not making for a pretty picture.