PEACE

Today I attended Professional Development Day, and left school absolutely inspired.

Dr Art-Ong Jumsai is a man in his 60s who has worked for NASA, has 3PhDs, and yet is one of the most profoundly humble and grounded people I have had the honour to meet.

He gave a talk on integrating human values into education...
(Something that as a counsellor and a teacher who loves her students, I know to be extremely important.)

He spoke in parables and anecdotes.

His lessons were on life, his emphasis on peace and love.



I noted down in my little gem-book (personal not professional) some of the thought-gems I particularly liked.




Let me share a few with you:

How lucky I am to receive problems in my life...
...that I may have the opportunity to
learn,
progress
& find
peace
& joy
in everything around me.


****

If you are sensitive, easily hurt and offended by things people say this one's for you:

What are these words you think will hurt me?
Nothing but vibrations of air particles.

(In other words, we assign our own meaning to what is said, and hence we don't need to get angry if we don't want to -- a sort of detachment.)


****

And my favourite: A philosophy on life:

You say
"I WANT PEACE"
But to receive peace, you must first get rid of
"I"
and
"WANT".
Then will you find that you have peace.

Read:
I is the ego --> the love of oneself.
Want is the desire for needless things,
which if not attained leads to disappointment and disenchantment.
(Yes, these are very psycho-Buddhist teachings... wisdom comes in many forms!)