Teach Middle East Magazine May-June 2019 Issue 5 Volume 6 | Page 49

Personal development fearlessly (or fearfully), having difficult conversations with those around you. This is done with the knowledge that their lives, logic and yours, may not always align. And perhaps you’ll push your internal dialogue further: 1. What do I want out of my life? 2. Why do I want it? 3. What do I expect to get from it? 4. What does making IT truly mean? 5. What will I do if I do get it and it is not fulfilling? 6. What will I do if I don’t get it? 7. How will I respond to receiving a YES or NO answer for something that I (think I) truly want? 8. Why do I respond this way? 9. What is it that I don’t know? that while we make choices, we may not be able to determine who or how those choices will impact our lives—or families. If your defined “achievement” is a dividend producing asset with increased returns on your TIME and MIND, you may have some form of peace and prosperity. Every vertical moment, your H2O has an opportunity to be in harmony through prayer, positivity, hugs, reflection, imagination, vision, art, affirmations, laughter, music, meditation, dance and deciding. Your life need not be farcical to benefit others alive or dead—or for yourself. Remember, we’ve all been given one (1) bottle of life. CHOOSE not to be victimized by marketed images of success, insincere canned laughter, artificial accolades and carrot-titles traded for your time. When you are present in the lives of your loved ones, BE FULLY PRESENT. You may recall, no matter how monetarily wealthy, brackish waters are not well, and truly, are not measures of success. A caldera is an enormous cauldron depression that often forms through the subsidence and collapse of a ground surface after the evacuation of an underlying magma chamber. A magma chamber is a great pool of liquid molten rock below the surface of our earth. The magma is under monumental pressure. With time, that pressure can slowly, and directly, fracture the rock around it. Thus, creating a way for the magma to move upward. What cauldron pressures have you created for your life? If you choose to rise UPward, where and what are you rising to? Why? Tick+Tock=TIME. One (1) LIFE. Before you are driven to the edge, decide. 10. How kind am I being to myself? 11. How often do I celebrate my living (not just my achievements)? 12. How much quiet time do I give myself daily? 13. How often do I thank myself, my body and the internal voice that guides me)? 14. How often do I ask, what am I REALLY hungry for? 15. What or who am I neglecting and why? 16. Is it beneficial to attend to an additional demand on my time? Why? There is an energy source and force in the universe that we are all connected to. All molecules have meaning. What can we do to avoid falling victim to an insatiable hunger & drive to achieve? First, define and redefine “achieve.” For whom are you trying to achieve? Guess what? It is perfectly okay to say, “I have changed my mind. This is not what I want. The vision, the dream is too costly or fraught with minefields and they are mercenary in nature.” It is also okay to be wrong or to have been misguided. As I tell my scholars: “Get it wrong! Grow strong! The GREAT make MISTAKES!” Conversely, if you’ve defined your IT and decided that it is worth the co$t of whatever you must give up, OWN it. Don’t complain or explain. Understand Lisa Fátimah is a globally recognized bilingual educator, writer, broadcaster and gifted native English speaker from Brooklyn, New York, USA. By offering exclusive multisensory LAPTOP & LEARN online tutorial instruction, test prep, curriculum development and college essay editorial services, Lisa empowers Dyslexic, ADHD, ESL, at-risk and gifted students ages 7 to 70+. Lisa’s Email: 1skyscholars@ gmail.com; https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/1-Sky-Scholars After The Bell | | May - Jun 2019 | 49