Vulnerability as part of being human

I recently posted the following on Instagram as something unexpected cropped up at home that momentarily "tipped" my balance. As I was sharing about the second principle on the power of "connection", it made me think about how real the power of "connection" is and the importance of re-centering for educators or individuals juggling with multiple demands. How the friendship and community can be a buffer and encouragement. Perhaps this is why I enjoy this work of inclusion as principles and knowledge are not just theories but are practices that might just change your life and worldview.

Guess it is part of being human - we have good days and bad days. Like a wingless dragonfly moving on a tightrope, today was tougher than others. Yet these moments are precious because it reminds me that I am human. Why do we expect ourselves to always be on top of things? For the person who is struggling, struggles help us to pause and remember that we need to regularly re-centre to maintain our balance. Those feelings of thankfulness were nowhere in sight but the memory of the previous post I crafted reminded me that there were many little blessings. Documenting little successes and blessings are good ways to trigger the action of re-centering. A deep breath, prayer and simply being still to reconnect to the grounding foundation. My identity is rooted in something greater than myself; not in what I can do or my work.

For the others around, accepting that everyone is 'human' and sometimes on a hard day - all we need is a space to decompress or simple words of encouragement - to help us get back on track. This is the spirit of inclusion at its core. If we extend this further to the learning or work context, learning to locate the problem not in the person but on the supports that need to be in place to help the person grow and thrive is the right way to go. Anyway, it turned out that the second half of my day became better. I'm thankful for my wise friend who comforted me with her 2 simple words, "pat pat (on my back)" which made me feel better almost immediately. Thankful for these moments to experience what it means to be human with all my frailties, and thankful for friends (power of connection).

#thankful #reframing #recentering #inclusion