Agree to be Kind
After a long week of preparing students for a Federation festival, working with other teachers to make the festival a success behind the scenes, saying good-bye to a son returning back to college, preparing for MTNA events, playing for Sunday services and experiencing some interesting online social interactions, I thought it good for me to revisit some important mental health mantras. All of these experiences listed above involve communicating with others--an essential skill in our business and any business for that matter.
Be kind, you never know the battles a person may be fighting.
If I'm truly going to be kind in every circumstance, it's important to have standards in place to help me navigate through feelings and successfully communicate with level-headed common sense. don Miguel Ruiz provides four agreements to practice on a regular basis:
1) Be Impeccable with your Word = Speak with Integrity
2) Don't Take Anything Personally = What others say and do is a projection of their own reality
3) Don't Make Assumptions = Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings
4) Always Do your Best = Your best will change from moment to moment due to circumstances but continue to do your best
Since there are plenty of in-depth resources explaining these four agreements including Ruiz' book I won't go into detail about the agreements here. Click on the links below to order the book or read more about it.
- Order the book The Four Agreements here--YES, there's a digital edition!
- A Pdf of a book review
- A blog based on the four agreements
Why did I post this? Mostly as a reminder to myself that moving forward each day means that in the face of
- a disagreement
- encouraging and coaching others towards performance readiness
- working with others
- hurtful words
- self-doubt
- disappointment
- feeling exhausted
- all things human
be kind.
