Meeting Myself
Last January, on the 25th to be exact, I was called to pull out my Be Happy journal. I was so excited by what I met, I wanted to share it with you and ended up choosing to post an entry here on that day…
Recently, as I was adding in my first and last journal entries to my ongoing draft of In Her Wisdom, I discovered this written in my journal, which I have named Book 116:
It was this that got me smiling.
It was as if I had known what was to come in a just a few months time…
On December 18, 2025, I wrapped up my first semester as a professor (adjunct faculty) at an University. I shared this letter with my students at the beginning of the semester:
"If we are to work together more intelligently,
we will need to choose processes that evoke our
curiosity, humility, generosity and wisdom."
Margaret Wheatly
Hello! Hello!
My mind and heart have been swirling with curiosity and excitement to begin our journey of learning together. The topics, themes, practices and ideas we will explore together will root you and your students in a place of learning, exploration and growth. In this sense, I am approaching this as a foundational class -meaning, without creating a culture of community, acceptance, belonging, safety and comfortability- learning does not take place.
We will cultivate our own culture of community by being together. It will be rich, unique and diverse as we are.
We all have stories to tell and our time together will focus on stories. We all have experiences to share; we have all been students, we are all learners. We have had experiences in schools. We have had learning experiences outside of the four walls of school, some are firsthand experiences while others have been witnessed or watched. All of them have helped shape us in one way or another and this provides rich opportunities for us to learn from one another as learning happens together, alongside and within.
When I taught in classrooms, I always included this quote in the welcome letter, and it seems fitting to do so now as well:
“A true community is a place where collaboration, caring and conflict go hand in hand. This sense of community becomes the envelope around the important interactions that occur within each classroom and school. The assumption is that children from the very beginning are active contributors to the life of a community. The child’s self-identity is constructed out of a relationship formed with the people, things and the environment; without the groups the child could not find or develop any identity.” Loris Malaguzzi
As we step forward into a learning environment, one that we will create and cultivate together I invite you to contemplate these words and what they mean to you:
Collaboration, Engagement, Participation and Curiosity
You may find questions and wonderings swirling within you. You may have glimpsed our course on Brightspace and read the syllabus. Some of you may like to know what is ahead, what is expected and what is on the horizon. Some of you may like to meet what comes as it comes. As you will see, some ‘things’ are still hidden, that is not to keep anything from you, rather I've made the choice so we can move through it when we are together. Please know we will have ample time to talk, review, discuss anything that arises from within, and you can always send me a message via email.
Between now and next week, I offer you this final note on learning, to provide context for this class and our adventure together:
Learning happens in a spiral; it is cyclical and circular. It is not always linear, nor does it follow a neat path. I cannot be preplanned or laid out. Learning is alive. It is an active process, one that is fed by the participants and those who are engaged in asking questions and growing. In this sense throughout the course of our time together each week will hold a Theme or Thread, Topics and Questions to serve us as guides to deepen our knowledge. Each of these are entry points from which we can see and meet our learning. We will experience first-hand how this framework will become alive with our attention and presence and be woven into understandings, on our own and collectively as a group.
The journey awaits.
Your participation and engagement are requested.
This is the letter I shared with them on the last day:
"If we are to work together more intelligently, we will need to choose processes that evoke our curiosity, humility, generosity and wisdom."
-Margaret Wheatly
The time has come for our time together to come to a close, to be wrapped up. Not an end though, rather a beginning. A place from which we all now step, having this experience behind us.
Thank you for showing up.
Thank you for your presence.
Thank you for your participation.
Thank you for engaging.
Thank you for thinking.
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for reflecting.
Thank you for being YOU!
Who knows the impact your presence, participation and engagement has had on a peer? Maybe something you have shared will come to mind in their future and it will shape and guide an interaction they are having with a child. Maybe something they have said will come to your mind in a moment and you will realize how you have been shaped by them. We just do not know.... in truth, teaching is a lot like this. We do not know the impact we have on one another. We do not know what impact we have on each other irrespective of our role, teacher to student, student to teacher. We are all teachers. We are all students. We are all on a journey of learning and growth towards new understandings. All we have to do is simply trust in ourselves, show up and do what feels right and best in the moment. When we reflect and wish we could have or would have done something differently, we take responsibility and move forward.
Throughout the semester there has been a focus on relying on ourselves, being aware of what signs and signals our bodies are telling us, noticing what is arising within us and the power of reflection. From my experiences, I have come to learn that we have to rely on ourselves, as we are the ones in the room with the children and at times, we do not have a lot of time to ponder our choices and decisions in the moment. Yes, we can plan, prep and create intentional spaces that are conducive to learning and exploration, and things pop up. It is what we say and do, how we carry ourselves in the moment that is important for us to reflect on. What worked? Why did that work? What can I do differently next time? What might I switch or change?
We always want to be asking ourselves, What are the children learning? Not only in context to content and standards, but as individuals. What messages are being sent subtly by our comments, interactions and responses? What messages are explicitly being modeled and then picked up by our students? We always have the choice to be kind, to reflect, circle back and take responsibility. We can teach that to our students as well.
I know that this class was different from others you have had or are maybe familiar with. I know that I asked to think about your actions, choices, words and thoughts and how they impact and influence others. I am aware that I invited you to come to your own understandings and asked you to turn inwards and be aware. Thank you for being open to this kind of learning.
Thank you for being a teacher to me. Thank you for teaching me. Thank you for providing a space for me to be stretched as uncomfortable as some moments were for me, to grow and to learn. For these are the qualities of learning and expansion, to grow beyond, to see new, to learn more. I am grateful.
In both, you will notice a quote by Margaret Wheatly, generously shared with me and held close as a guidepost throughout the semester, from BeLoved Travis for whom I grateful.
On April 27, within the energy of a New Moon in Aries, I participated in a Somatic Healing Summit. As I closed Zoom I saw a new email in my inbox. I am so glad I was sitting down, for the words I read evoked such an elated, elevated, joyous, excited, giddy feeling. I was from a professor I met the previous November when I presented at an educational conference. It read,
“I am reaching out because we need an instructor to teach in in person class for undergraduates next semester.”
I wrote this in my journal, “What. An invitation in real form for my DREAM. DREAM! Arriving within the energy of this New Moon in Aries. I can! Yes! I did this! I called this in! Heat and tingles in my forehead now, head before. So proud. So proud. So elated. I did this! With the help and guidance and support of so many, I brought this towards me!
My mind keeps saying “I can’t. I can’t” as in I can’t believe it- yet I can! I can! Yes I can! This is real and heat courses my body.
So, I check, count back 6 months ago and I locate the card I wrote for the New Moon on November 1, 2024 “Diwali. Beginnings. I am the butterfly I was looking for (I dressed as a butterfly for Halloween, recreating a costume from when I was 5)! It is me that I have been longing to see! Deep Dreaming Sadhana commences- this puja ceremony- offering myself and my intention to activate my dream. Calling in, bringing forth, greeting an intention to move in alignment of my hearts guidance and desire and my soul’s purpose.”
Trust.
Sometimes I forget. I lose track of all that is. Of all that surrounds.
Trust.
I have this ability, this power to bring in, to draw towards.
Words have power. Thoughts and words carry power, for they are energy.
What you put out, you will receive.
Everything in its time.
In my case, 22 years in the making.
Jai Ma,
Sara
