Speaking, Cooking and Teaching — End of the Day for January 9, 2014

Everyone was hard at work today and it was my first day with the home office all to myself. As I mentioned before, a little silence and alone time can be good, as long as you have something to focus the mind. Today was good as I was all about my new work.

Speaking

I am lining up as many speaking opportunities as I can, so there were blurbs and bios to be written, dates to be confirmed, topics to be finalized. It was good work, too, as I really enjoy speaking to others and, if I do it right, helping them grow, learn and feel a little more accomplished in their life. I have take to describing myself as a non-traditional educator — one who teaches but doesn’t do a lot of it in the classroom. Everything I do relates in some way to teaching and I like it that way. I get a big kick out of teaching and I am always looking for opportunities to do more of it.

Cooking

Once everyone returned in the evening, I switched to another hat and put together a hot dinner, as I usually do. Tonight was one of our favorite “Recipes in Rotation”, Jambalaya. Now, I am sure a true Louisianian would probably take me out into the swamp for my version, but we find it tasty and warm.

Recipes in Rotation: Slowcooker Jambalaya

This switch from teacher to cook is a good thing and gives me a unique break before I switch back into work mode in the evening, which is something I usually do. I guess it is the night owl in my, but I usually get an urge to do something work-related around 8 pm and this carries me until bed time around 1 am. Cooking uses different parts of the brain, different senses, and much as some people do in the shower, I get some creative ideas while other parts of my brain are occupied. Sometimes I even combine cooking and teaching, as I do when cooking for friends (See Making Pasta with Friends) I love sharing what I know with others and this is just another way that it expresses itself.

Teaching (and writing)

Now, it is later in the evening and sit down to write these posts. Since Rosanne usually hits the hay around 10pm, I have taken this time as my End of the Day writing period. It seems to fit in well and helps me to wind down after a long day of work — in all its forms. End of the Day helps throughout the day, not just when I am writing it. Over the last week, I have found myself be more mindful during my day — taking note of things that I want to include in my evening post. I think it is helping to focus my mind a bit more than in the past, as it requires that I stop when I notice something and capture it so I can share it here later. It helps to prevent that all-to-typical feeling of a day rolling past so quickly that you can barely breathe. I feel like I experienced the day instead of just letting it race by me as if I were standing still. F0r a teacher, I think it is very important to refill the creative coffers on a regular basis and being mindful of each day as it passes, the events that occurred, the ideas that were generated and the actions that were taken, is a great way to refill them.

Let me ask you? How much of your day do you remember? Are you running from morning until night just trying to stay ahead of everything or do you have those moments where you can stop and take it all in? How do you do it? What do you do? Perhaps there is something you can teach me? The only thing teachers love more than teaching is learning, so I am all ears! (SMILE)

Previously on End of the Day:

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