It’s Alright

It’s a cool and grey day at English Village and the last day of my mid-week weekend.  I am at home listening to music, in part to drown out the English Village music leaking persistently through my windows. The music is featured songs from English Village Musicals and there are speakers all over campus.  While I appreciate the creativity and effort of these original songs, we hear them all day over and over again.   With lyrics like “being a hero takes HARD WORK!” and “you can beat the monster….” it can be a bit… haunting… to say the least.  If you work at English Village, feel free to sing along.  You know the words.

It has been an average week for me filled with the typical ups and downs of life teaching Korean adolescents.  Many of the students this week were truly great.  With varying levels of English ability, I met many students with kind attitudes and welcoming spirits in the classroom.  Inevitably there are also students who just wouldn’t respond not matter what I said.  This includes simple discipline requests… asking a student not to do something and they just stare at me and continue to do it or wait one second for me to leave and do it anyway.  I am practicing cultivating my more laid back attitude, aspiring to be of service and be a good teacher but also… to just not sweat it, whatever it is.

Middle school is known for being a time when many things are of the utmost importance, including physical appearance.  While this is an issue to many a young teen across the globe, it seems to be of particular importance here in Korea.  It is common place and often a distraction in the classroom to see young Korean girls with their own personal mirror looking at their face or placing their hair just so.  At first I thought this was very strange but now it is just part of regular life.  This focus on physical appearance, however, also extends towards the teachers.  Some students get surprisingly excited by attractive men or women teachers sometimes following after them like they are celebrities.  This lends itself to flattering comments to teachers when they like their appearance but also less kind comments when they think the opposite. Some days this feeds well on the ego with comments like “pretty teacher.”  Other days it can be a bit of a challenge when a less kind comment is said or over heard.  I have had my share of both experiences.  This week, however, on a day that I was feeling “less than beautiful” a student said something to me perhaps not intended to be mean, but truly less than kind and something I did not need to hear. Teaching in Korea at times… is not for the faint of heart.

As you may have noticed by now, this international escapade is not just my story of seeing the world.  It is really a spiritual adventure. I do my best to pay attention, learn and grow from the challenges I meet day-to-day.  I am currently practicing reducing my stress level in part through reducing my reaction to what is happening around me.  With this perspective I am considering how I may respond to ups and downs of life more like an wise observer.   This lighter hold on life creates the freedom to choose what to respond to and what to simply let be.  This is of course a practice. Some moments it seems available… and other times I find I am riddled and wrought in reaction.

This space that I explore is nicely echoed in a tune playing right now on Pandora.com.  It is a little Louisiana delight by Curley Taylor and the Zydeco Trouble as they simply coo “It’s Alright“.  Nothing like some Louisiana tunes to sooth my soul… and inspire my mind. Incidentally, the name of their album is Free Your Mind.  And so it seems perhaps that is what I am up to… little by little… step by step….

As I have done these past few weeks, I would like to continue my visitation of the 5 Precepts of Reiki . It has been good for me to review them and have them more active and present in my life.  They are good reminders that I can simply choose to not worry and not anger… and if I miss the mark, it’s okay.  I can try again in the next moment.  It’s not a rule, only a practice.

The next precept to explore is “Honor Your Parents Teachers and Elders“. 

I love this precept but I am earnestly still getting to know the truth of its message.  For me, the first step is to distinguish that honor is not the same as obey.  To honor one’s parents or teachers does not mean simply that you do what they say or wish.  It is perhaps more like an acknowledgment that values both parties. A healing-arts practitioner I visited with not long ago offered that the best way you can honor your parents is to be true to yourself.  To me honor feels like a loving gentle bow sending appreciation their way, appreciating them for who they truly are, and also doing your best to reflect the best things in them through your own actions.

Do you have any insight or experience to share about honor?  What does it mean to truly honor someone? And how is that distinct in your life?

My own music has quieted down and the English Village music is sneakily invading my apartment.  And so continues a day in the life at English Village.  The words of the song outside shout “Hard work”… but instead I will leave you with the cool easy message of the Zydeco Trouble… “It’s Alright!”

Featured photo, the gentle blossoms of Spring at English Village.

Tags: Honor your parents, reiki precepts, Spiritual Development and Healing, teachers and elders