Life isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s downright hard. For a plethora of reasons, now is one of those downright hard times. So, what do I do to help combat the overwhelm and find a sense of peace and control? Clean, rearrange, go through things, be inspired, or if I’m not inspired, purge.

Today I found inspiration in a sketch I did with my Kinders, and an end of course assignment from IDEO’s Creative Leadership program.

Crowned with Hope

This sketch is from an assignment I gave my Kinders. Who are you? How might you change the world. I sketched myself as the Queen of Hope, or perhaps just as myself, an ordinary human, gifted with a headpiece of hope. Did you know the first definition of headpiece on merriam-webster.com is “a protective or defensive covering for the head.” Imagine! Hope is protecting and defending me!

Hope is a wonderous, powerful thing. It enables one to face and fill the unknown and the what ifs with positive possibilities. Instead of imagining the worst, hope encourages us to use our imagination to see and create the best possible next moment.

I’m reminded of an A.A. Milne quote:

Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?’
‘Supposing it didn’t,’ said Pooh after careful thought.
Piglet was comforted by this.

― A.A. Milne

Hope seems to travel with encouragement and possibility. After the sketch, I stumbled upon the letter I wrote myself as one of the final assignments for IDEO’s Creative Leadership course. If you’ve never written a letter to your future self, you might want to try it. It might feel silly. Do it anyway. Perhaps imagine yourself as someone else you are coaching. Be honest and encouraging. The process and product are powerful, and a lovely gift to your future self.

A Letter From Me to Me
(Do you get the reference? It’s a gift Dave, from me, to me! )

Dear Molly,

You rock, girl! I love the path your life is taking. It’s awesome to see you continue to move forward with relentless positivity and joy. You really are fantabulous. Don’t ever doubt it!

The IDEO course was awesome, wasn’t it? I’m glad you engaged in the struggle, and had a lot of aha moments!

I’m so psyched you’re going to continue to listen, take time, and engage — eye to eye! I can’t quite decide which is most important, so I’m going to rant a bit about each. You’re shocked aren’t you?!?!!! (Not! lol)

LISTEN
Listen with your eyes, your ears and your heart!
Listen to yourself, your students, your colleagues, your intuition.
Listen to the questions, the answers, and the lack of answers.

TAKE TIME
Take time to ask a plethora of good, open ended, encouraging, hopeful questions.
If you can’t think of any, take a bit more time, have a cup of tea, and trust they will come! Experiment, ideate, iterate and just have fun. Invite others to join you.
Oh, and don’t forget about yourself!!!
Feed your soul, and your creative self — breathe, pray, make, think, do, and just be.

ENGAGE — EYE TO EYE
It’s so important, and so awesome, when you do this, Molly!
Some of the most amazing times are when you engage,
eye to eye, with those around you — especially those young students of yours!
Don’t let others, or the job, or time, or anything else, rob you of this great joy and privilege.

Through it all, Molly, believe and trust. Believe in yourself and your creative team. Believe in the profound power of learning, relationship and creativity! Trust your knowledge, your intuition, and your awesomeness!

You have a strong point of view about your students, life, learning and creativity — – and it’s a profound one, Molly! Continue to embrace it, share it, grow it and live it!

You create cultures of trust, joy, positivity, possibility, inspiration, collaboration, creativity, learning and transformation, Molly. You encourage curiosity and a willingness to risk. And when there’s failure — and there so often is — you work to help your team, and yourself, accept it, learn from it, and move on with relentless positivity.

You are present and engaged, in really beautiful, powerful ways. Making space for your self, others, questions, possibility, creativity, joy, ambiguity, tension, mess and even chaos, is a gift, Molly, and you have it!

You really are something else, Molly. I can’t wait to see what the future holds. I’m sure remarkable things will come from your new thoughts, ideas, learning, and practice.

Rock on, my sister! Rock on!

I love you.

Molly

PS. Give me a call. We’ll have tea and catch up!