Unburden Your Heart: An Invitation for Teachers

For this moment, I invite you to unburden your heart.

Lay down your guilt. Set it beside you. Just allow it to rest. I know how hard it works to convince us that we need it.

Don't worry, you don't need to let it go too far away... 

These pandemic times, this vocation, this life has both armored us and cracked us open. Your guilt can take a back seat for now. Take a breath. Let's exhale our guilt.

Teachers, I invite you to place your shame beside your guilt.

All those decisions you had to make- all the torment over things you couldn't do, all of the practices you "should" have done...all of the changes you've been asked to make- illnesses you couldn't prevent. The eyes that watch and make you feel that you "should" have all the answers. I know they say you should leave school at school, but shame comes home with you in your backpack, doesn't it.

Please tell shame it's time to sleep- it's time to hush. Tell shame it doesn't serve you.

Teachers, I invite you to breathe. Put your feet up if you can, take off your shoes if you can, take off your bra if you can... whatever makes you feel more relaxed, more at ease, more unencumbered. Take down your hair, unclench your jaw. Let your toes wiggle and spread out.
Notice that air as it travels in through your nose... that air that fills your lungs, that air that helps you expand. Feel that air swirling and spinning, lit up with the white light of hope.

Allow that air to capture any negativity, dread, weight, toxins, drama, leftover anger, remnants of the day like the crumbs from your lunchbox... See that air removing it all and set it free.

Feel the air move out of your lungs and release all of that garbage.. all of the fear... all of the worries....

Like the tide, your breath comes in and out. Let it flow. The tide comes, the breath comes in. The tide goes, the breath goes out.

Teachers, I invite you to unburden your heart. Set aside all that no longer serves you. Feel weightless. For a short period of time, you have no one who needs you more than you.  Be here now.

Be here. This is the time. Pause now. This is the place. Your heart is the place.

Place beside your shame and your guilt your perfectionism. Your inner critic. Your nagging insecurity.  

To teach is to touch a life, to convince ourselves that we must have all the answers as those little eyes have led us to believe. To teach is to solve problems and to juggle a million decisions in the blink of an eye. To teach is a superpower- and yet we are humans, humans who sometimes feel as if we are doggy paddling in a rapidly moving stream.

Unburden your heart. Despite the heroic task you've been granted- the faith giver, the healer, the mentor, the model, the parent, the truth seeker, the knowledge source, the dream weaver- despite it all...

It is your humanity that makes you magical.

It is your story, your truth, your acceptance of your mistakes and your honoring of your spirit.

It is the way you look children in the eyes and see them. The simple, human gift of presence.

It is the vulnerability and the weaving of values... the knowing that we will fail a million times and still stand up one more time if it means we made a difference.

No god or hero would take on such a task as we do. They wouldn't set themselves up to fail. They become idols because they always win.

That is why, dear teacher- you must unburden your heart. You have already taken on more than a super hero would.. because you are human. You have worked to exhaustion because you are human.

You are magic, because you are human.

And humans need rest.

So breathe.

And let all that other stuff go.

​I invite you to be here now.