The Power of Thank You

A few days ago I was heading into the library to pick up my young adult novel, Reached by Ally Condie.  I saw one of my former students talking on her cell phone outside the library and we shared a quick smile and a wave as I entered. 

I picked up my book and was standing in line when that same student came up to me and said, "Mr. Kushlak, Thank You."  She went on to tell me that she was now in honors English in the high school and she knows it was because of the foundation I gave her as a sixth grade student when she was NOT on the honors track.  We shared some pleasantries and a hug and we went our separate ways; me with a smile on my face.

A few days later I was outside after school for bus duty and another former student came up to me.  He shook my hand and said he has been meaning to come see me because he wanted to thank me for helping him with poetry.  He understood now why I hounded him about trying to say more with less while writing free verse poetry because he feels he is really good at it this year.  Once again a few pleasantries and we went our separate ways, once again, me with a smile.

I do not share this to put myself up on a pedestal as some great teacher that reaches all these kids.  In fact, I share these stories because both of these encounters came at a time when I was feeling very low about my teaching.  I was not totally happy about how I was connecting with students and I was lamenting over some things I wish I would have done differently from the start of the year and trying to decide how best to set my students up for success for the rest of the year.

These two students picked me up with simple, sincere thank yous.  And suddenly the year was looking better and I was getting excited about some of the ideas I was having.  As I continued to think about those two students and their impact on my mood and outlook for the rest of year, I was reminded of a CD I have of a talk by Father Larry Richards entitled The Truth.  In that talk Father Larry Richards says, "You need to tell the people you love, that you love them."

These students didn't tell me they loved me, but they said thank you to someone they were thankful for and those simple words lifted me up.  I urge all of us to be people who recognize those who are blessings to us because of their love, or their guidance, or their discipline, or their sacrifice for us and make sure we say Thank You.  Because you never know when that simple thank you will make a difference in someones life who has made a difference in yours.

The Journey

Let me share with you a short journey I took over the last couple weeks that led to me writing this blog post.

1. The Enlightenment
After my last post, Shutting the door on Negativity, I got an email from my sister telling me to check out Kristoffer Carter and his This Epic Life blog that she had recently been following.  I did and became a follower myself.  This blog is dedicated to helping each person become the best version of themselves in all aspects of their life.  Who wouldn't want that?

One of the things Kristoffer suggests is upgrading your lens (the way you view life) because your lens can either enhance or diminish all of our life experiences.

I really took this to heart because I have always tried to be a positive person, but after thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that that Idea of being a positive person was just too general of a goal.  I needed to really think about the virtues that I want to guide my life in order to be that positive, happy, best version of myself.

So I get on this high of, "Look out world, here comes the best me possible!"

2. The Fall 
Ever have that student or coworker or family member who seems to have an invisible remote control to your life and at any moment they can aim it at you and push the button labeled Worst Possible Version of Yourself?

Well I had a student hit that button while pointing the remote at me and before you know it, my feathers are puffed out and I am going to show this student who is boss - Like I said, worst version of myself.  It was like an out of body experience where I am looking at myself interacting with this student shaking my head saying, "You better check yo self, before you wreck yo self!"

Did I mention that this happened twice in two days!

3. The Rise
Each time this happened with this student, I had one of my wonderful colleagues walk by and be part of our  "conversation".  In one instance my colleague just stood there and was present and in the other instance the colleague spoke up and was part of the "conversation" that was happening.

I am so grateful to have people like this around me because their mere presence in each situation forced me to focus my lens and helped me decide I wanted to look at this situation differently.  Each time my ruffled feathers got tucked back in and the tone of the conversation changed.

These two encounters helped me realize that I was slipping into a negative state of mind and I needed to make a change; I needed to upgrade my lens.

The very next day, I opened an email that had been sitting in my inbox from another teacher in my building with a simple statement that read THOUGHT OF YOU.  And it had a link to this video:

Moral of the story:
There are so many good people in the world that do wonderful things everyday.  And there are so many people in the world who want to help us be the best versions of ourselves.  Upgrading your lens and seeking these people out go hand-in-hand.

The question is:
Will you choose to see the world in a way that will enhance your experiences?  Will you choose to seek out those people who will help you on your path to being the best possible you?