The search for meaning and purpose in life is one of the major driving forces within the lives of individuals from all ages and eras. The search for uniqueness and of individuality leads one down the path of self-discovery. The process of self-discovery encompasses the trials of reflection and introspection, seeking to truly understand oneself amidst the backdrop of life and one’s internal experience.



Implied within the path of self-understanding is that for one to be truly faithful to the journey one would be required to evolve into a leader. Acknowledging one’s gifts is also an acknowledgment of their benefit to the world at large. Exercising one’s talent with conviction is also an exercise of one’s capacity for leadership. Assuming responsibility for one’s expression in the world and its impact upon self and others is a tremendous step down the path of leadership.

Sayings of Krishnamurti

Self-knowledge is not a thing to be bought in books, nor is it the outcome of a long painful practice and discipline, but it is awareness, from moment to moment, of every thought and feeling as it arises in relationship. Relationship is not on an abstract, ideological level but an actuality—the relationship with property, with people, and with ideas. Relationship implies existence and, as nothing can live in isolation, to be is to be related.

Our conflict is in relationship, at all the levels of our existence and the understanding of this relationship, completely and extensively, is the only real problem that each one has. This problem cannot be postponed nor be evaded. The avoidance of it only creates further conflict and misery; the escape from it only brings about thoughtlessness, which is exploited by the crafty and the ambitious.

My Thoughts on Vision

All great things endeavors, triumphs and victories start with a dream, a vision. What has stood out to me most in recent days has been just how important one’s vision is to achieving one’s goal. Fidelity of purpose and clear articulation of goals have been of the utmost importance to me as of late.

What I have found is that within articulation of purpose one will find the means by which success can be had. Clarity of vision, leads to clarity of means; an understanding of how something can be accomplished is dependent upon acknowledging a destination. I have come to understand to understand that clarity of vision is how the machinery behind the dream is built.

Time Management

Time is precious. How are you using it? Take a day to monitor how you spend your time. Write down everything you do, including dressing, eating, travel, relaxing in front of the TV, shopping for groceries, running to the library, picking up from the soccer practice. If you organize these tasks effectively, you may be amazed at how much available time you have.

As a student, it is helpful to look at your time management at TWO LEVELS.
A LONG TERM PLANNER helps you to see the BIG PICTURE of what you have to get done. Start with the big assignments, quizzes and exams. Use a monthly calendar and fill these in first.


Now, working backwards, fill in some preparation times which you will need in order to be ready for the big days.

Practices from Spiritual Direction that Deepen Civic Engagement

JoAnn Campbell, Minnesota Campus Compact

Journal of College & Character VOLUME VIII, NO. 1, November 2006

Students can benefit spiritually from their work in civic engagement and service learning if encouraged to appreciate the mystery involved in every human interaction, especially with people different from themselves. The ancient art of spiritual direction offers practices that can deepen reflection and integrate service activities with the students’ values and lived experiences.

The 2004 UCLA Higher Education Research Institute’s study of College Students’ Beliefs and Values found that 75% of current college students are "searching for meaning/purpose" in their lives (4). The principal authors, Alexander and Helen Astin, write that "higher education represents a critical focal point for responding to the question of how to balance the exterior and interior aspects of life more effectively" (iii).

I want to suggest that a key strategy for helping students balance the exterior and the interior is reflection, and that the act of reflecting can be strengthened or made more potent and powerful by borrowing techniques, stances, and practices from spiritual direction.

Building Efficacy
Conditions of Learning (R. Gagne)
tip.psychology.org

This theory stipulates that there are several different types or levels of learning. The significance of these classifications is that each different type requires different types of instruction. Gagne identifies five major categories of learning: verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills and attitudes.

Different internal and external conditions are necessary for each type of learning. For example, for cognitive strategies to be learned, there must be a chance to practice developing new solutions to problems; to learn attitudes, the learner must be exposed to a credible role model or persuasive arguments.

Gagne suggests that learning tasks for intellectual skills can be organized in a hierarchy according to complexity: stimulus recognition, response generation, procedure following, use of terminology, discriminations, concept formation, rule application, and problem solving. The primary significance of the hierarchy is to identify prerequisites that should be completed to facilitate learning at each level. Prerequisites are identified by doing a task analysis of a learning/training task. Learning hierarchies provide a basis for the sequencing of instruction.

Learning is Power: The transformation of adult learners through education

Tech Teacher: Cut Through the Web Noise
RSS feeds help sort out the new from the mold.

by Geoff Butterfield

edutopia.org

published 6/19/2007

One problem with the Web: It's too darn big. Who has time to keep up with its immeasureable updates? You could spend all day trolling around online, looking for the freshest headlines and content on your favorite sites. Wouldn't it be nice if there were a way of gathering all the new things on frequently updated sites (like blogs, news feeds, or podcasts) and sending them out to you?

Hang onto your cowboy hat, because that's where Real Simple Syndication (RSS) comes in. Odds are you've seen the little orange button with either the letters RSS or XML, or sometimes a little radar-looking symbol, on at least one of your favorite Web sites (like, for instance, the Edutopia.org RSS Feed). The button means that the Web site offers its content as an RSS "feed," which is simply a list of new articles, usually with just a title and a short description. The little button is a link to that feed.

Subscribe to these feeds and these sites will get in contact with you electronically when they offer new content.

Authors@Google: Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman discusses his book "Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships" as a part of the Authors@Google series.

An E-lightened Moment
Realities and Illusions

Move past setback and illusion of futility. This is not you....

You are a manifestation of your greatest reality. Fear no challenge, worthy of it all, challenges befall in order to prepare. For where else can the mettle in one's core be found?

Profound thoughts arise out of feeling of deficit. Success is always held at the cusp of defeat. Find yourself striving among turmoil and activity concerned not with possibility of fatality.

For the lessons of the path have always been the prize.

-R.L Adams

Teachers who get police training could get extra pay, carry guns
By Emily Richmond Las Vegas Sun

A proposal that Nevada teachers be allowed to carry concealed weapons garnered a lot of notoriety but little traction among state lawmakers this year. Now comes this idea: Give bonus pay to teachers - from kindergarten to college - who would be trained and armed as reserve school police officers.

Faculty-turned-campus cops would supplement the thin ranks of campus police and be in position to respond quickly to campus emergencies, the two champions of the idea say.
Others worry about allowing teachers to be put in that kind of position.

4 Steps to Conquer
Sixth entry

“There are three kinds of people in the world; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.”

-Unknown

Be one of the brave souls that face the realities of the world
with determination and fortitude.

Be one of the spirits that change their world for the better,
through actions and investment of one’s time.

Beware of contentment and apathy, for tragedies the world
over have been caused by their mingling in the affairs of
people.

The Power of Imagery

mindtools.com

Imagery is the process by which you can create, modify or strengthen pathways important to the co-ordination of your muscles, by training purely within your mind. Imagination is the driving force of imagery.

Imagery rests on the important principle that you can exercise these parts of your brain with inputs from your imagination rather that from your senses: the parts of the brain that you train with imagery experience imagined and real inputs similarly, with the real inputs being merely more vividly experienced. So in its least effective form you can use imagery merely as a substitute for real practice to train the parts of your mind that it can reach.

Even at this inferior level of use imagery is useful training where:

An athlete is injured, and cannot train in any other way.
The correct equipment is not available, or practice is not possible for some other reason
Where rapid practice is needed However just to use imagery for the reasons above is to undervalue its effectiveness grossly.

A Friendly Workplace Makes for Healthy Employees

Employees that are liked and in turn like their colleagues are happier and healthier, according to a new study. The survey of over 5,000 staff on behalf of SkillsSoft found that half said working with people they like is important whilst 41% said having this reciprocated scores almost as highly. Mutual adoration between colleagues is not the only relationship that scores well – 'getting on well with the boss' featured as critical for 34.8%.

Taking time out also ranked highly, 49% referred to flexible working hours as important, with 46% placing sufficient annual leave as a key contributor to well-being.
The value of good relationships with work colleagues was also evident when employees were asked who they would talk to first within their organisation if they were unhappy at work.

Over a third (36.3%) would consult a colleague whilst a further 29.2% would prefer to confide in their direct manager or supervisor. However, only 2.4% would speak to their HR department. Worryingly 17.3% claimed they would stay silent and keep their anxieties to themselves.

Systems vs. Freedom
Educational Implications?

Community college
By COLLEEN MAXWELLThe State News

NICK DENTAMARO · The State News

Kelly Dubiel signs "mother" at the Lansing Community College Library on Wednesday. Dubiel started her college career at LCC and fell in love with American Sign Language, or ASL, and deaf education. She then transferred to MSU to get her degree, simultaneously taking ASL classes during the spring semester at LCC. Her interest in sign language began early on in her life when her aunt's friend would show Dubiel flash cards from her ASL Interpreter Training Program.

Community colleges aren't just used as a stepladder into universities anymore.
Michigan's first two-year college, Grand Rapids Junior College, opened in 1914 with the intention of giving students a way to make an easier transition from high school to a university.
Ninety-three years later, 27 more public community colleges have opened in Michigan - from Bay de Noc Community College in Escanaba, to Monroe County Community College in Monroe - and MSU students are taking full advantage.

Get Inspired
'InSpire' magazine started by former FSU associate dean launches this summer
Liz Cox
Issue date: 6/11/07 Section: News

After eight years of researching with his graduate students, Lee Jones, a former Florida State University associate dean in the College of Education, found that there was an opening in the magazine industry for the inspirational and motivational market, and he created InSpire, a new national magazine aimed at sharing the motivational and inspiring stories of "everyday people.""I decided to start (the magazine) because when I looked around at what was happening in the world, I really felt that I had to look internally to see what I was doing to try to help ease the emotional pain and strife that people go through everyday as a result of looking at what was happening in the world," Jones said. "I thought that an inspirational magazine would help with achieving that goal."

For Your Consideration
Should Education Support the Search for Meaning?
C.G. Jung

Ohio Governor Calls for Revamp of Higher-Education System
chronicle.com

Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio issued a directive on Thursday calling for an overhaul of the state's higher-education system to better coordinate the work of colleges, adult career centers, and adult basic-literacy programs.

The directive calls for the higher-education system to be renamed the "University System of Ohio" and instructs its chancellor, Eric Fingerhut, to come up with a 10-year plan to improve institutional quality and affordability. Although the directive does not alter the governance structure of the system or its member institutions, both Governor Strickland and Chancellor Fingerhut said it would drastically alter how the system operates.

Study: eBooks could spark interest in reading Ball State researchers say wireless handheld devices might help engage reluctant readers
By Laura Devaney, Associate Editor, eSchool News
eSchool News

A team of researchers at Ball State University has released the results of a small-scale study suggesting that wireless handheld devices, or eBooks, could help encourage reading among students who are reluctant readers. August 2, 2007—Can the use of wireless handheld reading devices, or eBooks, in classrooms boost students’ interest in reading? According to a group of Ball State University researchers, the answer might be “yes.”

A team of graduate students led by Richard Bellaver, associate director of Ball State’s Center for Information and Communications Sciences, is in the midst of a multi-year study designed to test the effectiveness of the wireless handheld device as a reading tool. The team has released its latest study results, which suggest that many elementary students who have been ambivalent toward reading in the past have displayed enthusiasm for reading with the devices.

The Teachings of Krishnamurti jkrishnamurti.org

Letters to a Young Friend (23)

The mountains must be alone. It must be a lovely thing to have rain among the mountains and the rain drops on the placid lake. How the smell of the earth comes out when it rains and then there are the croakings of many frogs. There’s a strange enchantment in the tropics, when it rains. Everything is washed clean; the dust on the leaf is washed away; the rivers come to life and there is the noise of running waters.

The trees put out green shoots, there is the new wild grass where there was barren earth; insects by the thousands come out from nowhere and the parched earth is fed and the earth seems satisfied and at peace. The sun seems to have lost its penetrating quality and the earth has become green; a place of beauty and richness. Man goes on making his own misery, but the earth is rich once again and there is enchantment in the air.

It is strange how most people want recognition and praise—to be recognized as a great poet, as a philosopher, something that boosts one’s ego. It gives great satisfaction but it has very little meaning. Recognition feeds one’s vanity and perhaps one’s pocket, and then what? It sets one apart and separation breeds its own problems, ever increasing.

Though it may give satisfaction, recognition is not an end in itself. But most people are caught in the craving to be recognized, to fulfill, to achieve. And failure is then inevitable, with its accompanying misery. To be free of both success and failure is the real thing. From the beginning not to look for a result, to do the thing that one loves, and love has no reward or punishment. This is really a simple thing if there is love. From the beginning not to look for a result

Notions of Leadership

The phenomenon of leadership has existed within the spectrum of human interaction since times immemorial, its shifting tenants reflecting the needs of the age and of society. In nature things evolve and grow to better adapt to the demands of the environment, and leadership theory like nature, has evolved over the years to better adapt to the challenges of the age.

The role of leaders historically has been that of a guide, leading their followers, across the perils of the existential landscape. Questions of community survival, prosperity and even the meaning of life have all been areas of human experience in which leadership has historically addressed. As the condition and environments in which humankind has inhabited evolved so has the character of leadership.

“Leadership theories cycled from traits through contingency notions and back to leader styles and leader-member relations…” (Wren, 2004, pg.454). The theories and practices of any given age reflect the needs of society at the time.

Reference:

Wren, D. A. (2004). The history of management thought (5th ed.). New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Constructing Efficacy
Mental Focus and the Use of Routines

Education can be used as a tool to create self-efficacy and confidence. With each task successfully accomplished, the higher the level of belief grows. The greater one's level of self-confidence the easier it is for that person to learn new things. With confidence comes the mental freedom to focus one's energy on learning the task at hand rather than on one's perceived deficiencies.

Mental focus is also a matter of mental discipline, this can be nurtured through the use of routines and regimen. The patience and attention that adhering to a routine requires is an excellent training method for the core competencies needed in life and learning. Routines cannot of course take the place of dynamic engagement in the world as it is not meant to. Routines are meant to encourage a systematic focus and fortitude when addressing changing reality. Routines create a stable platform from which to launch one's excursions into the unknown.

An E-lightened Moment: Warriors & Scholars

"Where doth destiny lie, in the cathartic explosions of my pen? My minds eye sees the prize in which I strive.

I must resist the tides of boredom and fashion. Enough about you see through the distraction, gain traction on the cherished dreams and wishes in your life. Rely upon the real and vivid.

The auction of truth for shadows must end. Befriend the mettle that served champions of times past outlasts the pursuit of critical skepticism and the decorated pessimism of the realist.

Resist the slow death of conformity heroically face the tremendous unknown in a clash of wills and grit a destiny befit only for the spiritual warrior, the bold champion".

-R.L. Adams