Saturday, May 24, 2014

Counting the Omer, Day 29

A few weeks ago, one of my math students asked an intriguing question.

I will paraphrase:
"Imagine I am in a situation in which I know I will be reactive instead of proactive.  Perhaps the situation seems frighteningly difficult, or an annoying waste of time.

"Given that I am reactive, how can I react better?  What views or habits would help me?"
That seemed an excellent question.

I started an e-mail conversation with my LCC colleagues.  Someone recommended this chart from Skip Downing's book On Course, so I read most of that book from the LCC library.

I also pulled together a bunch of my ideas from my studies of appropriate masculinity, even though this was a pedagogical project.

The result is my new essay on reacting well.

My image for someone who reacted well is the Brave Little Tailor.


I would love to find a more appropriate opposite literary character.  In my essay I strain and compare him to a Damsel in Distress even though they are not classic "reactive avoiders".  They do not try something, take a time out to recover, and repeats the exact same behavior hoping for more success.


After writing that essay I have been paying attention to where in my own life I need to react better.

I do fairly well, but have been learning to do better with how to use a to-do list in ways that (for me) make it harder to procrastinate activities that are scary because they are new.

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