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July 14, 2013 In Uncategorized

The Demise of Cursive Writing

Affirmation: I am a life-long learner.

The
conversation with my children was about writing. It wasn’t about creative writing, it was
about penmanship. Well there’s an old
fashioned word. I didn’t know how outdated
it was until we had this discussion. I
was informed by my adult daughter, Melissa, that cursive writing was no longer
part of the core curriculum in the North Carolina school system. After the third grade, children are not
taught how to write long-hand. I’m still
in shock. I’ve been writing three pages
of long-hand in my journal every morning for over fifteen years. My adult son, Joey, went onto say that he
almost never uses a pen or a pencil.
When he does, he finds them awkward to use. His writing method is almost always a keyboard. Penmanship is no longer considered an
essential life skill.

That
certainly wasn’t true when I was in school.
The cursive alphabet was on long strips of black paper resting above the
black board. Yes, the board was black,
not white and we used chalk not erasable magic markers. There were several lines on the paper and
each one was a height that determined where a loop, a “t”, an
“i” or a capital letter was to land on the page. We were handed blank lined pages and the
students tried to copy the letters onto the paper from the form above the
boards. We used number 2 pencils with
erasers. I loved it! I liked the form and the lines for guidance
and the feel of the pencil on the paper and I loved seeing the letters take
shape and appear on the page. I became a
math teacher later in life. I was never
much for coloring outside the lines so it seems fairly understandable why I
liked the rigid format that was used to learn cursive.

I’ve
always been fascinated by hand writing.
Some is so legible and others completely illegible. Some is neat and clean and others are
sloppy. Some is flowery and others are
straight up and down. People have made a
living “reading” hand writing.
They are supposed to be able to figure out a person’s personality from
what their hand writing looks like. Not
anymore! Did you ever watch a detective
show where the sleuth looked at a type written note and determined whether
someone was right handed or left handed because of how some of the letters
appeared darker; they had been hit harder by the dominant hand? Not anymore!
I went to summer school to learn how to type. My mother told me it was an invaluable life
skill. She was right! The key board I use today is laid out exactly
the same as the one that was on my manual typewriter. If you don’t know what a typewriter looks
like, Google it. But, they don’t teach typing in school anymore
either. I think it comes already hard
wired in the brains of anyone born after 1990.
I’ve seen two year olds working a computer key board.

Reading,
writing and arithmetic were the three “Rs” that we were told were the
core skills we would need for life. The
question about why we needed to learn mathematics when most people would never
use it once they were out of school is decades old. As a math teacher, I sometimes wondered the
same thing but I knew the value of making the brain work in different ways and
for me there was always a great satisfaction in solving a problem correctly. I loved solving the “puzzle.” But,
it’s true; most people didn’t have any use for Algebra or Geometry or Trig.
once they have finished with the class.
Now, most people don’t even need to know the basics of math. There’s a calculator on every phone. It appears to be one more life skill we no
longer need.

So, that
leaves reading as the last core skill we were told we needed. I can’t imagine not reading. I love a good
book. Recently I had cataract surgery
and the lenses that were implanted were determined by whether or not I read
books and papers regularly or if I read from a computer. Can you imagine not being able to read? There are organizations dedicated to teaching
adults how to read. It seems it still is
an essential life skill. But, I wonder
will that always be true? Recently, I
downloaded an app called OverDrive. It
allows me to connect to my library and to download audio books onto my phone or
iPad. I can then listen to the book
wherever and whenever I want. I know
there have been audio books for decades but now they are prolific and free; for
many it’s their preferred way to “read” a book. What does this foretell?

If we
don’t need to learn the three “Rs” any longer, what do we need to
learn or even more important, what do we need to be teaching? What are the schools focusing on that is
preparing our young people to live meaningful, productive lives? We have several people in the family who have
been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder.
I know it is more commonly diagnosed today than ever before. I’m not sure if it’s because more people
struggle with it or because we’re more knowledgeable about it. My youngest grandson was really struggling in
his traditional middle school because of ADD.
We were fortunate to find a small private local school that had a
different, more hands-on approach to learning.
Once there he blossomed both mentally and emotionally. His learning “style” needed a place
with a different environment in order for it to take root. What is he learning at his new school that is
different from the other one? He’s
learning how to learn.

Let’s
face it all the information we need or want to learn is available to us
in one form or another. Today it’s even
more readily available because of our access to the Internet. I am in awe of the range of information
available online. There are lessons on
everything! There are lessons about
things I probably don’t want know anything about. I have, however, looked up music lessons and
how to fix different things. My son uses
the Internet to renovate equipment, like boats, cars, engines and all sorts of
electronic equipment. The other day our
refrigerator broke down and the first thing we did, after throwing away the
perishables was to go online to see if we could diagnose it and fix it
ourselves. Owen is always telling me
about different places he’s never been to or about scientific data he’s looked
up. It’s beyond exciting! Back in March of 2013 he pretended to be a
reporter and interviewed Galileo about his theories. My husband, Sandy, played the role of the
famous scientist. It was for Owen’s
science project. Everyone learned
something and it was fun.

I’d like
to think that our educational system is closely examining what our young people
need to learn in order to be productive healthy citizens. What do you think the new core skills should
be? It seems to me one of the most
important ones would be to learn how to learn.
Owen is an experiential learner.
Once he discovered that, he found he can learn whatever he wants. I am mainly an auditory learner. If I had known that earlier on, learning
would have come a lot easier to me. Some
of us are visual; others need a variety of approaches. Once we’ve learned how
to gather the information, the rest is just doing it. But what other core skills do we want our
children to master? What are the
essential life skills? If it’s true we
learn all we need to know in Kindergarten, what are we doing with the rest of
our years of schooling? How about
focusing on the Golden Rule? “Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you.” How about the Ten Commandments? What about relationship skills: how to
resolve conflict, how to create community, how to get your needs met without
hurting another? What if the three
“Rs” morphed into the three “Cs”: compassion, communication
and cooperation?

Yes, we
still need to know how to read and write, if not in cursive than at least we
need to know how to compose a grammatically correct sentence. But, the key to all of this is it’s not so
much what we learn but that we do learn and not just while we’re in school but
for as long as we’re alive. Expand your
knowledge. Go out there and learn about
life, learn about living, learn whatever it is that makes you feel fully
alive. Then perhaps you’ll write about
it. Perhaps you’ll share it with the
world. Who knows maybe someday someone
will download it and listen to it.

February 24, 2013 In Uncategorized

Let Go of Worry

Affirmation: I let go of worry.

She just announced she’s going to Cuba. It’s not her first trip. She’s gone there before. My first thought is “She is so brave.” My second thought is “I hope she has a safe trip.” My third thought goes to my greatest fear, “I hope she’s not abducted by a band of rebel guerrillas and made to traipse through the jungle where she gets all wrinkled and dies ugly.” Worry. I’m already worrying about her safety and for that matter, my safety and I’m not even going.

My mediation reading this morning was about worry. It said worrying about something was akin to having a headache and banging your head against a wall to get rid of it. I can be an active headbanger but I have decided to stop worrying. I have decided to give up worry for Lent. Do you think that’s possible?

The famous comedienne George Burns once did a whole routine about worry. He said he gave up worry when he realized how futile it was. “It serves no purpose to worry about something you can’t do anything about and if you’re worried about something you can do something about, well just go do it!”

My paternal grandmother developed Alzheimer’s at a very young age. She died at the age of 72. I believe they first started to notice a change in behavior at the age of 55. I now bring communion for my church to an Alzheimer’s unit. Most of the residents are women. I began worrying about getting Alzheimer’s when I first heard it could be hereditary. I was in my early 30’s. I even considered getting some sort of long term care health insurance. I shared my concern with my young teenage daughter. Her response, “Oh, Mom, that’s so silly. By the time your that age, they’ll have a cure for it.” I stopped worrying. She was wrong, but it didn’t matter. I was able to let it go.

Worry can permeate our lives like a cancer, slowly growing without our ever recognizing the detrimental affect it is having. Not only does it undermine our sense of peace but physically it causes the body’s sympathetic nervous system to release stress hormones such as cortisol. It is natural to be concerned about our lives but there is a difference between concern and obsession. Once we become obsessed with a concern we are in a place that won’t allow us to clearly view our situation, we become muddled. It truly is a useless exercise, waisting so much of our precious energy. Sometimes, however, all the positive thinking in the world will not decrease your anxiety. There is a condition known as Generalized Anxiety Disorder and it is treatable with medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. It’s not always just in our mind, sometimes it’s chemical and in order to turn things around, one may need some additional assistance.

Last week a meteor, the size of a school bus, 10,000 tons with the power of an atomic bomb, landed in Russia. A number of people died. There were numerous videos of it streaking across the early morning skies. It appears all the cars in Russia have cameras on them to record any accident that takes place. The cameras are designed to act as a third, impartial witness. I couldn’t help wonder how many people that day were worrying about an asteroid landing on them? In my husband’s book, Humanity at Work, he tells the story of the fish and the pelican. There’s the fish swimming along watching out for the barracuda or some other predator when along comes a pelican and swoops it up, a creature from another universe totally foreign to the fish’s world. We have no idea what life is going to present us with, a meteor or perhaps a pelican. I felt like a meteor landed on my life when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. I know I speak for many when I say that many of the physical diagnosis we receive come as total shocks. Sometimes they are conditions we have never even heard about. We may not even be able to pronounce them or perhaps we have heard about them but never considered they would affect us. Truly, if we really wanted to worry all the time, I’m sure we could make up lots of stuff. Actually, most of our worries are fantasy driven because we can never know what the future will bring, we can only guess. Let go of your concerns for the future, focus on the now.

This is one of the wonderful side effects of prayer and mediation. When we have a practice that brings us back to the present, we can use it in times of concern to recognize we have jumped off into the unknown and to bring ourselves back to the here and now. Prayer and the belief in a benevolent God can bring great peace.

In Conversation with God, Father Francis Fernandez addresses the passage from Matt 6:34, Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day. He goes on to say, “What matters is today. Worry magnifies the difficulties and diminishes our ability to fulfill the duty of the present moment. We can live only in the present. Anxieties almost always arise because we fail to put all our effort into the here and now.” If we believe we will be given the graces we need in order to contend with anything that crops up. We will be victorious!

Perhaps with continued practice, I will let go of worry. Perhaps I will even be able to celebrate in my friend’s trip to Cuba and instead of feeling anxious about it, send her along with heartfelt blessings and a vision of a wonderful adventure.

February 10, 2013 In Uncategorized

Nurturing Relationships

Affirmation: My friends bless my life, I accept them as
they are and treasure their relationships with me.

I like people. When I’ve taken the Meyers Briggs Personality Test,
I come out evenly between the introvert and the extrovert. The test doesn’t
tell you how well you relate to people, but whether or not you get energy from
being with people or being alone. The goal is to find a middle ground. For me,
I need some of both and the challenge can be finding that balance.

I remember when I was in graduate school getting my Masters in
Social Work. My very first course was taught by a dynamite young woman. She was
so energetic and knowledgeable. It was a fun and interesting course. She came
in one day and it was immediately noticeable to me that she was not her usual
self. She went on to teach the class. It was a three hour class. As the class
progressed, she seemed to be feeling better. Her energy level seemed to be
rising and she seemed to be enjoying the process more and more. When the class
ended, I took the time to chat with her and I asked her how she was feeling.
She told me she felt great but that when she had first arrived for the class,
she had a migraine headache. Teaching the class had helped her eliminate the
headache.

I, too, am a migraine sufferer. I’ve had a few “doozies.” I can
tell you, standing in front of a classroom for three hours and teaching would
not be the way for me to eradicate a headache. I need medication and a dark,
quiet room. I decided there and then, this woman was getting her energy in a
very different way than I was. She’s probably a high level extrovert.

I work very hard at staying connected to my family and friends. I
know how important it is for my psychological and physical well-being. It’s
easier sometimes than others. I seem to be able to putter around the house
forever. I love a day when I have nothing scheduled and I get to go about town
doing my errands and perhaps stopping somewhere fun for a quiet lunch and an
opportunity to people watch.

Sometimes I fall into the trap of finding fault with my family and
my friends. But, how does that improve the quality of my life? If I’m finding
fault with them, what are they thinking about me, if they’re thinking anything
at all? I want to simply enjoy my relationships, even those casual ones that
come from interacting with people who are working to help me with all my
different projects and errands. I want to like and to appreciate everyone. I
know that isn’t feasible but I can make an effort.

When I heard the story about an elderly woman’s funeral who had
kept a Prayer Pouch, I was intrigued. It
appears she had only lived in her new community a short while but was very
involved in the lives of all those with whom she interacted. When people shared a concern, she would write
it out and put it in her Prayer Pouch. She then made an effort to reconnect
with the person to see how they were doing. Her funeral, I was told, had people
from every phase of her life; they were from the grocery store, the deli, the
church and the restaurants she frequented.
She was described to me as a saint because of her positive effect on the
world. She was a missionary in her own
part of the world. She cared and so
people cared about her.

Relationships can be a tricky thing. I think most of our problems
and issues relate to our relationships. There have certainly been a million
books about them and how to improve them or deal with them, or understand them.
Some of the most famous TV shows revolved around relationships: Seinfeld, All
in the Family, Raymond and my favorite, The Golden Girls. How do you do with your relationships? Are
you more at ease with strangers or in your family circle?

I’ve been married a long time, almost 43 years at this writing.
Every so often, my husband, Sandy, speaks about his “good friend” and then he
gives me a name. I cannot tell you how many times I have not had a clue who the
person is that he has mentioned. One day, I asked him how come he thought of so
many people as being his “good friend.” He told me, he chose to think of them
that way. He chose to think about and refer to many of his acquaintances as
good friends. Sandy is an unusual man in many ways but one quality he has which
I have been told by friends that their husbands do not have, is he has a huge
range of friends and he does a remarkable job of keeping in touch with most of
them. I loved the idea that he also claimed them as his good friends. Why not?
How we think about others is very often how they think about us. I believe it
must be very unusual to have someone in our lives that we dislike that likes
us.

I’ve had my struggles. I try hard to get along with everyone but I
find some to be easier than others. I have a friend who refers to herself as a
“low maintenance” friend. It’s the truth isn’t it? Some people we simply flow
along with, others are often trying to pull us upstream. In Conversation with God, the author talks about
“affability.” He says it’s not a trait most pay attention to but when it’s
missing, it’s always noticeable. It’s
defined as the ability to be kind, pleasant and gracious. I have found one way
to appreciate people is to simply accept them for the way they are, not to
judge. I value the people in my life and along with valuing them, offer up
prayers for their well-being and for that of their loved ones. If I choose to
believe my friends bless my life, they will. If I choose to believe they are
draining my energy and causing me angst that too will be true. Once again, it
depends on me and the way I choose to think. I want to be affable to all the
people in my life and I hope they will respond in kind.

http://www.santocosta.com/

October 21, 2012 In Uncategorized

Reach Your Full Potential

Affirmation: I encourage my loved ones to reach their full potential.

This week I am sharing what my husband of many years wrote about his 2012 experience at the JCC Folk School. I am so excited to know he has decided to use his hands more often to get in touch with his creative self. I usually have a whole list of things for him on the weekends, all of which involve some sort of “hands on” activity. I can’t wait to tell him my affirmation and encourage him to reach his full potential. I know he’ll be so excited!

“Look at what I made!” The Hand Teaches the Mind Many Useful Things

Posted on October 13, 2012by Santo Costa

Last week I made the wooden bowl pictured here. Crafting this bowl is one of my most satisfying accomplishments in quite some time. It’s also a surprise that I could actually do it, adding to the pleasure and humor of the thing. At this point you may be saying to yourself, “This poor guy has lived a pretty shallow, uninteresting life.” But hear me out. The point is that I made the bowl with my hands.
Jean Anne and I have just returned from our annual pilgrimage to the John C. Campbell Folk School, at Brasstown, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, far from the city. The school is one of the most creative learning centers in the country. Based on the Danish folk school model, it was founded in 1925 by John Campbell’s wife, Olive. Today it provides year-round weeklong and weekend classes for adults in craft, art, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography, and writing. As the school’s literature says, students’ experiences “in non-competitive learning and community life are joyful and enlivening”–exactly what we needed!

Folk schools are non-competitive, allowing students to learn at their own rate. As the website explains, “The folkehojskole (folk school) had long been a force in the rural life of Denmark. These schools-for-life helped transform [the people of] the Danish countryside into a vibrant, creative force. The Campbells . . . establish[ed] such a school in the rural southern United States as an alternative to the higher-education facilities that drew young people away from the family farm.”
This year I took a course in wood turning. I was taught by two highly skilled instructors how to carve a bowl out of a quartered log, a piece of wood in all ways similar to countless pieces of fuel I feed to our wood-burning stove with nary a thought. Another thing that was so remarkable is that at first I couldn’t imagine where the bowl “resided in” the piece of wood. Slowly, by starting out on the project though feeling I was working somewhat in the dark, I learned to see. And I recalled that after Michelangelo had completed his “David,” he was asked to explain how he’d taken a raw block of marble and carved the elegant yet strong figure of the young man. “He was in there,” the sculptor replied. “As I carved the marble away, piece by piece, I simply set him free—and there he stands.”
I chuckled to myself at that thought, knowing my 3-D imaginative gifts were far from the Italian master’s. But as I worked on the lathe, learning patience and focus, slowly finding the bowl’s best nature and adapting my hand and eye to what in nature that might be, I found myself becoming engrossed in the activity. I was soon completely caught in the moment. And I started to see, too, how therapeutic it is to work with your hands, bringing your own hands and eyes, your own energy into harmony with nature’s energy.

There is a frequent match play—a verbal game, where we fence about unanswerable, and in most cases highly impractical, questions—“What is more difficult, more trying, to work with your hands or be making a living in a manner that is less physical, more brainy?” My answer is who cares? Particularly because there is a cultural elitism that believes folks who work with their hands are a notch below cerebral wage-earners. Rather, I suggest that a more rewarding exploration would be to reflect on which type of work is more nurturing? And, following on that, how can we make the other type of work, the head-centered kind, more nurturing too?
Understand that I am not suggesting that we slide out of our current vocations and apprentice to a blacksmith or a cobbler or a wheelwright. What I am suggesting is that instead of relying on the latest self-help book to right a teetering psyche via reading the book, a mental activity, let’s think about making a quilt or binding a book—really! When Charles Darwin was worrying over a difficult issue, he would go into his garden and weed the flower beds. Winston Churchill built stone fences when his decisions and responsibilities were weighing too heavily. Surely you know countless individuals who have been eager to retire into a more intensive study and practice of their favorite hobby, often one that caused them to create things with their eyes and hands in concert.
The fact is that working with our hands is one of the most powerful forms of meditation I can imagine. When you turn wood as it spins on the lathe and your cutting tool unearths the layers of cellulose fibers, you see a constantly changing symphony of rings. Colors appear against a background as you discover embedded knots and imperfections. Can you imagine a more magical way to employ your hands and your mind! And all of this benefit is without even mentioning the obvious: at the end of the project, you have made something new, something fine that wasn’t there before; and since you are now an artisan, not an artist, the new creation is beautiful and useful.
Because of my experience at the folk school, I’ve come to see that the best way to flourish at your thought-work daily is to make sure you take time daily, or perhaps for a good part of the weekend, to work with your hands. If your business has a mission of understanding more closely the world or some aspect thereof while improving the lives of others—and whose does not?—then work toward completing that mission by sculpting, building, making something every week. Here’s why: J. Bronowski, in his 1973 book The Ascent of Man, writes that “Discovery is a double relation of analysis and synthesis together. As an analysis, it probes for what is there; but then, as a synthesis, it puts the parts together in a form by which the creative mind transcends the bare limits, the bare skeleton, that nature provides. . . . Thus, we have to understand that the world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation” or intellectual problem-solving at our desks or in conference. “The hand is more important than the eye,” Bronowski concludes.

As I turned the lathe and carved my bowl last week, I was practicing bringing together analysis and synthesis of sensed data—wood, carving tool, force, motion, my hand in time—to make and do something—learning a practice that will help me to do a better and healthier job daily in what some people call my real work. But now I know that there’s more to preparing for that work than I thought. Plus, Jean Anne and I have a light-filled wooden bowl to use in our house.

September 1, 2012 In Uncategorized

Passionate for Freedom

Affirmation: I
fully recognize and appreciate the gift of living in a free country and having
the right to make my choices known.

“Our passions are the winds that propel our vessel. Our reason is
the pilot that steers her. Without winds the vessel would not move and without
a pilot she would be lost.“ Proverbs

Have you ever watched a political convention? Politics is not my favorite
subject, to say the least. I am a
moderate, a middle of the road citizen.
I can usually see both sides of an issue and that can leave me very
confused about for whom I should vote. I
don’t have a very successful record either.
If a friend or family members favors someone for office they would be
wise to encourage me to vote for the opponent.
I can’t ever remember voting for the winner in a major election. But, I always vote. I may not always be as well informed as I’d
like to be, but I always go and cast my vote.
I try, I really do try to gather as much information as possible. I read about the different people, sometimes
I go to meet them but I’ve never been so impressed or enamored by a candidate
that I was sure I was making the best decision.
The best decision for whom; for me, for my country, for the world?

When I vote I feel like that in itself is the best decision, the
decision to exercise my right to vote.
When I read about and listen to the sacrifices our ancestors have made
and the oppression that exists in so many countries today, I fully recognize
the gift I have been given with the opportunity to choose those I want to
represent me, my city, state and country.

I pray daily for wisdom for our world leaders. There seems to be so many politicians whose
only concern is their power and their prestige.
Perhaps, that’s why I’m not very passionate about politics. I don’t have much faith in the people who
chose to be politicians. I can’t imagine
what drives so many of them to put themselves so far out into the public’s
eye. I wonder, so often, if it’s not
simply a grand ego trip. I want to
believe that a person who is running for office is more concerned about me, his
or her constituent, than he or she is about themselves.

When I watch the conventions, the men and women who present
themselves with passion about their concerns and about their desires to uplift
and empower us, their represented, I am almost relieved, relieved that someone
comes across with what I think is a genuine spirit. But, it’s the people, the audience with whom
I am so fascinated. I am sure there is a
selection process for those attendees.
I’m sure some have been going for years; maybe it’s a family
tradition. I know in many ways it’s a
fun experience. I’ve been to several
business conventions. The energy
generated by a group of people with a common goal is always palpable.

In 2010 my husband, Sandy, was a keynote speaker for Toastmasters
International in Las Vegas. It’s an
amazing organization and we were very excited to be there. There were over 2000 people there from all
over the world. We met people from
Africa, Asia, Australia and places that began with many other letters besides
“A.” It was 3 days of high energy, lots
of stories and shared visions. I would
imagine being at a political convention would be similar.

Passion is the world that comes to mind when I watch the people
in attendance. Passion! They must truly love and care about the
process we have here in the United States to decide our own destiny and they
must believe completely in that process.
They have devoted time, energy and talent to participate in the
process. I find it inspiring. I believe we all need passion in our lives.

Passion is that quality of life that keeps our hearts beating and
our spirits soaring. I believe being
passionate about our country, even with its zits, is a worthy pursuit, a just
passion. I am proud to be an
American. I am grateful to live in a
land of peace and freedom. I believe the
United States is a place where dreams can come true. I am grateful to be a woman living here in
the United States rather than in some oppressive regime. I believe in our compassion as a people and a
nation. I value the sacrifices so many
Americans have made and continue to make to help others both here and throughout
the world.

Vote? For whom will I
vote? That’s not as important as if I
will vote. That choice, no that
obligation, is one thing about which I am passionate. There once was an article in USA Today stating
that thousands of Americans don’t vote. They simply don’t care or they don’t believe
it can make a difference. Men and women
have died, are dying, punished and even imprisoned because they want, they
demand, the right to have a voice in their destiny. Yes, I will not let this gift, this opportunity
go unused, unappreciated, The United States of America is the greatest country
in the world. And, I for one, will
exercise my privilege and hope and pray that I am casting a vote for someone
with passion who will work and lead my country and perhaps our world towards
the highest and best we can possibly be.
I hope you will join me.

July 13, 2012 In Uncategorized

Field of Dreams

Affirmation: “If I can imagine it, I can achieve it; if I can dream it, I can become it.”

“If you build it, they will come.” Do you remember that phrase? It was used in the movie Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner. He was a farmer in Iowa who kept seeing the spirits of old baseball players in his corn field. He decided to mow down his crop and build a baseball field for his spiritual visitors. Most people thought he was crazy but he went ahead anyway and at the end of the movie, they show lines of cars coming to his farm to see, well, I guess they’re hoping to see what Kevin was seeing, the late, great baseball players.

Over the years, I’ve been fascinated by people who decide to build a field of dreams somewhere hoping, sometimes expecting, people to come. One example of this is my fiddle teacher. She’s a marvelous teacher and a wonderful person. A few years back, she decided she’d sponsor a fiddle class at our local Senior Center. Now, how many older adults do you think there are who want to learn to play the fiddle? It didn’t seem to matter to Mara. The center told her she needed to have at least 4 people for the class to happen. Four people signed up. Some weeks only one person was there and that didn’t matter to Mara. She was always there. It’s been about four years now that she’s been having her Thursday morning class. Four years and every year there are more students attending. This year, we are up to six fiddlers. And, there’s little doubt that every year, there will be more and more of us.

Another example of this is the water aerobics class at my mountain community. We “lost” our instructor four years back. So, one of our members offered to facilitate the class. She’d never taught before but she’d taken a lot of water classes and it was her main form of exercise. She has an issue or two with her back and she’s never injured herself in the water. She’s been sponsoring this class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning during the summer months for a few years now. If no one comes, she exercises alone. Initially, there were about six of us. We couldn’t figure out why everyone wasn’t there; it’s such a wonderful experience. She’s a marvelous teacher. Now, three years later about fifteen people are attending. She built the “field” in the water and people are definitely interested.

I know it’s true that people may not come to what you think is a good idea even if you’re willing to dedicate yourself to it. At one point in our lives, my daughter and I opened a stationery store. We had it for five years. We were there every day except Sunday and we were knowledgeable and very responsive to our customer’s needs but during those five years, the popularity of the internet blossomed. We found we were a great place in which people could actually see and touch the product that interested them but then they’d go home and buy it online from a large distributor. Sometimes they actually brought it back to us if they weren’t satisfied or if they had made a mistake in ordering. There was nothing we could do except to encourage them to order it from us. We guaranteed all our work. The internet sold our products for less retail than we could buy them wholesale. By the time we closed the store, we had days when we wondered if we had forgotten to take down the “closed” sign. But, if we hadn’t tried at all, we would have never known and we would have missed out on an experience that for the most part we really enjoyed.

When I decided to have a beach retreat for women breast cancer survivors (PinkRibbonYogaRetreat.org) I wasn’t sure anyone would come. I had no idea if anyone else would be interested or if I could find people that would want to help. At our first meeting a dozen people showed up and volunteered to help. Our first year we had brochures and flyers that we distributed anywhere we could. We had about 23 women attend. In our eighth year we merely opened registration up online and we had 35 women register almost immediately. That’s our maximum number, 35. I wish we could take anyone who wants to come and so far that’s what we’ve been doing but this year, we had to close registration. It made me sad but just like the fiddle class and the water aerobics, we had built our “field of dreams” and people are coming.

Do you think that most successes are determined by sheer dedication and determination? I often think of Thomas Alva Edison and the fact that it took him 12 years and 1000 tries to develop the light bulb. How about Pistol Pete Maravich, one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He never put the basketball down. He slept with it. He could spin it on his hand for over an hour without stopping. Sister Mary Margaret of A Place for Women to Gather had a dream. She was the first in her community to create a place for women to share their insight and knowledge. As of 2012 A Place has been opened for ten years, serving hundreds of women in their quest for personal and spiritual growth.

My husband is one of my heroes. His dedication and determination has led him to professional and personal success beyond that of most people. We often find ourselves looking around at our life and being awed by the blessings we’ve reaped. Blessings that came from hard work and integrity and a close connection with our God. Sandy is now on his 3rd or 4th career. I’ve lost count. He’s become a motivational speaker. He wrote a book called Humanity at Work; encouraging spirit, achievement and truth to flourish in the workplace. And then he began building his “field.” I was fascinated to watch him go about creating and pursuing his dream. There is little doubt in my mind that the day will come when people will be lining up to hire him for their inspiration and education. (You can find him at: www. SantoCosta.com.) In fact, many people have already discovered him.

I am sure you too can think of many examples of “true dreams.” Some may be of famous people, some may be those of friends and family. “If you build it, they will come.” What about you? What have you thought about creating? What have you already created? Do you have a dream you’re willing to commit to? “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.” (William Arthur Ward)