In a webinar today, I spoke of a the importance of promoting gratitude in leadership. I attested to the profound power of mindfulness upon communities being served by leaders who demonstrate reflective practice. In ways, this blog is one of my own attempts to “practice what I preach.”
This week I’ve been listening to Sheku Kanneh- Mason, BBC’s Young Musician of the Year in 2016- he was the first Black musician to win the award since 1978. A British cellist, I find his music to be enchanting, and relaxing. I recommend listening to “Same Boat” (below) at your earliest convenience. It is a beautiful, collaborative piece that also reminds us of the value of working together.
I am pleased to leave you with this beautiful poem shared with my by one of our school leaders. Blessings on your week ahead!
Small Kindnesses by Denusha Laméris
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”
Keeping the Faith 