Alchemy

I think back on the many times I was witness to the Alchemy that occurred in my classroom as I taught Business or Maths. That moment where I was privileged to capture the spark of understanding coming to life in a student.

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On arriving back from the seashore In the dusk on Christmas Eve ,my heart was full of feelings of the Magic that always seems around on this special day. I had just watched a magnificent sun set on Galway Bay and to my delight I found a gift waiting for me on my doorstep. The child in me yearned to open it but the adult me took time to light up the tree and sit in the glow of its lights.
Inside the wrapping I found a poem written by my friend that she so generously dedicated to me. This gift evoked feelings of magic and joy that I would later see reflected in my grandchildren’s eyes the next morning as they shared and celebrated the wonder of their new toys gifted to them by the much awaited Santa. On this evening I glimpsed what Seamus Heaney meant when he wrote the lines, “ And catch the heart off guard and blow it open”

Reading my friend's poem in the early days of February as I look out at the snowdrops popping their fragile selves above the cold clay Im reflecting on the word Alchemist that my dear friend uses in her dedication of this poem to me. I think back on the many times I was witness to the Alchemy that occurred in my classroom as I taught Business or Maths. That moment where I was privileged to capture the spark of understanding coming to life in a student. Moments I knew that there was a lot more going on than the teaching of concepts or ideas.
That spark or excitement I often recall as I talk to past pupils who share with me their passions and creativity they now bring to their family lives and to their varied careers.

Us educators were so privileged to accompany so many young people in their journeys of becoming lifetime learners. Now as I sit with an individual or a group I am blown away,time and time again, by the Alchemy happening in my presence as I witness the Dawning in them of their own gifts of Creativity that they were born with. Daring to believe enough in themselves to honour, to voice and to begin birthing their own Artist within that leads them to following their Dreams in ways they could never have imagined possible. My friend captures this so well when she writes:

“Something within heard the quiet note of belief.
It travelled by stealth and took root in our cells.
Plants slowly turning to face the daylight.
Nothing happened and everything changed”

I suggest the Nothing that happened is the Alchemy at work....Margie

Immunity

Where did we go to on Wednesdays at 8,
with a book and a pen and talk of a date?
To mull over pages and worries and hopes,
feelings reflected in a room of kind faces.
Each item considered with humour and tact
and a nonchalant faith in our power to act.

Something within heard the quiet note of belief.
It travelled by stealth and took root in our cells.
Plants slowly turning to face the daylight.
Nothing happened and everything changed.

It's been too long since we met on a Wednesday at 8,
with a book and a pen and talk of a date.
But we've learnt that the effect of tea and community
provided a strong and lasting immunity.

 

Dedicated to Margie,
the alchemist,

24th December 2020

Service 1, Service 2, Service 3

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Once Upon A Time

"Unknown to us, there are moments,
When crevices we cannot see open,
For time to come alive with beginning.”

John O’Donohue

"Unknown to us, there are moments,When crevices we cannot see open,For time to come alive with beginning.”John O’Donohue

Alchemy

I think back on the many times I was witness to the Alchemy that occurred in my classroom as I taught Business or Maths. That moment where I was privileged to capture the spark of understanding coming to life in a student.

I think back on the many times I was witness to the Alchemy that occurred in my classroom as I taught Business or Maths. That moment where I was privileged to capture the spark ...

The Landing Pier

Finding beauty and security in a special place during trouble times.

Finding beauty and security in a special place during trouble times.

In Ten Thousand Years...

Awakening to the gifts in living as the mountains of certainty crumble around us. 

Awakening to the gifts in living as the mountains of certainty crumble around us.