MIAGD: Make it a great day

Many years ago, one of my all time favorite studio parents, Robin Taylor, told her three children, Joe, Rebecca, and Christopher, “Don’t ever let anyone rent space in your brain.”

Perfect.

I’d always used Eleanor Roosevelt’s, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Mrs. Roosevelt’s framed poster portrait and quote over power my study for students to see.

Robin’s statement said pretty much the same thing but in a more practical way for teens and times.

Think how often little items can take up so much space in our brains. It is up to us to decide what to save or delete, it’s a choice.

Think of those days when we feel we are looking our best and filled with energy. We get to work, school, or where ever, and someone says, “Oh, you look tired.” We don’t feel tired. Does this person know something we don’t? A little later someone else also says we look tired, or they ask if we feel well. What eventually happens: we give ourselves permission to feel tired.

It happens all the time.

I know that for me, 2:00 PM each afternoon is my biggest adversary. I’ve had lunch, I’m often in between morning and afternoon/evening lessons, and 2:00 PM appears like a siren beckoning me, lulling me to the rocky seashores of slumber. I fight to be productive and to forge on through the day. Sometimes the Nap Siren wins, only because I permit it to do so.

My students deal with all types of brain tenants that wish to prey on their self-confidence. They deal with nerves, feelings of inadequacy, or the dreaded bully who desires to sabotage their confidence in order to move ahead of them.

They receive Robin Taylor’s mantra: never let anyone rent space in your brain.

Own your mind.

Make it a great day, Folks!