Learning for Lifetime

Last week, during one particularly stress-filled time, someone shared a little science with me. As she listened to my dilemma, she drew a little diagram on a piece of paper. She said, "Let me show you something about how the brain works." In my mind, I thought "Yeah, yeah, I know I've heard all about the brain...I AM a teacher, after all." But, when she turned the clipboard around and expose her rough sketch, I knew I was seeing something I've never thought about before:

She showed me a sketch that looked a little like the one above and said, "When the emotions/feelings get BIG, the brain gets really small and the ears fall off." I let it sink in and really thought about it.

It's true. It's ageless. It happens to kids. It happens to adults. When we let our emotions take control, our ability to think and reason (that amazing brain) shrinks and we often lose the skills we need to listen. The key, she went on, is to achieve balance. It's not that we want to be emotionless...we just want to have a balance between reasoning and emotion which allows us to really listen.

It's a lesson I needed to hear that day. It's something I am trying to remember as I navigate the waters I'm in lately. And it's something that I am remembering when dealing with kids (my own or others).

This morning, my prayer was, "Help me balancee, Lord. Make my emotions the size they SHOULD be without taking over everything else. Help me to reason when I need to do so. And most of all, may my ears stay attached so I can hear what I need to hear."