Ultimately this is what we do each day, choose love over fear. Our brains are wired to process fear first so it takes conscious effort but it’s the difference between living a reactive life, or one you create. Do you lead with emotion or thought? Fear center or amygdala? Numbat or Human? This is the foundation of the decisions we make each day, the outcomes of which are vastly different. It is a choice so choose wisely.
With the advent of smartphones, we are now walking around with front row tickets to the worst of humanity, designed to capture your fear response and provide intermittent dopamine hits so we become addicted. But of course, we are already predisposed to fear! Our brain’s number one job is to keep us safe! We MUST scan our environment for…saber-toothed tigers? NO! Negativity!
Our negative bias has shaped the narrative of our world and how we face problems, ultimately leading to them expand, not contract. Examples: Anti-bullying (a double negative that ultimately worsens the problem, with a closed fist coming at you as a logo to boot!); WAR ON DRUGS (in the ’70’s) that has created the an explosion of availability and overdoses that continue to escalate – literally a war being waged on us from within; HATE has NO place here (nice thought but the first word you see and most likely takeaway is HATE!); Active Shooter Training (ALICE) and hardening of schools for school shooting (they continue), etc. You get the picture.
The CHOOSE LOVE MINDSET is one that is self-aware.
You think about what you think about, and choose love over fear. Life is this beautiful thing that it gives you the opportunity to practice many times a day!
The problem with education, and even parenting these days is that there is not enough informed leadership. A leader is the perfect definition of an educator – someone who makes their charges successful. It’s the first person to step off (literally its foundational meaning in dance).
Lisa MacKenzie is a fantastic example of this. She was charged with stopping the school to prison pipeline in her school district and Choose Love (literally and figuratively.) Parents are fearful their children will harm themselves and subjugate, educators are fearful they will lose their jobs and thus don’t embrace life skills, even for themselves!
Shae Owens and Aleshia Fleming, Texas Ambassadors, have been Choosing Love in their school district for almost 5 years and it’s been LOTS OF WORK, but the reward is in the children’s faces and their future. Also within themselves, knowing they did the right thing, the path less taken that helps and heals themselves as well.
Laura Emerson, the first teacher in the WORLD to Choose Love and led the creation of the curriculum almost 10 years ago, is a courageous leader. In fact, she is so successful, her class was in high demand with children and parents, which created a riff with other teachers. She was told to stop Choosing Love in her classroom, but of course she didn’t because she leads with love! Wow, all they had to do was ask her what she was doing and start themselves! Opportunity lost but think about the other aspects of their life as well in which they are choosing fear over love, and not even realizing there’s a better way!
Individuals and the world benefit from learning, practicing and reinforcing emotional management and responsible decision making.
In fact we have to learn, practice and rewire our brains towards love. Want to CHOOSE LOVE? You have to roll up your sleeves, dig in and WORK! Is it hard? At times. Like when you blame someone else for how you’re feeling. But isn’t it their fault that you lashed out or the opposite, do it behind their back. Only if you want to give your power away. Choosing Love takes you from victimhood to personal power and control. Now THAT FEELS GOOD!
I believe the message of Choosing Love over fear will become more poignant in the coming days, weeks, and months. Our world is in crisis where truth and reality are a mismatch. In a seemingly out of control world, you can control yourself. This is where you start.
