"Go to the mirror boy."

Back to "The Thinker's Toolbox" and empathy which is the next verb. Without empathy, you can never hope to really make something appealing to others. As a teacher, one needs to understand what your students want and need, if you want them to get involved and learn. One phrase that meant much to me as a teacher was, "significant other." My job was to become a significant other to each and every student. When you become significant to that student, and only when you become significant, can you hope to reach and motivate them. How does one learn to have empathy? This leads to today's fun homework assignment. To quote The Who... "Go to the mirror boy." Stand in front of the mirror and (if it hasn't broken) feel an emotion. Think a happy thought and watch your face. Look for the subtle and not so subtle expressions which pass by your face. Try bored. Have you seen that look on the faces of someone you have been speaking to? Try every emotion and see what you see. This is a beginning step to start to feel what others are feeling. Have fun!

Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.
William James


A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree; or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely . . . but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw him at every attitude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson