music and book and green tea therapy

I just pilfered the Half Japanese record Charmed Life from the hubs' itunes this week. I'm completely obsessed with this album right now! The first song is a particular jump-starter for me lately:

• Said And Done by Half Japanese

 

More Half Japanese music on iLike

I don't really know why. I mean, I know that the groovy, rockin' beat and crazy-sounding horns are really "this moment" for me. I'm officially back to work--grappling with traffic on my commute, planning classes and helping my students figure out their blog posts and readings, helping them grow as writers. Trying to dodge a lot of the grumbling and now-naked politics that's been stripped open because of the construction on campus: two major buildings getting renovated. Which is fantastic. But, we're all at "camp" in our make-shift offices and classrooms, and no one is very happy about it.

So, I try to listen carefully to my colleagues, try to smile a bit more and hang out just being there with them. All of us displaced academics who are trying not to freak out, while simultaneously helping our students not-freak-out and maybe, just maybe, teaching them stuff, too.

Which is why reading this book again has been amazingly calming. Parker Palmer's book, The Courage to Teach, is one of those C.S. Lewis-type books for wisdom written down in a surprisingly elegant way. Like when he says:

"As good teachers weave the fabric that joins them with students and subjects, the heart is the loom on which the threads are tied, the tension is held, the shuttle flies, and the fabric is stretched tight. Small wonder, then, that teaching tugs at the heart, opens the heart, even breaks the heart--and the more one loves teaching, the more heartbreaking it can be."

Sigh. So true. In honor of that knowledge, and the fact that as a willing member of this heart-broken society, I need to find healthy, non-grumbling ways to manage stress, I've composed a short stress-busting list.

I could...

• appreciate clouds more, especially since their so beautiful this time of year.
• ...get excited about scarf-season!
• drink more green tea~I've been savoring this kind lately...
• talk to my mom more...I always feel better after I talk to her.
• or, I could run away and become a diver in Japan. 

What about you? When things are spinning crazily and you feel the need to beat the stress, what do you do?