We are what and how our schools and families teach us.

"Everyone is born into a certain set of circumstances, and our values are defined by what we experience. Were we born into hardship or luxury? Where did we receive praise? Parents and caregivers are often our loudest fans and critics." (Excerpt from Jay Shetty's book, Think Like a Monk).

Tony Robbins shares the same principle that our productive and destructive fuel originates back to how and what we experienced from our parents or guardians as a kid, and even if we were rebels, there's a strong part of us that craves love and acceptance and aims to please.

"Who did they want you to be? What did they want you to accomplish? How did they expect you to behave? Did you absorb these ideals, and have they worked for you?" (Another excerpt from Jay Shetty's book, Think Like a Monk).

Back to Tony Robbins. One notably eye-opening moment I had in my life was sitting on Tony Robbin's stage in Boston in the early 80's; somewhat early in his career as a motivational speaker. (Literally, there was no room left in the audience in this relatively small room in a hotel, so Tony let me sit on the relatively small stage and soak it all in. My life was never the same after that:) The big message was "The Power Within". What did this mean to me? It meant, whatever I was taught or whatever was flying around my head and soul, I could re-arrange it to feed my TRUE life goals. (What brought me to this point of sitting on his stage is a completely different story I'll tell some day when I'm ready:)

THEN, Decades later, I discovered Tony Robbin's DISC assessment. It was like no other personality assessment I've ever seen. It quantified (and colorized) comparisons between your inner self and outer self. www.TonyRobbins.com/disc. You should try it, it's free. Generally, if you see a wide discrepancy between the inner you and outer you, that's a pain point worth addressing. Sound simple, and it sort of is simpler than you think, but so many people live their lives filled with depression, anxiety and even let it seep into their epigenetics to cause physical pain or disease, without addressing and living a better life.

NOW, THIS IS WHAT REALLY GETS MY GOAT! (Another excerpt from Jay Shetty's book). "From the start, our educations are another powerful influence. The subjects that are taught. The cultural angle from which they are taught. The way we are expected to learn. A fact-driven curriculum doesn’t encourage creativity, a narrow cultural approach doesn’t foster tolerance for people from different backgrounds and places, and there are few opportunities to immerse ourselves in our passions, even if we know them from an early age. This is not to say that school doesn’t prepare us for life—and there are many different educational models out there, some of which are less restrictive—but it is worth taking a step back to consider whether the values you carried from school feel right to you."

I've seen our high schools and higher ed cause some pretty massive traumas in our youth, and also crush otherwise superhero powers. Also, parents have done this to our youth by forcing them down paths that are just not made for them. For instance, what's so bad about trade schools for some, Ivy League for others and community colleges? Especially now that our classrooms are empty, it forces us to ask, "What's really important about higher education and connecting our students to one another and his/her purpose?" I firmly believe it comes down to ALL of our ability to cope, figure out how to solve issues, and to empathize while solving so we all stay connected, collaborating, creating, and as productive as possible. Now, with tens of million$ out there in pandemic-related growth funds, how are those dollars best spent? There's NOTHING more important than leveraging those dollars to:

1. Keep everyone safe by sanitizing the interior and exterior environments the most cost-effective, healthiest and most expedited fashion so there's no short- or long-term harm.
2. Keeping everyone genuinely, learning and, connected, collaborating and growing.
3. To leverage this experience to create innovations and solutions together and further develop our coping, communication and creation skill sets (soft skills development).
4. We need to change with the times. Let's make it the best it can possibly be and use our funds well. Let's also seek out the best solutions that will not hurt us later!

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