Joyful Jubilant Learning

Learning on Love Day

I have waited all day to write this post. I had considered all month what I would write on "Love Day." That's what we call Valentine's Day in our house. With so many small children, it is so much easier to say - and a heck of a bit cuter.

It seemed natural to write about my love of learning - after all, this is Joyful Jubilant Learning. We all come together to share in our thirst for knowledge and find in each other our own drive to share and know. It seemed so natural - it felt cliche. I really don't get inspired by cliche.

I waited all day to become inspired. I did some work, walked the mall, talked to friends, talked to strangers, hugged my children and kissed my husband. Nothing that drove me to the keyboard. I hate days like that.

Frustrated yet again by one of my greatest passions, I had no desire to write. But I wanted to. Sounds strange, doesn't it? Unless you are a writer. Putting nouns and verbs together in a way that makes you want to do it again is one of the most aggravatingly wonderful things in the world.

And now, I am inspired. I will not write about the love of learning on Love Day. Instead, let's talk about what I learned about love.

Unconditional love does not mean unconditional like. I believe in the former fully - the latter, not at all. I love to write unconditionally. It fills a void, creates a passion and leaves a mark. These things I adore. It also tasks my emotions, strains my brain and breaks my heart. There is nothing I like in that.

However, I learned I do not require unconditional like. In fact, those moments of difficulty remind me why I love it so much. It challenges me. It dares me to be a better person. It dangles the vision of the future me that I am journeying towards. It causes me to keep walking the path of learning.

On Love Day, that lesson is better than a heart shaped box of chocolates.

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Post author April Groves is the author of Making Life Work For You providing information on community, success, and life management, and My Beautiful Chaos, a personal weblog which celebrates her family and friends, and her spirit of play.

A House Divided

An "April Fact" - I like sports, mainly football and baseball.  Specifically, my "will root for no matter what" teams are Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Braves, and Georgia Bulldogs.

The 2008 Sugar Bowl was played on New Years Day.  My Dawgs were there.  So were the Hawaii Warriors.  It was a tough game day at Dad's house.

A little background.  I am Hawaiian on my father's side.  The Hawaiian culture is a bit different than what I can even begin to explain. Rosa could probably do a better job.  I can tell you about the family ties and the richness of tradition. But those semantics would only begin to scratch the surface that is a Hawaiian heart. So, you will just have to trust me when I tell you that while I am a "no matter what" Dawgs fan, it hurt my heart to not be able to pull for the Warriors.

The game went just the way it should have.  Georgia owned the ball from kickoff to final score. I expected it.  What I didn't expect was the wealth of teachable moments this game provided for my kids.

Both of my older children are Bulldog fans.  They know the fight song, they get excited about the games, and they wear the colors. However, for the Sugar Bowl, Savannah decided she was rooting for her Papa's team. 

Teachable moment #1 - Madison thought this decision was crazy. It's the Dawgs, for crying out loud. However, it was the perfect opportunity to encourage free thought, the ability to change one's mind, and sticking to your decisions regardless of the pressure put on us by other people.

So, as little girls are wont to do, the making up of team cheers commenced. However, it became somewhat...combative.

Teachable Moment #2 - Just because you are for one thing doesn't mean you have to be against the other. If your position is strong, it should stand on it's own merit. It is a respectable skill to be able to bring your own position up without resorting to dragging someone else's down.

Like I mentioned, the outcome of the game was never in question. Georgia dominated and then it was over.

Teachable moments 3 & 4 - Winning is great.  It feels good, it is rewarding, and we all like to do it. However, sportsmanship, consideration of others, and remembering how to be sincerely humble are character qualities that must never be overlooked. Losing is not so fun. You work hard, give it your best shot and it still doesn't work out.  This happens. The important thing is to understand that even losses are wealth springs of learning opportunities.  We must always keep the main thing the main thing - and losing is not the main thing. The moments after are.

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Post author April Groves is the author of Making Life Work For You providing information on community, success, and life management, and My Beautiful Chaos, a personal weblog which celebrates her family and friends, and her spirit of play.

Loving the First Birthday

Birthdays are my favorite holidays.  Yours, mine, theirs - all of them.  There is something grand about a party that is had simply because you were born.  First birthdays are the epitome of the birthday party.  The celebration here at JJL deserves no less.

First birthdays, as should all birthdays, include large amounts of my favorite foods - birthday cake and ice cream.

First birthdays are about celebration.  Joy at the realization of progress made and the excitement of things yet to come.

First birthdays bring family and friends together.

First birthdays create memories of appreciation, love, and togetherness.

First birthdays contain large amounts of presents - most of which have fantastic lights and wonderful noises.

Did I mention the birthday cake and ice cream?

Today is wonderfully special as it combines two of my favorite things - birthdays and JJL.  Both exist because you are here.  Both are wonderful because you are a part of them.  Both make my heart smile because I know that in them, the possibilities are endless

Happy Birthday, JJL!  And many more.

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Post author April Groves is the author of Making Life Work For You providing information on community, success, and life management, and My Beautiful Chaos, a personal weblog which celebrates her family and friends, and her spirit of play.

My Ten Gallon Hat

I wear many hats. I have my wife veil, a Jaguars football helmet for business, a mortarboard for learning, a Braves baseball cap for fun, and a ten gallon mommy hat.

Am I a cowboy mommy?  Well, I have been know to give horsey rides and tote kids piggy back - outside of that, no.  But, the hat is a ten gallon one none the less.  It is the biggest.  It would cover all the others.  You notice it the most when it is on and I am noticeably different when it is off.

I don't mind telling you that I became a mom rather young. 20 to be exact.  Talk about clueless.  I wasn't even smart enough to be scared.  When they brought that little squiggly thing in a pink blanket, I am lucky I had the sense enough to think, "What now?"  Luckier still that I allowed that moment to change my life.  It frightens me when some folks don't.

After repeating that process three more times (pink blankets all!), I am convinced that the things I learned 10 1/2 years ago are true still today.

• My children have taught me more than I will ever teach them.
• If I want my children to be happy, productive, fulfilled members of society, I have to be that first.
• Regardless of what I do professionally, I will never impact the world greater than how I release my children into it.

As I read through the posts of this month's "Making a Difference" topic, I glean feathers for my Ten Gallon hat everywhere.

"This week, reflect on your trustworthiness, and the trustworthiness of your leaders. Are you worthy of the trust your followers put in you?" - Phil Gerbyshak

"Make eye contact, put down your Blackberry, listen carefully, engage fully, and be present to the people who are around you."  - David Zinger

"When you’re absorbing knowledge, cultivating wisdom, and conscious of the growth in your life, you can’t help but shower the fruits of your learning on the world around you, sharing what's inside you to make a difference in other's lives. And that’s the essence of contribution." - Adam Kayce

To make a difference in the world, and to leave behind a legacy of some kind when the day comes we leave the world, we have to create something, something that has our personal signature all over it. Our lives have to count for meaning something, and hopefully that something will remain alive when we no longer can. - Rosa Say

Parents or not, we all make an impression with each interaction with a child.  A smile in the grocery store, picking up a dropped toy in a restaurant, imparting wisdom as a mentor, consideration in your business - children are always affected by all the "big people" around them.  How do you handle the responsibility of your interaction with children?  In what ways can we make a difference, even an individual one by engaging our greatest hope for the future?

I believe that I impact the world when I make a conscious effort not just to love my children, but to build them and teach them how to build themselves.  In my heart, it is the deepest desire to cultivate these little people into the women I know they will someday be.

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Post author April Groves is the author of Making Life Work For You providing information on community, success, and life management in real estate sales, and My Beautiful Chaos, a personal weblog which celebrates her family and friends, and her spirit of play.

Unlearning mediocrity

It is easy to "just get by." Ask me how I know. For much of the previous two decades, I knew what it took to fly under the radar, stay out of trouble and do just enough.

• Mediocrity - The quality or state of being mediocre.
• Mediocre - of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance; Ordinary, so-so

That about covers it.

I always knew I had more potential. Why did I live that way? Why do I still have to fight to keep from going back there? Phil asked me a very similar question. My answer - fear. "Of success or failure?" he asked. Both.

This unlearning of mediocrity is the reason I said "Yes!" to JJL. I have found the first and best step to overcoming this fear - don't look at it as success or failure, just learn and trust the process.

My goals as defined through the 7 Wonders of Jubilant Learning

• Listen to those around me.  They have so much to offer and they do so freely.
• Laugh at myself. There are few things that should be taken so seriously.
• Learn everyday. Or relearn. Or unlearn.
• Link into community. Singularly we are wonderful - collectively we are masterful.
• Love the life I am in while striving for the life I want.
• Live to give back.
• Leap even if I am afraid.

That's the opposite of mediocrity.

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Post author April Groves is the author of Making Life Work For You providing information on community, success, and life management in real estate sales, and My Beautiful Chaos, a personal weblog which celebrates her family and friends, and her spirit of play.

Share a Joyful and Jubilant Aloha with April Groves!

Today we are jubilant! We have the joy of introducing April Groves you, and welcoming her to Joyful Jubilant Learning as our newest contributing author! You have seen her share her comments here, now please visit her first JJL posting, Unlearning Mediocrity and share your aloha in saying hello.

April is the author of two sites which radiate the joy of her spirit with each new posting she writes. Her personal weblog is called My Beautiful Chaos, and when you meet her friends and family there, you will instantly see why she calls her “chaos” a beautiful thing indeed. April’s Making Life Work For You is where she writes to provide information on community, success, and life management as connected to her profession in real estate sales, generously setting her own life as an example for us, so we can share her lessons-learned.

In her last two postings at Making Life Work For You April talks about her return to school (aah! ... the restlessness of the lifelong learner!) and she wrote about the types of projects she loves being involved with — we’re certainly glad she’s chosen JJL as one of those projects!

Welcome April, we are eager to read more.