WE KNOW how powerful our mind is. I’d like to tell you a story.
Leanne worked in an airline company. One summer, she accidentally locked herself in a refrigerated car. She screamed and banged on the door but her coworkers had already gone home. No one could hear Leanne’s desperate cry for help. Because she knew it was a refrigerated boxcar, she guessed that the temperature was well below freezing. She tried to find an opening to get out but the car sealed shut.
So she lay down on the floor, shivering. Slowly, she felt she was dying. She was able to peel off part of the flooring. With a sharp instrument, she began on the wood underneath. She thought that if she doesn’t get out soon, these may be her last words, “getting too cold, and my body numb” she wrote.
The next morning, they opened the boxcar and found Leanne's body crumpled over the corner. When the autopsy was completed, it revealed that Leanne had indeed frozen to death.
Here’s the mystery: the freezer in the boxcar wasn’t even on. It had been busted for some time. The temperature in the car that night was 17 degrees Celsius. That’s just like Baguio’s temperature. But because she believed she was freezing, her body obeyed. Her internal organs obeyed. And they froze to death. She expected to die and she did. Leanne lost the battle in her own mind.
If you’re lying down on your mat and you tell yourself, “this trial is just too much. It will kill me.” Guess what? You really will die because that’s what is in your mind. But the mind of the educators doesn’t stop believing that everything that happens has a purpose and any circumstances is an opportunity to think positively, do more, grow smarter, and be better than yesterday, and be ready to adapt to the changes needed at hand.
The year-long bad circumstances due to the Covid-19 that threatened and killed so many lives, disrupted the living condition of almost all people around the world. Businesses, jobs, education, lifestyle, and health conditions were all affected and paralyzed and some had stopped and closed.
However, it did not stop the mind of the educators to think positively and find solutions in continuing the provision of quality learning for all types of learners, despite the very bad circumstances. As they continue to think and believe that this kind of circumstance is just a way of embracing changes for a better tomorrow. With this kind of educators’ mindset, different learning delivery modalities were developed and implemented that suit all kinds and levels of learners in every community.
Educators and education leaders take responsibility in every situation for improvement. They have a growth mindset that tends to be more positive. They embrace challenges and view them as opportunities for growth.
With a growth mindset, they believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.
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About the author: Loreta A. Gulariza is the officer-in-charge Education Program Supervisor of DepEd-Leyte Division in Palo, Leyte.