This one sentence from Dr. Wayne Dyer can help you interact more positively with every single person.

Dr. Wayne Dyer -- whose words on thought, spirituality, and positive intent towards others blessed so many -- passed away yesterday.

I want to repost a sentence he wrote that changed my life, and can change yours, if we will remember to do what he recommends.

This one sentence of his really helps my whole outlook and all interactions with people, from strangers, students, and parents,  to colleagues and family. It helps me keep love at the center of what I'm about as an instructor and encourager. I hope it helps you, too. Here it is . . .

"See the light in others, and treat them as if that is all you see."

A slightly scary (but very inspiring!) back-to-school message for you . . .

I know some of you in other states have been back to school for a while. Others like us here in Michigan won't be back at it until September.

Whatever the case: Happy New Year!

Here is the annual re-posting of one of my favorites. A few years ago Matt Reeves, then my assistant principal, read this to the staff on the day before school. So now I 'm passing it on as a back-to-school thought that is both cautionary and inspiring:

"I have come to a frightening conclusion.

I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life 
miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis
will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized."

~ Haim Ginott 

from Teacher and Child: A Book for Parents and Teachers, 1972