Do You Stay the Same to Teach?

I landed in Mullumbimby yesterday, here to be with my two teenage daughters. People back in Japan and elsewhere tell me:

“When you are in Australia, you are different.”

Really?

It is not that apparent to me. And I wonder – who am I that appears so differently depending on what place I am in…

Or is it what I am doing that causes me to appear differently?

In Australia, I am – briefly – the single dad. Preparing school lunches, driving the girls to sports, making dinner. I am not solely the Managing Director of BodyChance, I am also the MD of the Chance Family.

What-you-do can influence your personality, and teaching is a clear example of how this works. At BodyChance, the concept of “being a teacher” freaks some trainees out. They go bizarre.

Whenever they finished her teaching exercises, Marie-Françoise Le Foll used to ask my Japanese trainees a question that pierces into the heart of this issue:

“Are you the same person when you are teaching?”

Do you turn into “the Teacher”? At the most extreme, you can get sing-songy tone in your voice, and spout nursery rhyme platitudes and refrains that reassure your shaky identity as “The Teacher”.

What happens to your personality when you teach?

With my teacher Marjorie Barstow, it was hard to tell. Even hanging out together in a restaurant, I knew that Marj’s watchful mind was upon me in the same way, workshop or not. I didn’t feel Marj “changed” when she taught. She was the same both situations.

Is it absurd to think that you can be “the same” in multiple situations?

We tend to admire people who treat the peasant the same as they do the king – because we are assured by their consistency, congruency and clarity. A person whose personality is not acclimatized by the winds of influence feels more reliable, more dependable.

That quality that creates the safety. And safety creates the most favourable conditions to explore change – as anyone who has raised a child can tell you.

Does your personality smoothly flow into teaching?

Picture credit: Pixabay