The B.E.S.T. Formula: T is for Transformative

It has taken some time to write this last segment in my B.E.S.T. Formula series. Every time I sat down to write, the ideas I had about it slipped away, like the wisps of smoke at the end of a stick of incense. Lovely aroma, but elusive.

As mentioned in my previous posts about the B.E.S.T. Formula, the entire “recipe” appeared in one download to my conscious mind one day while I was taking a walk in the neighborhood. If you read my memoir, Teaching in the Dark, you will notice how often my perspectives on teaching (in particular) changed during my many strolls on Sarichef Island.

Walking is been my way of processing what’s going on in my life; the movement helps me gain clarity through confusion, and solace when I’m frustrated or disappointed. Walking helps me breath differently. My heart beats more steadily as I tune into the larger environment of wind, sun, rain, trees, sand.

Unfortunately, due to knee issues (more on that later!) and the cold, damp, rainy winter weather in Seattle, I haven’t been able to take many walks lately.

Nonetheless, this morning I decided to tackle the concept of “Transformative” again. I mean, why not just get something out there? Maybe it will be transformative!

When not feeling particularly confident about where I’m headed, I get out a map or, in this case, the dictionary. Here’s what I found:

Transformative = trans (across, beyond) + formative (change shape); to “undergo a change in form.”

As written this definition makes it sound like “transformative is a one-and-done event.” But I want to expand on that idea. In my mind, “transformative” is a PROCESS as well as a RESULT. “Transformative” acts as a verb as well as an adjective. We can BE transformative and we can HAVE a transformative experience.

In the context of the B.E.S.T. Formula, the ‘T’ for Transformative is both an act and an outcome. It’s movement. It’s evolution.

In the photo above, you see me (the only blonde) along with my Shishmaref 9th-graders. The year was 1984. It was indeed a transformative year — one that catapulted me into the rest of my life as an educator. I didn’t know it back then, But NOW I know that I am the teacher I am today because of my experiences in that village.

It was the experience that keeps on giving.

Maybe that’s why — even 40 years later — I still want to teach. It’s the reason I decided to return to teaching high school students again. I wanted to know if I could do it better this time around. How had being in Shishmaref transformed me? Had I evolved as an educator, especially with that particular age group? (My memoir helps answer those questions.)

Being a transformative teacher is something I work on every day: from the moment I start my car, drive across town, step through the doors of the school, and then over the threshold of my classroom. To be honest, I’m often fretting the whole way, too — worried about the worksheets I need to copy before the first bell or the emails I need to answer. I worry about certain kids. Like the one in the back of the room who drives me crazy by playing videos on his phone. Or the one student who has suddenly become withdrawn. If I don’t catch myself, I’m a flurry of worries.

So, as I am writing this, it’s occurring to me that such worry is NOT transformative. It’s stuck energy. It’s not useful. Instead, I have it within my power to shift into a more transformative mindset. “I’m a transformative human being! Let’s act as if it’s true. (Which it is.)

That kind of thinking and feeling opens things up a bit. I find myself taking deeper breaths. I feel my heart beating in alignment with something larger than myself.

I can feel it take flight.

The more mulling I do with this component of the B.E.S.T. Formula, the more I am realizing that it is the one aspect that connects me to everything and everyone in a profound way.

So, in The B.E.S.T. Formula, “Transformative” is the process of living, as well as the summation. It’s the process of being Brave, Effective, and Self-Caring, and the result of doing so.

This is life with a capital L. Barbara Marx Hubbard, author, speaker, and president of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, called it the Creative Force.

Here’s an idea:

• I can choose to cross the threshold of my classroom — not as a beleaguered educator — but as a Creative Force.
• Doing that means I’m better positioned to awaken the Creative Force in my students as well.
• That would be teaching at its BEST (pun intended)!

You can call it God or Universal Energy … Rhonda Byrne (author and producer of The Secret), calls this power LOVE.

I guess the way I am understanding this part of the B.E.S.T. Formula (until it transforms into something more), is that being Transformative means I am in alignment with that Creative Force. I am tuned into that Greater Thing that makes the world go around, which helps me vibrate at a higher, more transformative frequency.

When you and I are in tune with THAT, we are really Living to our highest potential and positively influencing the world, from the inside-out.

This is a captivating notion: To be a transformative teacher is to LOVE: to BE Love. To be LOVED. To be lovable.

I love that.