breakthrough-literally!

i am currently in cullowhee, nc attending a seminar on "Daring to Lead". it is a week long seminar done by NCCAT (north carolina center for the advancement of teachers). the focus of this week is not about leadership styles or techniques, but about who we are as individuals and what about us makes us a good leader. it has been great so far. today we had the pleasure of hearing from a motivational speaker named brian biro. he is a great motivational speaker and is full of energy! i'll admit that i was skeptical of him at first. he was for sure a bit corny and i thought that he had way to much energy for the 9 am meeting. but then he took out a piece of wood-not just a thin piece of plywood, but a rather thick chunk of wood. he held it up and said that by the end of our time together today that each and everyone of us would breakthrough a similar piece of wood with our bare hand!!!!!!!!! HE GOT ME THEN! i got really nervous and thought all about how i was not going to be able to do it! but as he poured out his energy and confidence in us i began to get excited and think that maybe i could do it. our 3 hour session flew by and it came time for us to break the wood. brian gave us each a piece and asked up to write on the wood something that we needed to breakthrough in our lives. it could be anything from breaking a bad habit to being a better mom to being a more effective teacher. i very carefully decided that i needed to breakthrough my fear of failure. i wrote my words on the wood and then it was time. i was so nervous. several people went before me and were able to do but that did not ease my nerves! then it was my turn. i walked up to brian-handed him my wood and he asked me to focus on him and NOT the wood. i hit the wood-nothing happened. i hit it again-nothing happened. then i looked into brian's eyes and i saw that he truly believed that i could do. then i heard the loud, chanting and cheering..."Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer!.....i got in position and i hit it again and it split clear in half! wow! what an awesome feeling!!!! i know that i was only able to do it because of the look in brian's eyes. it wasn't the fact that i had seen several others do it before me, or that we had been taught how to do it correctly, or that 25 people were cheering my name. i was only able to break the wood because i knew someone believed in me.

what a powerful lesson that was for me, in so many different ways. as a leader i saw how important it is to surround yourself with positive people who believe in you, so that you can get things done. on a spiritual level i thought of god and how he looks at me with similar eyes all the time and tells me that i can do it! i can do anything, if i just fix my eyes upon him. yet i still act in fear. so, today i leave the fear behind. i agree to move forward with my plans and to stop living in fear of what will come. i will pursue my master's degree in administration, i will be myself and i will rely on my lord and savior and be CRAZY for him!!!!

so watch out peeps-fearless halsey is here :)

(the picture shows exactly what we did-except we used our hands. i will hopefully have a real picture of me in action when i get back. )