As a student in a Masters in Educational Technology program, one of my tasks has been to create a blog and add to it in each course.
I started out using Blogger for my first few courses, but after reviewing many blogs, I decided I wanted a different format. I finally decided on Wix because I liked the different formatting options and that I could build a blog within a website. I will eventually have to build a website for my capstone course, so I thought it only natural to redesign my blog on Wix. So far, it has been a good change.
When setting up the Wix blog, I had to choose the design I liked, and then I followed a wizard to set it up. It was fairly simple to do. I was able to change out pictures to match what I had in mind, and there were quality pictures within the platform from which to choose. I have also been able to expand on their base format to make it my own each semester. This semester, one of my goals for improvement is to make my blog more concise and readable.
When given the prompt to blog about my favorite inspirational quote, I reflected on this for almost a week. I have discovered that I must not be very inspired because I honestly cannot say that I have a favorite quote! I did find some that I liked along the way this week, but they are not ones that I have meditated on over the years as a source of inspiration.
One of the quotes I liked was by Roy T. Bennett from The Light in the Heart. It says, “Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely” (2020). This one resonated with me because it seems to be the natural result of the what happens when I filter my thoughts through the lens of Philippians 4:8, one of my favorite Bible verses. It says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
This verse comes as close to an inspirational saying as I can think of. I have meditated on this over the years, especially the hard ones like the past few have been. It is so easy to get discouraged and overwhelmed by all of the yucky stuff going on in the world. When I find myself beginning to spiral down into despair, I remember to filter my thoughts through this. Is what I’m dwelling on true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy? Most of the time when I start evaluating my thoughts, I don’t get past the is it true question. While this is not necessarily inspirational, it has been transformational in my life.
This year, I began a new career as an instructional technologist. I was previously a high school science teacher. Teaching through a pandemic taught me many lessons, and it drove me back to this verse many times! The first letters of each word in the list are taped to the bottom of my computer screen to help me keep my mind in the right place. While the pandemic has been stressful on so many fronts, it did open my eyes to a whole new career path when I realized I enjoyed helping other teachers learn how to utilize technology during remote instruction. This is what led to pursuing this degree and beginning a new chapter in my career. Had I not had the mindset to look for the positive things, I might have not fared as well during this time, and I would have likely missed a great new opportunity!
References
Bennett, R. T. (2020). The light in the heart: Inspirational thoughts for living your best life. Roy T. Bennett.
Philippians 4:8 NIV - - bible gateway. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians%2B4%3A8&version=NIV
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