Bird Droppings August 3, 2025
What does it take for that light bulb to go on?

It has been nearly nineteen years since my doctoral cohort at Georgia Southern ended, and we began the journey on our own. For a couple of semesters, I was a member of a new cohort at Piedmont College and wandering down the path of learning again. I recall many years back we met for an advanced seminar, and one of the readings was an Aldus Huxley book, Doors of Perception, which, while not that many pages, was a major part of the discussion. I am always intrigued when pieces of my time seem just for me, as several ideas within the book were significant as I look back. However, our professor ended the session pointing inward and mentioned how he has pursued intellectualism. Reading and expanding his knowledge has been his pursuit, and he mentioned several times how great it is to be a professor who gets paid to read. I was thinking of high school students whom we try and get to read, and many college students as well. So often when you ask, What is your favorite book a response will be I do not read? Instilling that passion for knowledge should be our task rather than just testing for specific pieces of information.

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” James Allen

I have been thinking about this passage for many days. I firmly believe that even as we plan and set goals and agendas, we are where we need to be at this moment. Is it as simple as we travel the pathways presented to us each day, thinking we have a choice and could be setting the direction? It has been a few years since I first looked at life as a journey. Since that first day, however, it has become a truly memorable one for me. Now I try to view each moment as I pass, try and keep up with all the surroundings, and try to understand each piece of the puzzle as it falls in place. “Life is about the journey”, I have used many times in my writings.

Thinking more than others about our thoughts is not self-centeredness. It means that if asked what’s on our mind, we are less likely to mention being aware of the world around us, and more likely to mention our inner reflections. But we are less likely to mention thinking about other people.” Elaine N. Aron, Clinical Psychologist

I just took Dr. Aron’s quiz to see if I am an HSP highly sensitive person or not rather interesting. I tend to argue several issues within her test. I thrive on the interactions and emotions, while the tests seem to have this as a negative response.

“You live with your thoughts — so be careful what they are.” Eva Arrington

“If everybody thought before they spoke, the silence would be deafening.” George Barzan

While teaching, I spend a large portion of time trying to assist students in thinking. A simple thought, yet rather difficult. Trying to encourage thought processes can be interesting, as one student told me. “Mr. Bird, why do we have to think it hurts my brain?” Sadly, I still hear that several times a day.

“There are lots of people who cannot think seriously without injuring their minds.” John Jay Chapman

I keep a box of Band-Aids handy and have pulled them out occasionally for serious brain injury and surprise students with the offer when their brains hurt.

“No matter how hard you work for success, if your thought is saturated with the fear of  failure, it will kill your efforts, neutralize your endeavors, and make success impossible.” Baudjuin

“A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.” Georges Bernanos

Thought processes are often bewildering. I was sitting here typing and thinking and went to type, Ge, and was thinking and spelling and got to Geo and couldn’t hit the “o” key. I wanted to hit “r” but my thought process and fingers got caught. I was looking at “o” and wanted to type “r”, actually paused for a second to rationalize.

“We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.” Buddha

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.” Buddha

Interesting as I look at these two remarks from several thousand years ago. Today, psychologists will say the same thing. I say the same thing without quoting Buddha every day. But so many people do not think about where they are.

“Man is what he believes.” Anton Chekhov

It is so difficult to explain this to students, really to anyone. Yet great coaches around the country have been proving this for years. My youngest son is an avid sports trivia fan, while still not on par with the great trivia authority and good friend, History teacher and baseball coach Jimmy Hughes, my son is pretty good. He will ask many times who I think is the greatest of all time, NCAA coaches. Although usually the question is “Dad, don’t you think Spurrier is the greatest of all time NCAA coaches?”. I like it when he leaves me out. He didn’t mention a specific sport, and I can throw out John Wooden or Dan Gable, or even more recent Paul Hewitt, and get him going. “Well, what about Coach K then?”, thinking, though, is the goal, and that he does.

“The problem with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than their minds.” Walter Duranty

“It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.” Thomas A. Edison

I recall my middle son’s senior year. He was near the top in his class and always an excellent student. Due to scheduling, he was unable to take the honors English course he wanted to and had to take regular senior English with the rest of humanity. He has a slug sitting next to him who, every day, would ask to copy his homework. My son got to where his responses were classic, one that stuck with me went something like this: “We all make mistakes and, in all honesty, I truly believe this is all correct. But what if I am wrong and I allow you to copy and then you receive a failing grade and your life is ruined; I will not be able to live with that. So no, I cannot allow you to copy. If you fail, I want it to be you who fail, not me helping you too”.

Humans can shift perspective. We can experience the world through our senses. Or we can remove ourselves from our senses and experience the world even less directly. We can think about our life, rather than thinking about our life. We can think about what we think about our life, and we can think about what we think about that. We can shift perceptual positions many times over.” John J. Emerick

Each moment is unique and each is uniquely different. As we wander the pathways of life, they can tire you. You might stop to sip a cup of water amidst the turmoil of the day and move on past the strife. Each day, we have choices to make, we have opportunities, and we have disasters waiting. It is that light bulb going off, like in the old cartoons over our head, that makes the difference. Sitting in my sanctuary of my classroom at school in the darkness of morning, thinking and pondering, as I say that makes the difference. As my moments draw down and it becomes time for stage two of today, please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts, and always give thanks, namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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