It's In the "Aha!"

A message from Rachel...

All week I was in deep reflection, remembering my time in the classroom as a full-time middle school teacher.

Chuckles at my current office desk… as I reimagined entering my classroom at 7:55 am from a solid jog down to the administration hub to print graphic organizers for five class periods before the first period begins at 8:10 am. As I cross the floor threshold of room 305, hearing an overwhelming, “Ms. G!” from my students, and I still have not had my morning coffee.

Tears… as I recall the moments when my students struggled with learning concepts throughout the semester or academic year, and finally, breakthrough happens. The “Aha-moment” that not only demonstrates the knowledge of content, but brings to life something much more. Like self-confidence and worth, leadership qualities budding, or becoming an advocate for peers to help them reach their “Aha-moment” too.

Last week, the entire Game On Team had the privilege of giving back in our local community. We took the road in our teammate Erin’s Ford Expedition Max, now deemed the Game On Tour Bus. We drove north to Tampa to teach a Cultivating Authentic Connection session to eighty-six cadets of the NJROTC organization at T.R. Robinson High School.

Arriving on campus and being escorted to a room of cadets standing at attention upon our entry brought back a lot of memories for me as an educator. As the cadets took their seats and the session began, I absorbed the environment I was in: 

• A cement room with school colors along the top 2 feet of the wall
• Swivel desk where students swayed gently left to right
• Classroom projector
• The smell of expo marker, high school students (an array of scent types I may add), and snacks
• The floor colored with JanSport backpacks
• A speaker in front of students
• Students seated, a diversity of livelihoods in one room, awaiting the speaker to speak
• The objective for the day about to begin: cultivating authentic connection

As the segment begins, chatter decreases, postures align, eyes center the speaker, and the purpose for why we are all here begins to resonate. As the interactive exercises transpire, students cackle, laugh with one another, pause to regather themselves, embrace awkward moments of connection, high-fives, and the shaking of legs, and something hits the room. That “Aha-moment”. 

I interpret an “Aha-moment” to be a pivotal moment for an individual that causes them to recognize they have exactly what they need for the moment they are in and how it shapes them and others thereafter. I believe “Aha-moments” can be internal–necessary for you, or external–necessary for those around you. “Aha-moments” can identify that you have something within you that was made for the moment you’re currently existing within. 

Aha! - How am I showing up for myself at this moment?

Aha! - How can I show up for others at this moment?

Aha! - What’s the purpose of this moment and how am I to play a part?

In the classroom filled with cadets ranging from freshman to seniors, many "Aha-moments" were activated in the training session:

• A student finding confidence in the nervousness by high-fiving their partner to illustrate support while navigating the exercise.

• A student where English was their second language navigated finding their voice in front of peers and was supported, celebrated, and commended for their willingness to try.

• A student who scrambles the sequence of numbers 1-2-3 multiple times and receives the reassurance that their partner is supporting them no matter if you catch the rhythm or not.

All of these examples of “Aha-moments”. In the “Aha” we can find our center. The origin point of focus (0,0). From that point, we can find our voice. We can find our presence (how we show up). We can find and create the inner resolve to take on what is set before us in life. Whether that's recruitment for a club we are passionate about, to figuring out what college we want to attend, to knowing what we want to eat for dinner. It’s in the “Aha!”

So how can we embrace the “Aha!”?

It is not always loud. At the moment when it all makes sense and comes together, the moment does not always have to be loud or boastful. It can be a simple click to connect. A peace and inner resolve. A notch up in your confidence. A fresh take on how you consider yourself, others, and the things that you show up for. The "Aha" is not always in the noise or the major milestone. But the small monumental breakthroughs we achieve and sometimes overstep everyday. Celebrate those moments.

Keep Showing up. Show up even when you don’t have it yet. Don’t have the answer yet? Show up. Don’t feel confident yet? Show up. Don’t feel you can help? Show up. The resilience to embrace the unknown consistently and head on until your day break is a powerful exercise for any person to take on. For a 180-day school year, teachers and students take on subject matter, discussion, assignments, friction, relational dynamics, cultural, social, economic differences on a daily basis–in the face of the unknown–and yet we show up and show up. Why? Because an "Aha-moment” is bound to come to those that persist.

Connection. As intentional bonds are made with oneself, with others, and with the matters and moments that we value, it can create an authentic synergy that becomes the catalyst for the "Aha!” Break the ground of awkwardness or difference by being intentional with one connection point at a time. Creating a link of moments. It can be that high-five to support a partner. That wait-time to process your words to be intentional with what you want to share with someone to make them feel seen or heard. That reassurance to yourself or others that “you got this”. Connection is the sustainer to the “Aha”. How we endure and evolve through situations and promote solutions. How we encourage through opposition. The connection sustains us to see through for the “Aha”.

Honor your “Aha” no matter how quiet or loud. Keep showing up even when it has not arrived yet. You’re at the threshold of a ground breaking moment to encourage yourself, uplift others, or align to a greater purpose. Keep connecting–its the sustainer that links us to the moment we were made for.