Page 243 - Resources and Support for the Online Educator

Part 3: Meditate

oneself allows for a better sense of what needs to change. You must first
know where you are coming from before you decide where you need to go.

In his book Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges, Otto Scharmer
(2009) theorizes that we are not one but two selves. One of our selves is the
result of our past experiences and the other is our future possibility. He
shares a theory of self-actualization and transformation whereby individ-
uals go through a process of letting go of everything that isn’t essential and
developing an “open mind” through embracing curiosity, an “open heart”
through feeling compassion, and an “open will” through showing courage
(Scharmer, 2018, p. 30). Likewise, as we come closer to our destination in
this learning journey, it’s important to be present with both of our selves.
According to Scharmer (2009, p. 42–43), we can reinvent ourselves and
innovate by letting go of our past self (with a lowercase “s”) and welcoming
our future Self (with a capital S), inviting growth at the deepest level until
that Self becomes our reality.
Humans are creatures of habit, so we tend to see everything through the
lens of our past experiences. This mindset is a bit narrow, stemming from
conditions and strategies that already occurred and not allowing much
scope for innovation. When we repeat what we know or force a single
solution because it worked in the past (without reconsidering the current
landscape and scope of creative options), we are stuck in the self. Alter-
nately, when we self-reflect and continuously reinvent ourselves for the
purpose of improving our practice, we break free from the known and
broaden our perspectives, thinking positively about the future (even when
we initially think that our ideas are impossible to implement). As we open
up and welcome our Self, we see things differently; we act as design thinkers
and confront obstacles, creating new ways of seeing how we can do things
differently to meet our objective.

156 Stretch Yourself

Stretch Yourself: A Personalized Journey to Deepen Your Teaching Practice 243