Let’s start with where they are not. In almost every corner of the world, women in educational leadership roles remain substantially underrepresented. The question as to why this is the case, remains the subject of much analysis and debate. Education is just one of many professional sectors where women are distinctly absent from behind the CEO desk and from the boardroom table. While this seemingly intractable global challenge persists, Green School Bali is getting on with blazing a new trail.

Education is a frontier for change in so many ways. Ensuring that children graduate well-equipped to take on the challenges and opportunities for the 21st century is the core responsibility and challenge for all educational systems. While the traditional hulking ships of education are slowly turning to chart a new course, many new, agile and exciting models for education are emerging.

Systems of education are being transcended by new game changers.

21st century skills of agility, adaptability, being able to connect, creatively problem solve and collaborate is not only skills the children of today need to acquire, but are also skills that school leaders themselves need to possess, model and implement.

They are in essence, very human skills, and are emphasized in the selection of senior leaders and Board members at Green School. With a heavy emphasis on emotional intelligence, community-mindedness and ability to positively influence others to effect change, Green School bucks the trend on women in educational leadership roles.

Women Leaders at Green School: Leslie Medema, Head of Learning Program

As Head of Learning at Green School Bali, Leslie Medema, states “Children are the best at holding you to account for your responsibilities. They are authentic, honest and are not always particularly interested in where you sit in the organisational chart! Being able to adapt, influence and lead in authentic and creative ways are essential ingredients to success. Not only when building relationships with children, but for effective and sustainable leadership as well.”

Interestingly, Green School does not have a single Head of School. Success and overall accountability is a shared endeavour. The executive leadership team comprises of three roles, overseeing learning, community and environment. All working together, with specific responsibilities but in a truly collaborative model – confident alone, stronger together.

Reflecting on the culture of Green School, Medema states that “Creating a safe and secure environment, where all children are respected as unique individuals is the culture within which learning can truly flourish. Ensuring that children’s education gives them what they need to thrive in the world of today and tomorrow, is much more than an academic pursuit. Of equal importance is the nurturing of the social, emotional and creative elements of children. If our leadership team did not model these behaviours, we would be failing the children.”

By design and intent, this model helps preserve a culture of openness, integrity, and respect.

The Board of Management is also a collaborative group of community members. With fifty percent gender balance and representative of parents with children in Early Years up to High School, teachers and parents of local Balinese scholar students. Students have a voice too, with the Chair of the Board attending Student Council meetings to gather feedback and ideas and students having direct access to Board members and Board meetings.

It is a working model that puts children first and importance is placed on the social and emotional aspects of decision-making as much as it is on managing risks and budgets.

Women Leaders at Green School: Kate Druhan, Chair of the Board of Management

“It’s essential that our leadership team exemplifies the skills and qualities we are nurturing in the children. Community-minded people are drawn to Green School and our executive team and Board of Management is the reverse of the norm, in terms of gender.”

– Kate Druhan, Chair of the Board of Management

It is worth contemplating the effect that women in leadership at Green School have on the culture and success of the School. According to the Chair of the Board of Management, Kate Druhan, “Green School has extended the frontiers of learning in so many ways, including how it manages itself. We have an incredibly diverse and dynamic community and collectively, the School has tremendous energy and forward momentum. Bringing people together, making connections, listening, adapting and shepherding the School in a forward direction is a nuanced pursuit.”

In thinking of the School as an interconnected system of people and place, Druhan states “We bring together three key elements – learning, community, and environment. The leadership team and organizational structure reflect this. Keeping an absolute focus on all three of these elements has allowed us to grow and adapt while staying true to our philosophical beginnings.”

Women in leadership can play a powerful role in creating a sense of community, a place where open communication and collaboration are the hallmarks of how things get done. Green School recognizes this as essential for its ongoing creative evolution and sustained success.

Women Leaders at Green School: Ni Putu Tirka, President of Yayasan Kul Kul

Holding a special place at the very heart of Green School, is Ibu Tirka, the President of Yayasan Kul-Kul (the not-for-profit entity within which the School sits). Ibu Tirka uses the analogy of bamboo to describe how the School brings together the Balinese concept of balance between people, the environment, and spirituality. “A shoot of bamboo can never stand alone. It cannot grow in singularity, but rather in a grove. The grove adapts, expands and strengthens over time. It provides space and protection for new shoots to grow and mature in harmony. This is community, this is life, this is Green School.”

Trust is high. Mistakes are opportunities to learn. Success is shared.

They say that it takes a village to raise a child. As we all search for community and human connection in the modern world, the women and people of Green School are getting on with what they do best, building community and a culture where respect, joy and ‘children first’ flourishes.

So, where are the girls?

As it happens, they are at Green School, changing education and blazing a trail for women in educational leadership.

If you would like to learn more about Green School Bali, please visit www.www.greenschool.org

The post Where are the girls? appeared first on Green School Bali.

This month, in my English class, I asked the students what is the purpose of a Green School education; what do they expect, what do their parents expect – why am I here? What struck me was how hard they found the answer to articulate.

I wonder if it is that difficult for others?

What is a ‘green’ education? As colourful as it is, there needs to be a purpose – a mission. For three months I have been trying to condense into a single document our curriculum – the train tracks on which all other carriages run. Initially, I thought this would be easy – just pull out all the details from a myriad of documents from multiple places from years of really exciting and creative growth. But it is not that clear and it is not that easy.

I had a person use a quote I have been repeating, mistakenly attributed to Winston Churchill:

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”
-Mark Twain

Just like a good sauce, the skill is in how the ingredients are mixed and how you reduce – which takes time to mother out the tastes.

So let me digress…

I asked another simple question of my English class this week: who is the most powerful person on the planet?

Without surprise, the responses were Obama, Putin and Ban Ki-Moon.

I commented that these were not the most powerful – and led them to consider the most powerful person was the one who wanted for nothing. They looked confused. I highlighted that if people did not want things we would not be held to ransom by clever sales pitches, marketing and consumerism.

My father brought me up with the values he had instilled in him as part of a generation raised in the rationing of WW2. At the table he would always comment: waste not; want not. When we turned our noses up at a bit of mould on bread, he would blow up and say, it’s just penicillin! Bruised bananas – unsavoury to us – he would devour in front of all as a testament to resourcefulness. We always had a cupboard of tin-food because the ‘great depression will be coming again’.

Things have really changed.

In a world of consumerism and marketing, in an age of connectivity with greater disconnect, our globe is controlled by ‘wants’. Desire, which leads to greed, has shackled us all to cities, televisions, malls and labels. We want products!

In my lifetime, the shop-owner Hans who used to fix our electronics when they broke has lost out to landfills: we throw out the old and buy a new unit – it’s cheaper. The energy, resources, labour and skills sustained in ‘fixing’ have been buried in mountains of waste and the ease of buying from clean air-conditioned pre-fabricated barns, without ever seeing the pollution, degradation and social capitalization in factories over the sea in foreign lands.

Mr Stevens – who had the corner shop over the road – left a long time ago, replaced by the shopping square and easy parking. We used to buy nails on scales and then have them placed in paper bags – in my lifetime they became plasticated groups of twenty, and choice was restricted to buy more.

We used to walk to get fruit from the grocers (who always had Italian names) and we were always told of what was in season – now the grocer is an aisle and we scan our own purchases without ever having to negotiate and chat about the quality of tomatoes.

Green School is a place that wants to develop in our children the shields needed for a happy future. It is not about excess it is all about access – being able to get what you need so you are in control. Being able to understand how to do things – so we can grow our own food, build our own things and be grateful for simplicity. Being able to communicate and express ideas as well as listen and appreciate diversity – so we can network and find solutions. Being able to live without taking from future generations the joys we experienced as kids.

Green School is all about connecting with the timeless traditions of the past – and in writing this newsletter, I am consciously aware that the timeless traditions are not from an epoch ago! Traditions can be spaced across just one generation!! We need to let things slow down and settle – to give kids the greatest gift: a childhood.

I sat on the beach of Brawa last Friday nursing my broken foot. I watched with interest as my son went for a surf with his mates. Before my eyes was me – as a kid – taking to the water with the freedom and love of being young. I felt so proud to be able to offer this opportunity. This was timeless. I sat back, felt my Movember whiskers and realized – I am now my father.

My bucket list of learning needs:

To learn how to think
To learn how to care
To learn how to read
To learn how to calculate
To learn how to cook
To learn how to make
To learn how to exercise
To learn how to manage a relationship
To learn how to be happy
To yearn to learn

Pak John
Head of School

The post From Head Of School: What is Green? appeared first on Green School Bali.

Lismore historically was a timber town – it was an area where settlers cleared The Big Scrub. Their gold was red cedar – a beautiful timber. Settlers were granted 100 acre blocks on the proviso they clear all timber off their lot within three years. Once laid bare, they could start dairy farms.

My father owned farms. They were his hobby – I later realised they were his respite from a very demanding job as a doctor and a surgeon in a small country town, dealing with everyone’s issues. Every weekend, we would explore and connect with nature – trekking over 700 acres of play-space beside the most beautiful beaches in the world – fifteen minutes south of Byron Bay. The door would open at dawn and close at dusk – that was our only parameter. I fished, surfed, explored, built cubby houses, weeded and cared for nature within the mindset of an uneducated boy. I thought it was fine to drain your property. I thought it was okay to slash paddocks. I grew up with a father who cleared the land. We used to go snake hunting, and we had a collection of snakes stored in bottles and methylated spirits.

I was raised in a family of eight (four boys; four girls; ten years from eldest to youngest). I was brought up without any materialism – my parents have always lived frugally, without show. We travelled on family ‘experiences’ – they were never deemed holidays.

Strangely, however, the more my father farmed, the greener he became. Around us people sold their land for housing blocks and eve-to-eve brick venereal boxes. I woke up when I was 18 years old to see white picket stakes dotting the neighbouring headland. A sign soon went up – it was a land sale. The entire headland was sold into oblivion. Many of my friends bought there. It still saddens me deeply.

This upbringing on the farm nurtured my connection with the land and the sea. I never wanted to leave. Our farm was – and still is – special. We have never sold – and it is now the green corridor that separates one town from joining the other.

Developers have persisted in trying to purchase our land. We have had many examples of corruption. We have had developments drain their waste water into our land; we have had people cut down our trees so they can glimpse “their” ocean view; we have had people vandalising our buildings. We even had our local Council build a carpark on our land beside the sea. We had sand-miners wanting to come onto the property to strip bare a hill for precious metals.

As the developments of our local area grew, so did their pooh. The area moved to a sewage system and the dunny can man lost his job: he was the only one in town who knew everybody’s business. The result of a sewage system was an ocean outfall, pumping at night so you couldn’t see it. My sister – a fervent greenie – took us into our first protest. We locals rose up and, via surf competitions and much media presence, improved the treatment and outfall. We didn’t stop the outfall but we did ensure it was much cleaner. My father said it should have been pumped onto his paddocks, as it was good fertiliser.

Byron Bay in my early childhood had been a whaling station. I never saw a whale breach in the ocean until I was aged 17 – and I surfed nearly every day since the age of 10. None would come near the shore.

What I have learnt from my upbringing is the contradiction of ‘green’. We have people wanting ‘green’ space – but that is only after they have concreted their own pad. We have people protesting about pooh – but that is only after they have built a four-bedroom and en-suite mansion. We have people wanting to beautify the sand-dunes by planting selected natives and using treated pine logs with plastic white cabling to keep people out. We have environmental platforms for bird watching made out of concrete and fibreglass with information etched into stainless steel.

What did I do? Some protest. Some complain. I went into education. I started with theatre education. My lecturer asked me to join his new company. I worked with the NSW Health Department and toured public schools the length of the state, performing healthy lifestyle and conflict resolution shows.

My first true teaching position was at Hill House International School. I taught kids in London about the ocean outfall issues in Australia – on the other side of the planet – via Tracks surf magazines.

In Cambridge, I taught about social justice and the water crisis. I used the computer as a tool to engage and connect. I created a World Poetry Day online forum, and received poetry from children around the world, including those suffering in the Middle East. St John’s was a school with over 600 years of tradition. It was also a school that taught me the importance of emotional intelligence – the affective teacher is an effective teacher.

During my time at St John’s I published a CD ROM and textbook via Nelson Thorne on teaching descriptive writing. It didn’t become a bestseller (of which I dreamed) – but it was ahead of its time, and I used the coding skills of one of my students to develop the database backend – he went on to read computer science at Cambridge University. I, too, studied at Gonville and Caius for my Master of Education while holding down a job, publishing the school magazine, preparing for an Ofsted inspection as Director of Studies, and creating my interactive textbook.

After ten years in the UK, I found myself back in Australia teaching at Central Coast Grammar School – a school focused on student-centred ownership. They had a welfare system unlike any other. This school was also one of the first schools to implement a laptop programme and the second school in NSW to introduce the IB. It was here I developed a new assessment and reporting system called STARS.

I moved on to Tudor House – a school with over 115 years tradition. This school was far from the traditional prep school system – and I believe has strong links to the learning models of Green School. It allowed boys to be adventurous and connect with the land. Boys were able to climb huge trees unassisted; roam the farmland freely; catch fish we stocked in the dam; light fires and learn bush cooking; camp out unsupervised with mates. We pushed the limits on responsible risk taking.

And then I landed one day at Green School. It was on my 20th Wedding Anniversary.

What drew me to Green School was the belief of a new paradigm for learning – and I saw it here. Not so much revolutionary but more complementary – drawing together the best threads from educational research. I could see potential for refinement beyond a doctrine. I could see great energy, amazing passion, a community that had built a dream into reality – and with that a communal ownership. These elements are the foundations of a great school. So much has already been done.

But I also felt a calling. I felt I could make a difference to refine key educational elements. I believe I can guide the development of the next stage of this incredible school’s growth based on my background. I want to respect and learn all that has been here – which is captured in so much oral history. I want to have this cultural intelligence implanted so I can best utilise my personal and professional experience to develop the pedagogy and vision.

I have formed my own belief on what quality education should be – I share my keys for a successful school below in the hope you will see alignment with what is already here:

KEY 1 – SCHOOL MUST BE ENGAGING AND CHALLENGING
KEY 2 – SCHOOL MUST HAVE A SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY
KEY 3 – SCHOOL MUST TEACH POSITIVE VALUES, ATTITUDES AND HABITS EXPLICITLY
KEY 4 – SCHOOL MUST BE WITHOUT WALLS – NO BARRIERS OR IMPEDIMENTS
KEY 5 – SCHOOL MUST BE HOLISTIC, CHILD-FOCUSED AND BALANCED
KEY 6 – LEARNING MUST BE STRUCTURED PURPOSEFULLY TO BE MEMORABLE
KEY 7 – STUDENT LEARNING MUST BE MAPPED AND TRACKED
KEY 8 – SCHOOL TEACHERS MUST BE AWARE OF THEIR VARYING ROLES
KEY 9 – SCHOOL MUST HAVE SPECIALISED LEARNING SPACES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
KEY 10 – PEDAGOGY MUST BE MINDFUL AND RESEARCH DRIVEN
KEY 11 – ASSESSMENT, DISPLAY AND FEEDBACK ARE ALL IMPORTANT

The post From the Head of School appeared first on Green School Bali.

Sitting on the pillion of a motorbike on the busy roads around Ubud might not be the place of choice for most people for a time of reflection, but during my recent week-long visit to Green School that’s where I found myself asking the philosopher’s favourite question: Why?

Why was I back in Bali? Why was I at the Green School? Above all, why was I rattling along a bumpy road on the back of a motorbike weaving through heavy traffic and dodging chickens and dogs?

The answer to these questions lies in the fact that I was not just on any old motorbike, I was on the back of the Head of the Green School’s motorbike and I was on my way to work. I had accepted John Stewart’s invitation to travel to Bali from Australia and to look around the school and assist him to add refinement and structure to the existing Green School model. I had worked with John during his time as the Head of Junior School at Central Coast Grammar in New South Wales and we were both looking forward to being back in partnership, albeit for only a few days.

John and I had met only infrequently since he left Central Coast Grammar School in 2008, which was the same year that I retired as Headmaster after serving the school for twenty-four years. In 2008, John was leaving us as Head of the Junior School to take on the Headship of a prestigious, well-established boys Prep School in the NSW Southern Highlands. In wishing him well as he left the school I spoke of how proud I was that he had finally taken command of a “ship” of his own after having served under a number of Captains aboard their ships, myself included.

I am much enamoured of the novels of Patrick O’Brian and love the imagery conjured up by his stories of life aboard the ships of the Royal Navy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. O’Brian’s work seems particularly relevant to the life of a Headmaster because both the old sea captains and school heads inhabit similar places. Both are in charge of worlds in miniature and both live claustrophobic lives in full view of those they serve. Both are dogged by difficulties and potential disaster. Both face the possibility of wreck on ragged rocks and shoals. Both face the possibility of mutinous crews and arbitrary financial circumstances. Both face espionage and treachery. On the other hand, both share the prospect of great satisfaction as their skills and knowledge are put to the test over and over again. Both know the joy of sailing with a fair wind and a clear sky when it seems as though nothing and no one can hold them back from destiny itself. However, only ship captains have power over life and death.

John Stewart’s first captaincy in Australia was a challenging one both for him and his family. He sought my counsel on a few occasions and I visited his school a couple of times. It always seemed to me that his stewardship would lead to a bigger and better appointment but I could never have foreseen that one day his “ship” would be the Green School.

In my forty years as a professional educator I have visited countless schools. I have taught at secondary and tertiary level in the UK, Papua New Guinea and Australia. I have visited schools in Australia, Belgium, China, Holland, Ireland, Japan, Lao, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Slovakia, Thailand, UK and USA. I have never seen anything quite like Green School, Bali.

John Hardy’s original vision is now widespread thanks in part to his inspiring Tedtalk and the word of mouth endorsements of those who have worked at Green School or visited the place. No amount of research however prepared this visitor for the reality. In a rare moment of downtime during my visit I called my wife in Australia on Facetime. On my screen, the bamboo structure soared above my head where I sat. Outside, the school’s marimba troupe was practicing. Somewhere below me, infant children were singing, laughing and calling out. A cockerell was crowing and a ubiquitous dog was barking.

“Where on earth are you?” my wife demanded to know.
“At work. At Green School,” I responded.
“It doesn’t look or sound like a school to me,” she said.
“It sounds as though you are in a village.”

I hope John Hardy would be happy with my wife’s response. To be in Green School is to be a part of a special community. To be in Green School is to connect with a whole range of people. To be in Green School is to be in Bali. To be in Green School is to be in a place like no other.

I’ve read the Headmaster’s “First 100 Days” article in Bamboo News. I’ve listened to him outlining his vision for the school as we walked around the property. It’s going to be an interesting voyage. I believe John to be an ideal man for the job. He has the support of his family. He loves children. He understands schools. He has served an appropriate apprenticeship in England and Australia. He has the relevant expertise, knowledge and understanding. He has tasted command before. He “knows the ropes”. I like the way he analyses his first hundred days. He knows what he wants to do but more importantly he has listened to the Green School community and he knows what they want. He understands their hopes and their dreams.

John Stewart’s task is not an easy one. He has to plait together the strands of the founders’ vision with the needs and wants of the current staff and students and their parents as well as to incorporate his own ideas. He has to foster the idealism of those who love the school with the pragmatism needed to secure a firm future and to achieve sustainability. So much creativity, idealism and dedication has already been lavished upon the place but now there needs to be attention paid to refining processes, firming up routines, creating policies, establishing schedules, trimming budgets, providing structure and certainty without, in any way, harming the progressive precious nature of the school. Green School is an icon. It is a way of life. It is a village. It is a community.

In my mind, the Green School can be likened to one of Patrick O’Brian’s majestic sailing ships embarking on a new voyage. Under a new captain whose charts, sextant and compass will guide him – John will take his passengers and crew to places the founders only dreamed about. It will be a voyage that will change peoples’ lives. It will be a voyage that will enrich those aboard and embolden them. It will be a voyage that will inspire others to set sail themselves.

The post Throwing Off the Bowlines appeared first on Green School Bali.

To our graduates – this is the first time I have had the honour to address you. You are awful.

I was going to say awesome. But I think you are more than that – you have filled me with awe. So “awful”, in its original context – full of awe, is appropriate.

To our graduate parents – this is also the first time I have had the opportunity to address you formally. Thank you sincerely for your support and belief in the magic and value of Green School. I, too, have been in your position – as my first daughter graduated last year from her high school.

I know the pride that swells in this room but let me dial that down a tad by giving you some important information I read yesterday: Half of recent college graduates are still relying on money from their parents after obtaining their degrees, a new study from the University of Arizona finds.

To our graduates – I am intent on offering ten minutes of my mind. Take it or leave it. I hope some of my words may settle on you.

I would like to discuss Awareness. Let me start by commenting on the power of logic – logos – the word. In the beginning was the word. This ability to communicate with language, a language glittering with words created over generations in order to define our thoughts, our emotions and our memories, is our distinction – it makes us human.

Use language. Discover different ways of thinking through the printed thoughts of others – and your own – over time. Write a letter to yourself aged 40 – then read it on your 40th birthday. You will discover how intelligent you really were. And in the process you are celebrating humanity’s distinction. Language defines our thoughts – and our awareness.

David Lynch stirred my thinking by stating…

If you have a golf-ball-sized consciousness, when you read a book, you’ll have a golf-ball-sized understanding; when you look out a window, a golf-ball-sized awareness, when you wake up in the morning, a golf-ball-sized wakefulness; and as you go about your day, a golf-ball-sized inner happiness. But if you can expand that consciousness, make it grow, then when you read about that book, you’ll have more understanding; when you look out, more awareness; when you wake up, more wakefulness; as you go about your day, more inner happiness.

Read and reread and proofread! Time travel and journey by reading good books.
Awareness is a conscious contemplation and, for all our futures, we need you to be educated so you can consider the consequences of our actions. We need you to be care-takers of this planet and its finite resources.

At some time, or times, in your life you are going to ask, “What is the purpose of life? What’s the point?” – When this happens, you are looking too small – you are sweating the small stuff; it is all about your viewpoint. Understand a point is just a spot, a small dot – step back and see the bigger picture, the inter-connectedness of everything, and the important part you play. It takes lots of colour points to paint the big picture.

Be curious. Be aware inflexibility and vanity erode curiosity. Be open to others. Never think you are better or wiser than another – give everyone the time of day and they may leave you with a thought for life.

Be wise enough to be wary of people who tell you they know the answer. Be strong enough to listen but not weak enough to believe without question. Question to search… not to prove. In this modern era when sound bites and viewpoints are circulated widely, be prepared to make your own judgment. Don’t send emails after ten o’clock at night. Don’t read emails after ten o’clock at night.

Understand everyone can justify why they are right by distinguishing how others are wrong. Very few people justify why they are wrong by acknowledging other people have been right. Try to trust in people and by so doing become trustworthy. The greatest corruption is thinking money defines the solution.

Be patient, let things settle so thoughts can be perceived in context. Answers, just like questions, benefit from the passage of time, in order to make better sense. It was Jane Goodall’s patience and persistence that led to her earning David Greybeard’s trust. Trust takes time. There will be people who seek to hold you back. Usually they do so because they fear for the worst, or they wish to protect – or they are jealous you dare to dream.

Be prepared to dream. Dreams come from the heart – not the head. Dream big but act small. Inspiration stems from yourself – finding your compelling desire – not from another person’s ability to motivate.

Realise there is no perfection. If the grass seems greener on the other side – learn to fertilise your own.

Will power needs your will. It takes effort. Nothing succeeds like success.

Know evil – and then do no evil; be kind – humankind: your support of each other and our planet is all our safety net and it is your responsibility.

Don’t smoke – I have lost three friends before their time – all with loving families. You can take control – don’t let others or other things control you because if feels good, especially if the science clearly shows the consequence is harm.

Whatever material possession you desire will lose its lustre soon after you own it and the next best thing will take its place. Remember – credit is impatience tax.

Keep in touch. School friends are those who know your authentic vulnerabilities. When you reconnect, you will return to who you are now. Take control. But also console. You have a responsibility to others. Understand the virtue of loyalty. If a friend falls out with another friend – don’t pass judgment; they may resolve their issues but they will not forget your comments. Be slow to judge but quick to help. The first step to wisdom is saying I don’t know. The second is sourcing another’s support. Stay united – just one little deviation can make united untied.

To quote the master wordsmith, Charles Dickens:

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”

If you are sensitive, you will find there are physical and emotional links formed through acquaintances – support is always available if you seek it. Leave light footprints – be graceful. Some stomp through life.

Protect your privacy – the internet is not your friend. It will store forever your interest, your images, your comments for reflection – in your most vulnerable state.

At times you will find things align – there are universal connections. This is called serendipity. Have faith. Have hope – hope is the positive belief things are for the best. Live a life of gratitude – being thankful for what you have achieved – not worrying about what you could. Tension is purely the agitation from knowing where you are and where you think you might want to be.

Don’t worry – the things that worry you most rarely happen. It is the things you least expect that will cause you the greatest distress. Also understand, life is full of contradictions – do worry if it leads to positive action.

Remember, every day you are a guest on spaceship earth enjoying a free cruise around the sun.

Whatever you do, do it to your best. The purpose of life is living a life of purpose. Live in the moment, with an eye on the past and a focus on the future. Understand the “unforgiving minute” – you won’t until your time is running out.

This is your time; how it passes; how we define our time, will be how we define ourselves and, more importantly, how we set things up for the future. We will all be judged objectively by our great grandchildren.

Love others more than you love yourself. Rebel but don’t repel – and be aware life has been lived successfully by billions of people over thousands of years.

The key to unlock success is simplicity – don’t over think things. Make the ordinary extraordinary. And don’t think a new idea is new – it will have been thought of before by someone at some time. Learn from their mistakes. Research how it turned out. Be aware, for awareness is the foundation of positive action – and awareness of what needs positive action is the pure definition of sustainability in motion – awareness is sustenance for the soul.

Live, love, hope, trust, act and learn – together. Be solution-finders, future-fixers – not worry-makers.

Be con-tent.

The post New Head’s Speech to Graduates appeared first on Green School Bali.