Say, "I Can"

In yoga I frequently hear my teachers ask us to "imagine if we spent as much time saying 'I can' as we say 'I can't,' and then imagine replacing all of those 'I can'ts' with 'I cans." So of course, as I've done with many of these little mantras, I have fully adopted this one into my life, and I've been saying, "I can." I know this probably sounds ridiculous, considering what's going on in my life right now, but I find that even in really small situations, finding the strength to say, "I can" brings me some joy. Yesterday, this video was shown to me for the second time, and I could not help but think this was fate.

I am just loving the idea of "I can" right now, so please join me and adopt it as your mantra. Whether it applies to cooking a 20 lb turkey, changing lives in India, applying for your dream job, finishing your law school applications, getting through your first year teaching, running a marathon (or a half, that's cool too), breaking up with your significant other, finding a significant other, finishing your first semester of undergrad, or anything else, I challenge you to say, "I can!"

Today began the visual of our "No Excuses Campaign" in my classroom. Below there is a photo of our no excuses wall. Attached to the clothes pins are notecards with all of the excuses my students have ever made (in English, Spanish, and maybe even some French!). We are hanging our excuses out to dry and fly away. We CAN make a difference in our lives by saying goodbye to excuses, goodbye to "I can't," and hello to I CAN.