Billy Sticker describes a high school teacher who broke negative spirals by pausing to thank God for trees, birds, and her job. That gratitude practice stuck with him more than any algebra lesson, showing how intentional thankfulness interrupts negativity.
I had a teacher in high school, and if you aren't surprised, I guess we all had teachers in high school, but this one in particular, I remember her telling me a story one time, and it wasn't like— she didn't tell the whole class. It was just me and one other guy talking to her. And she said, you know, often I find myself just getting negative. And she said, I'll stop what I do, what I'm doing, and I just look outside. And I start to find things to thank God for. You know, God, I thank you for the trees that are giving us the oxygen to breathe. I thank you for the birds in the sky. I thank you for my job. Like she says, she specifically stops and starts thinking of things to be thankful for. And that's so good. And out of everything, I took 2 years of algebra from her. And that's what I remember, right? Is that, because that's been more valuable than the Pythagorean theorem. Amen.
