Admitting your imperfections doesn’t mean you’re a failure.
—Gary Chapman

I can only cook a few recipes — Filipino style pasta, oatmeal with cinnamon and banana, and salad with hard boiled eggs (yay!).

I have monthly extreme mood fluctuations (because of you-know-what).

At home, I usually catch myself staring at the wall for an hour or two (dnd mode), because my mind wanders off to more effective strategies I could use for each child in my class.

I keep forgetting about listing down my every day expenses.

I can’t help spending for something that’s not even part of our budget — teaching mats, weekly family eat-out’s.

What a wife.

But…what’s unbelievable is that…I never heard my husband nagging me over any of those.

All I hear from him are his unexpected “thank you’s”.

“Thank you for washing the plates, Niks…”

“I love the salad!! Thank you, huuuun…”

“You’re such a loving teacher, Niks… Your kids are lucky to have you…”

And every night, whenever we pray together before we sleep, he always says…

“Thank you for the good life I have with my wife, God…Thank you for making me feel Your love through Nikki…”

I can’t remember any moment when he condemns me for my failures or shortcomings.

The effect?

I strive to be a better person every single day.

I want to be the kind of wife he believes I am.

And I noticed that his grateful attitude is contagious.

I’ve begun looking for the things he’s doing right and thank him for those.

I tend to overlook his weaknesses, too.

This has become our culture.

What’s more is that I have carried this all the way to my classes.

I keep on searching for everyone’s strengths.

I make sure that I let them know what I’ve seen before the day ends.

I can’t say I don’t recognize their mistakes anymore, but I choose making them feel that we’re all in it together.

This culture has been powerful.

This week, I found out that Regie Routman, author of the ASCD book Read, Write, Lead, uses this approach too!

She called this the empowerment culture.

She said that she firmly believes that nothing ever improves in any classroom or school unless this strategy is utilized.

She uses this not only with her students, but most especially with the teachers she leads.

Imagine being a part of a community where everyone is valued.

Everyone is included.

And everyone excels at something.

I certainly know how it feels — heaven on earth.

Everyone deserves to have this culture.