Great teachers care, have extreme patience with others, extensive knowledge of their subject, and a deep understanding of how to disseminate information.
Patience is essential in teaching. A kind and patient teacher can help make learning thoroughly more pleasant and enjoyable while substantially increasing the effectiveness of the lesson. If a teacher is patient with a student, then that student will become patient, taking the time to do things correctly with confidence. If a teacher is short on patience, students quickly become nervous and make mistakes in haste, starting with being impatient.
When someone expertly and gently teaches from the heart what he or she knows in the head, knowledge transference will happen. By being patient and taking time to teach and to learn, positive, long-lasting results will be achieved much quicker. Whoever is lucky enough to learn from a patient teacher walks away a better and improved person.
In a way, everyone is a student as well as a teacher at one time or another -- usually simultaneously. The student teaches the teacher how to teach better and helps the sincere teacher understand his or her subject better.
The teacher who teaches for real compensation -- the joy of helping others succeed -- will be caring, patient, knowledgeable, and understanding. Teachers are successful when they care, when they help change and impact other lives positively, regardless of the subject at hand. Specific lessons are sometimes less important than the lessons learned by the way one is taught.
A great teacher is of much greater value than the knowledge that teacher possesses, which is invaluable.
The Ocean as Teacher
Imagine a teacher who is as old as Earth and whose lessons have been proven time after time, a teacher with relentless patience.
With greater strength and power than all the armies of the world, the ocean has a profound effect on every form of life that has ever existed and teaches all who listen. The ocean is one of mankind's best friends.
As with any great and powerful teacher, the ocean demands respect: respect for nature, our bodies, and life itself. Every lesson learned in the ocean can and should be practiced ashore and integrated into our daily lives.
In this case, the respect we earnestly practice and feel extended to our families, teachers, country, and ourselves is the foundation of healthy minds. This high regard and special consideration for the ocean helps us to keep things in the proper perspective.
Rhythm, timing and flow are some of the building blocks the ocean uses to teach and unveil the secrets of the universe and success. The vast, powerful ocean is truly one of our greatest teachers, offering fun, entertainment, education, and physical and mental challenges. The ocean continues to offer the gift of life on this planet as we know it.
Waves rise, roll, and return to whence they originated, a never-ending cycle of life not unlike our very own. A person who is trained to look can see what causes the waves, where they came from, and where they are going. If you want to learn about anything -- poetry, martial arts, prosperity, friendship, love, or about life itself -- learn from the waves.