It was her way of being that felt different.
There was a quietness, warmth, compassion, depth and wisdom. I felt my heart activated in her class in grad school.
I was joining this class from another school from campus so I didn’t know anyone. Yet I always felt safe, comfortable and accepted by her.
I will never forget how on Valentine’s day, she came in, and moved from one student to another. She looked into our eyes, said our name and gave us each a flower. I was struck. I had never had an experience like that from an educator. I didn’t have a name for it then but now I can see she was Love personified.
I loved her readings and project work. They had soul. I still keep the paper she marked for a project she enabled us to do for an organisation working on nurturing a contemplative mind.
A few years after I graduated, I visited New York and asked if she would be up for coffee. She didn’t have to, of course, but gracefully agreed. She told me about an experiment she had been on to live as if it was her last year to live. She introduced me to Stephen Levine’s book, “A Year to Live”. I was inspired and did the experiment with two friends back home for a year. It changed my life, and my relationship to death, and since then I have allowed death to circle me and remind me that my time can come at any time. That led to “Face death” to emerge as a part of our Inner Wealth “Grow” pathway.
I subscribed to her blog and followed her on social media. I emailed her a few times to ask about her journey when I was at a crossroads, and she always wrote back from her heart. In 2022, I invited her to speak at my university alumni club event on her book, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind. We are pictured here below after that beautiful event.
She has influenced my life deeply, just by being herself, living her life, sharing on social media, having coffee, responding to a few emails. This would not have been on her job description. She was formally teaching us communications for social change. But really, she was a teacher of and for life.
It’s the person’s being and connection that matters and that can lead one anywhere. In my case, it led me to a life lesson on death which I have shared with others because of one ex-teacher who agreed to have coffee with me and be open to give me a glimpse of her life.
I have found educators like Barbara to be rare gems. This is the sort of educator we believe the world needs.
Her name is Barbara Becker and she is at https://barbarabecker.com
Opening photo: Jayne View