Good Advice Project: Abigail Joy Cesa #13

Good Advice Project: Abigail Joy Cesa #13
The Good advice today comes from Abigail "Abby" Joy Cesa #13; Good Advocate, Educator, and Life Shaper.

Thank you sharing your Good advice Teacher Abby! :)

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"Do Good and Good things will come to you."
I came up with this advise based from what I have experienced in my teaching life so far. In a way, I'm a believer in Karma - if you have and do good things, you attract good things as well as good things will happen to you; if you do bad things, then bad things will come to you. It is a cycle of how things are.

I'm also aware that the concept of "good" is vague, a good thing for me may not be for another. A good thing for me is like something that helps others, or something that brings the best out of them; perhaps even something that helps us realize to change for the better. A great example for this is a story of a student that I had once before back when I was teaching in high school (I currently teach in the College setting) during my 1st year of teaching.

 I came in as a new teacher and already told who's who in the class, the good ones, the bad ones and particularly there is this one student who was branded as "the worst" student not just in class but in the campus.

If she doesn't like the teacher, she would sleep and yes she slept in my class. As a new teacher having to face this kind of situation, I didn't know what to do really. So the logical thing I did was follow the process -- I reprimanded her but to no avail. From there, things got worse wherein I got more angry and scolded her even more.

But I also found myself reflecting and evaluating myself to the point of question whether or not the rules were wrong? As a teacher it was my duty to help struggling or even difficult students. Then I decided to change my approach by starting with our homeroom activity with an "open forum" of sorts.

There I was absolutely shocked when she volunteered to explain a question, which was: "Do you think you are kind?"

She answered and admitted to the class with all honesty and pride that she was kind. Her classmates were skeptical and didn't believe her obviously. She then explained: Kindness isn't about following the rules, it doesn't mean behaving well either, kindness for her was following the teachings of the bible.

O_O (shocked face)

She believed that she wasn't talking back to teachers, but instead said: "It is said there in the bible that if something is wrong, you should not just accept it, you should correct it. I believe that what I've been doing for the past 16 years of my life was and is always dedicated to what I believe is good. I respect people who respect me, and dislike those who dislike me."


This was one milestone as well as an eye opener for me, not because I learned another definition of kindness, but because I learned something valuable coming from a young mind. A perspective that I didn't have but now have gained/received like a gift.

You cannot be good by just following the rules, you cannot be good by following what others tell you to do, you cannot be good by just complying at school, work or at home; likewise you cannot immediately be a good christian if you don't miss church every Sunday and you cannot be good by simply claiming to be.

Being good goes beyond those things above, it is manifested in the creator as well as through our (consistent intent and) actions. So if you do good, good will come to you!

James 4:17 (ESV/NIV) - If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is a sin for them.

[Now the student is in college and is a candidate for Cum Laude]
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What do you think of this good advice?

About this 365 Good Advice project:
-My own version of a 365 project;
-reconnecting with the willing 1,400+ friends of mine (based from facebook)

-"Good" I mean the exact opposite of selfish. How can we give people good advice in order for them to care about others and not just of themselves.
-my friends share their "Good advice” – one every day or every other day or every after coffee talk.

For more information, do read the main blogpost on 365 Good Advice Project: Coffee Talks/Dates