Heart's Desire

I've just returned from an Arthur Murray Regional Training weekend. After 22 years of attending these weekends twice a year (that's a lot of weekends), I always come away with a re-affirmation of why I'm in this business of teaching people to dance.

In the past few weeks, I've been training some new instructors and the topic that comes up frequently is to "lose yourself in order to help your student". Often this conversation begins when we are discussing sales techniques. Less experienced (and less effective) teachers shy away from asking hard questions or delivering news that's hard to take because they are afraid the student won't like them as a person. The teacher who truly has the heart of a servant cares only about helping her student feel a change in his life; she's wearing blinders to her own feelings or insecurities. By focusing on the heart of the matter (in this case, what is that ache that only dancing can ease) all personal concerns evaporate.

Any teacher you love, who has made an impact on your life was probably a little hard on you, gave you a little grief if you slacked off or got lazy, tore off the rose colored glasses and told it like it is. Why do you cherish the time you spent with this person? Because you felt the genuine caring for your wellfare, because you knew that teacher was committed to helping you reach your dream. I'll bet you felt some results, too!

Back to this weekend; it's not just me that believes the best teachers have service in their hearts. That message was repeated, reinforced and reiterated by our guest speakers and all of our area's top-ranked instructors. Anyone who know me knows that I'm "an Arthur Murray girl". This weekend was just one of the many reasons that I stay that way.