most important person.

Have you ever been asked who the most important person in your life is?

Beware. This can be an awkward question to answer in a family setting.

It happened to be in a family setting that I heard the question being asked. Fortunately, I was in another room. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I am the most important person in my life.’

While I do believe it quite true that you have to care about yourself first, it did make me think about a book I received when I ended a school year and was not going to return the following year.

The school was a Lighthouse School (Leader in Me) and it had a tradition of giving the same book to everyone who moved on from the school.

The book was called, ‘The Three Questions’ based on a story by Leo Tolstoy.

In it, one of the three questions was ‘Who is the most important person?’…and the answer was – spoiler alert – ‘whoever you are with’.

For several years, I did not understand the meaning in a way that I could explain clearly. I knew I didn’t get it, something was missing…I didn’t grasp what the answer meant.

And then I did.

Let’s see if I can explain it.

Would you agree that there is an energy source of infinite intelligence and well-being that resides in and throughout all existence?

A by-product of self-care would be a greater awareness of what it feels like to be connected to this source. So this is why it is important to be important to yourself.

Taking it one step further, if you are feeling in alignment with this source, then the person you are with has the opportunity to resonate with the same connection…and be in alignment along with you.

Even better, the person you are with is being seen, heard, valued, and understood in the presence of this intelligence.

When using the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the first three habits help us line up with the energy source of this intelligence, and the next three habits support the interdependence of all living things as we relate from this foundation.

Habit 7 reminds us to return to ‘source’ over and over again by taking care of this connection.

Posted by:Sally Seiffer

I am a public academic working in schools since 1995. In 2007, I received my MSW from the University of Denver and began working as a school social worker in the greater Denver area. I became passionate about mindfulness and teacher self-care as essential interventions in response to school violence and student death by suicide. I define self-care as caring about yourself enough to notice your thoughts and the story they tell; then choosing skills, tools, and strategies to shift limiting scripts. I have over 25 years of experience with all grade levels across three states: Illinois, California, and Colorado. Over the last ten years, I have created several curriculum concepts that include the checkIN and Movement.Breath.Kindness. In June 2020, I published an ebook titled: The Story I Tell. How to make the Age of Disruption work for you. In addition to the ebook, there is a companion eworkbook that makes it simple to transfer the skills, tools, and strategies to a classroom or coaching session. Storyitell is now available in paperback at Amazon.com. In January 2021 I published a second ebook: Something More. Connecting to the pulse of a Shared Humanity. Somethingmore is currently available to download for Kindle at Amazon.com. This January 2022 I published a third ebook: abetterway. Using Inner Resources to Create Your Own Algorithm. I publish a weekly blog at sallyseifferco.blog that is posted on Sally & Sifer Facebook Page. I publish weekly content on Instagram @sallysifer, as well as visual content that complements blog posts on the Sally & Sifer YouTube channel, TikTok, and Instagram Reels. Summer 2022 began an 8-week teaching series that began June 4 on @sallysifer Facebook Page. Additionally, 2022 8-week teaching series can be found on the FB page beginning on January 24 and April 4. A recent 8-week series focused on The Story I Tell began on January 17, 2023.

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Posted by:Sally Seiffer