While contemplating this article I questioned myself about the importance of working with joy and concluded that I would express it more like working with passion.  Passion goes beyond a joyful moment; passion envelops your entire conscious and unconscious without the constraints of time.  It radiates and becomes contagious. We who have the privilege of being passionate about our work are blessed! 
In this article, I share the aspects that seem fundamental to me to continue on the path of improving in our daily work: 

Passion or conformity? 

Children feel what we transmit to them. I have had the opportunity to observe Montessori Guides who are passionate about their work, and the feeling of their environment is different: you breathe it, you perceive the energy, the productive activity, the supportive, participatory, unconditional and loving environment. 

We must live life with passion, work with passion and cultivate our love with passion. When this is lacking, resignation and conformism begin. 

We are servants of the child

Carrying out our work with passion elevates our spirit, because it guides our actions to produce, think and work. Passion is the drive that helps us achieve our goal, it is our salvation and a sign of health. 

Teaching by example 

Children absorb our attitudes and behaviours, and they will follow the example, they will imitate what they see: it is an active, thorough and constant absorption.  Maria Montessori emphasised many times that the best preparation for teaching is study that starts from a constant understanding of oneself.  It is the preparation that each teacher must achieve. 

"We must insist on the need for the teacher to prepare himself internally, studying himself with methodical constancy; it is necessary that he succeed in suppressing the defects, intrinsic in him, that would be an obstacle in his relations with the children"

Live intensely

I believe that it is not easy to find and maintain passion in our lives (work, family, friends), but we are obliged to focus and live intensely what excites us and what gives us hope... and that our heart, a passionate heart, guides our destiny. Isabel Allende tells us that nice people are not interesting; However, those who fight passionately - as did Dr. Montessori in relation to the defence of the child, who despite the social adversity she had to live as a woman in her time, achieved great things - are the ones who transcend. 

The significant root of passion 

The word passion comes from the Latin passio and the verb pati, patior, which means, to suffer, endure, tolerate. When I discovered its root, I was amazed, because I considered passion as something positive, deep.  After reflecting, I came to the conclusion that in our journey we suffer, we endure, but deep inside we have a very clear objective and therefore we accept, tolerate, we adapt to the conditions that are presented to us, always looking for the way to achieve our objective and at the end of the process comes joy... 

Creativity or Routine? 

Living with passion is being, every day, open to surprise, to wonder, to discovery... Being a creative adult, who always sees the positive side of life and who is in permanent recreation... 

Maria Montessori says: 
“The Guide must be the spirit of animation of the class, awakening interest through teaching and giving it meaning. Then comes free choice and repetition of the exercise. The secret is always to present these things in the most interesting way possible and allow the child the freedom to choose when he or she has understood.”

The Guide must think about his or her work from three angles: 

The Child,
The Adult, and
The Prepared Environment.

These three factors that interact with each other are the basis of Montessori Education. If you neglect any angle, you will not get the desired result. 

We must have a REAL LOVE for children. What does this mean? 

• Knowing the child deeply in his or her development process, helping him or her, serving him or her, and respecting him or her. 
• Preparing ourselves to be better Guides by reading, studying, attending talks, conferences, and constantly cultivating ourselves. 
• Having an environment with everything necessary: complete, beautiful, attractive, harmonious materials; remember that every detail speaks of you. 

Loving is an art, as Erick Fromm writes in his book, loving requires knowledge and effort. How congruent are we with what we say, feel, and do? Congruence comes from the Latin word meaning coherence or logical relationship. It is a characteristic that reflects a link between two or more things. 

Humility or Pride? 

The Guide must be humble.  As Dr. Montessori mentioned, it is a fundamental part of our work, she emphasises this when she mentions that we are the servants of the children, not the masters. 

Humility comes from humus, which means having your feet on the ground. Dr. Montessori tells us that we must fight against arrogance, anger and pride, "sins" that stop our personal, professional and spiritual self-development. We must accept fraternal criticism since it has a background of constructive criticism, which helps us grow and become better educators. 

Sense of Humour 

We must have a sense of humour, laugh at our mistakes, at ourselves, my father said that humour "is the spark of life." In Montessori, mistakes are our friends, and we must make sure that children laugh EVERY day. 

LIGHT Generation 

We are living in a "light" society: 

• Minimum effort 
• Inconsistency 
• Everything fast 
• Lost ethical values 
• Absence of affection and commitment 
• Materialism as a foundation 
• Ambition without principles, etc. etc. 

Like an echo, let it vibrate in our hearts! 

Doctor Montessori asks us: 
What world do we want? 

Let us work passionately to change our world! 

Gabriela Ortega Esquivel, AMI 3–6 Trainer