An encouragement from an unlikely place

While doing my weekly work for my te reo Māori certificate, I came across this:

The waiata 'Purea Nei' is an adaption of the following whakataukī:

'E hoki koe ki ō maunga kia purea koe e ngā hau a Tāwhirimātea'

'Return to your mountains to be cleansed by the winds of Tāwhirimātea'

This whakataukī recognises the value of returning to your roots to recharge, re-energise, and be reminded of what's important in life. It might be used to remind someone who is overwhelmed by work, forgetting their priorities or in a rut of some type, to return to the places that nurtured them to find inspiration.

We sing Purea Nei as a staff song. I never knew that this song was an adaptation of this whakataukī. What a great reminder when troubled by the stress of planning lessons, challenging situations, and feeling overwhelmed, we can come back to the reason why we teach in the first place. This is very inspiring, and I am looking forward to sharing this with our staff at school. I needed that.