Trust and Kindness

This week is a quick blog. I found a video over the weekend that I really enjoyed. It's Brene Brown of course it's good!

Building trust. 

Who do you trust? 

Can others trust you? 

Who is in your marble jar? Are you a marble in someone else's jar?

Now that we have had a nugget of mindful thought for the week come find me in my office. 

In honor of World Kindness Day Thursday, Veterans Day Tuesday, and The USMC 250 birthday Monday....

Treat Yo Self.

 Better yet, let me treat you!

Walk It Out...Backward

Let's take a walk together this week. A long walk backwards, otherwise known as, Retro Walking.

There is not a lot of research, but there is enough to make this topic interesting and worth taking a few minutes to explore. 

As we all know by now, our brains run automatically from our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and our amygdala. We utilize tools, such as mindfulness, to pull us out of the amygdala and into the prefrontal cortex. 

Some small new studies are showing that walking backwards might help with pulling us into the present and into the prefrontal cortex.

Studies are finding that 10-15 minutes daily of retro walking can help calm and ground a person. You have to be very present when taking a walk where you cannot see what's coming. As you find calm, your brain and body begins to down regulate and shifts to the parasympathic nervous system (rest and digest).

Researchers are also looking at the cognitive benefits of a walk backward. The skill and coordination it takes helps boost memory. Also, with the activation of the prefrontal cortex we see more logic, problem solving, and wise choices. 

As you begin this experience, as new mindfulness, you may also notice a reduction in anxiety and depression, along with some lower back relief. Studies have also found some pain relief for the knees.

Your brain and your body will be thanking you for trying something new.

The new and different experience is also considered a pattern disrupt to the brain which can help with reducing rumination (we've learned about this before).

Why not give it a try. Start small, take a minute or two a day and turn around and walk. Build up to 10-15 minutes.  What could it hurt (as long as there is a clear path)? 

Finding the Good

 This is not a new topic. It connects to topics we've been exploring already this year. It also connects back to a topic from February of this year. 

Finding the Good (In Students, Staff, and Ourselves)

Finding the good in others does not mean that we ignore the negative, rather it means that we separate behavior from the person. Good people make mistakes. And people who struggle with behavior have redeeming qualities. We have to look past the behavior and find the good inside the person.

Psychology Today has a great article encouraging us to explore getting to know people past their flaws and struggles. The article states that in today's society we are living a "bummer car" existence. This is explained as "bumping into others" brief encounters, and then moving on quickly. Bump and go. Bump and go. We are encouraged stop, get out of the bummer car, and spend time with others.

When we do more than a quick moment and move on we get to know a person. The quick moments of behavior do not tell the whole story of a student. A quick moment with a "grumpy" co-worker does not tell their whole story. A quick moment with you is not your whole story.

The more time we are willing to spend with another person, the more likely we are to engage in what Dr. Becky calls MGI. The most generous interpretation for behavior. Look back at the post from February 12, 2025 for more on MGI.

Studies show that when we begin to explore the good in others we are more likely to find the good in ourselves. 

Seeing the good in others also helps them (and us) become more confident, more loving, and more productive. When you take time to find the good in your students, your students are more likely to be productive in school.

Remember that clip from Ted Lasso? Remember the quote he shares from Walt Whitman? 

"Be curious, not judgmental."

Are you curious about your students? Or have you made up your mind about their behavior, attitude, abilities, or worth?

Slow down. Look for the most generous interpretation for a behavior moment. 

Take time to see abilities.

Letting others, especially kids, know their abilities will stick with them for a long time, possibly the rest of their lives.

In the Psychology Today article the author shared a story about being a kid playing football. He shared that he was small for his age and always picked last for a team. One day after playing football the team captain told him that he was a good player and that he wanted to pass the ball to him more. The author states that this stuck with him. Someone noticed his abilities and shared that with him. He felt more capable and more accepted. He felt as if he really was good at sports. He stated that this was the beginning of years of sports because he felt good about his abilities.

What abilities have noticed from your students? Have you told them?

We need to do more than notice abilities to support our students. We need to look for their positive character traits. 

Psychologist who study positive psychology believe that we all have positive values we display. Some values are stronger and some weaker but never lacking. These psychologist created the VIA Values in Action survey. This survey can be found at VIAcharacter.org. You can take it and find your own strengths. Students can take it and find theirs. You can help students know they have positive character traits by telling them the good you see in them.

When we being to explore the good in others, often times we find the good in ourselves. Finding good in others benefits us all. 

Which student do you need to find the good in? Will you take the time to find the good and let them know?

I am Positive I can use Positive Self-Talk

 Recently we talked about positive distanced self-talk. This is about using your own name to encourage yourself. This helps remove you from the situation to look at it from an outside perspective. This creates an illusion to the brain that a trusted friend is encouraging you. Our brains tend to listen to trusted friends more than ourselves.

This week I want to talk about positive self-talk v negative self-talk and how they relate to our brains.

Recent studies utilizing fMRI show us that negative self-talk can activate our bodies stress response. Negative self-talk can hinder motivation and decrease the activation of the brain's reward system.

In contrast, the fMRI showed that positive self-talk increased motivation, activated the reward system, boosted confidence, and increased activity in the Prefrontal Cortex. 

If you've ever been in one of my introduction to mindfulness lessons than  you know how important the Prefrontal Cortex is to us. It is the last part of the brain to finish developing and it is the center for our wise choices. It is our thinking it through brain. It's what we use mindfulness to strengthen.

Positive self-talk is a great way to help grow our wise brain. On the flipside of that, negative self-talk hinders motivation and reduces our ability to make wise choices.

Positive self-talk can also be seen as a kind of self fulfilling prophecy. If I am positive with myself I will believe in myself and my abilities and I am more likely to make wise choices and do well.

Negative self-talk is also it's own kind of self fulfilling prophecy. The more negative we are with ourselves the less likely we are to believe in ourselves. The less we believe we can do it, the less likely we are to do it.

This is something that I talk about with students at school and my children at home. 

A few years ago my youngest and I found a book at the library called, The Power of Yeti, by Rebecca Van Slyke. It was about not being able to do things...yet(i). The yeti learns that he might not be able to do something right now but if he tells himself he can't do it yeti he will learn that he can do it someday if he tries. Now at home we say "I can't do it yeti, but I'll try."

The yeti had to learn positive self-talk. So do we.

A lot of our students (and maybe we do too) need to learn positive self-talk. Perhaps you need to start a new morning routine of positive affirmation. 

Below is a link to 101 positive affirmation for students.

101 Positive Affirmations

If students are reluctant to start, consider writing them on sticky notes or note cards and handing one to each student in the morning. Then ask them to read it aloud. This is an easy way to start a positive self-talk habit. Maybe you need it too. As you write them out for the students read them aloud for yourself.

I can start each morning with a positive affirmation.

I will start each morning with a positive affirmation.

I am starting each morning with a positive affirmation.

A great way to do affirmations is with I Can, I Will, I Am. It helps our brains organize things into ability, plan, and action.

Give it a try!

 

Build and Keep Attention

 

Daily Jay- Attention

What are you paying attention to in class?

What are your students paying attention to in class?

We have multiple types of attention:

Focused

Sustained

Selective 

Alternating

Divided

Focused attention is directed to one single specific stimulus.

Sustained attention is concentration on a single task.

Selective attention is choosing to focus on one thing. This was the video we watched and the mindfulness we listened to with Jay.

Alternating attention is having the ability to flexibly switch from task to task.

Divided attention is attempting to multitask. Our brains cannot truly engage in multitasking. When attempting to our brains and productivity slow down. Our brains actually will engage in rapid task switching, as fast paced alternating attention.

How are you supporting attention in your classroom? Are you making sure to engage in daily mindfulness without distraction?

Teaching our students to sit still and listen to Inner Explorer helps them learn to build focused attention and sustained attention.

We need to help our students build attention.

Due to technology and the amount of time spent on fast paced, quick content attention span has decreased. 

According to research our attention is now less than that of a goldfish.

Your students may be missing what you are teaching because they are turned in to the wrong things in class. Or not tuned in at all.

Their young brains are working to make neural connections related to listening and learning in class.

Teachers will do attention getters to grab attention. But how do you keep attention?

As I researched this topic a theme seemed to pop up; positive interactions, building relationships, and silent moments (mindfulness). 

The more we utilize mindfulness and build relationships with our students, the more they will want to pay attention.

One website suggested using the background of your students to create more specific examples in learning. This suggestions encourages getting to know your students. This is building those relationships.

Have you tired one of the many thought mindfulness options on Inner Explorer?

We need to help build and keep attention. 

Class Culture and What You Allow

 We are back this week for more unlike inspiration from Beartown. 

"What about culture, then?" Sune looked more serious, choosing his words carefully. In the end he said: "For me culture is as much about what we encourage as what we actually permit."

David asked what he meant by that, and Sune replied: "That most people don't do what we them to. They do what we let them get away with."

The book is talking about the culture of a hocky team. Sune the older coach felt culture was one of the most important parts of the team. Without a focus on the culture you don't have a team who will work together as a team. Instead you have a group of individuals only focused on themselves. 

This sticks out to me for school as well. The idea that the culture of our classrooms is not simply the rules we give but what we then allow, what we let them get away with.

As I began to research building positive classroom cultures one things stood out the most.

Relationships.

The website thehighlyeffectiveteacher.com list six things to ensure you are setting up a positive classroom culture. 3 of the 6 things focus on relationships.

1. Teacher relationship to students

2. Teacher relationship to parents

3. Teacher encouraging students relationships with other students

As we have talked about before, when we are building relationships with students, students are more likely to want to be in class and want to do well for us.

Relationship building is also about boundary setting. This connects to our book quote. The culture in our relationships, classrooms, and school is built on what we allow students to do at school.

On the website edutopia.org it says that one innovative way to built a positive culture in your classroom is to practice mindfulness with your students.

Our mindfulness practices are a wonderful way to come alongside our students, participating together in learning ways to build inner calm and resilience. 

Edutopia also suggests doing check ins with students.

Often times we do not check in with students until they become a "problem" student and we write into a BSP that a social worker or ABSS will do daily check ins.

You can do your own. You can do a quick check in with all students. You can also pick a different student each day and check in a little extra. Rotate students and you will be able to check in with all students monthly or more for younger grades. Older grades could focus on homeroom for in-depth check ins and still do quick checks with other students.

As you work to build relationships begin to ask yourself:

 What do I encourage? 

What do I allow?

Building relationships doesn't mean allowing unwanted behaviors to go unaddressed. A relationship means you are better able address the concerns in a calm and compassionate way.

Build relationships.

Build community.

Build culture. 

Achievement or Panic

Usually I find a topic when I listen to a podcast, catch something from a psychology page I follow, or see what Dr. Becky and Adam Grant are posting. This week while I was reading the book Beartown by Fredrik Backman I found inspiration. If you know this book, it is an unlikely source of mindfulness. It is a book about a small  hockey loving town in Sweden. The picture above is a quote from the general manger of the hocky club. He was a former player who comes to a realization as a spectator rather than a player.

"It was only when he has to watch a game from the stands for the first time that he realized how close adrenaline is to panic. What rouses the body to battle and achievement are the same instincts that instill mortal dread in the brain."

And guess what, he is not wrong. Psychologically speaking, he was spot on.

Achievement and panic are closely wired in our brains. They share overlapping neural circuits and involve the same neurotransmitters. They specifically share dopamine.

What does this mean for us? Why did this stand out to me as I was reading?

Think about our students for a few minutes. Maybe pick a specific student in your class that seemingly panics when they are doing well. Can you see it? Students that "self-sabotage" when they are on the right path.

The truth of our brains comes from a classic psychology quote "what fires together, wires together." Our students may live in a state of panic at home. Our students may live with a sense of mortal dread. This is wiring strong in their brains. Then when they work toward achievement their brain becomes confused. Due to the shared neuro connections and the stronger connection to panic, our students see achievement as a threat to well-being.

It takes a lot to rewire a brain. But it is possible. 

When we work hard to create calm and a space for understanding we are helping to rewire brains. 

This is why we find mindfulness very important.

Brains are developing until about 25-28 years of age. Our students are ages 5-14. We can help create positive neuropathways. We can help wire and rewire brains.

Inner Explorer has a lot to offer us. 180 daily practices, several transition and sound practices, safety practices, and even for our upper elementary STEM related practices. 

Have you tried a safety practice? Your students might need it. I love the they are given the title, settle and sooth. Our students may need a moment to settle and sooth. It may be after a fire drill, a test, recess, specials, or when they simply come into school. They may come in needing to settle and sooth. 

We need to help rewire the panic. We need to settle and sooth to help their brains work toward seeing achievement as a positive not as a threat.

Do you need to take a mindful break? Do you have some achievement wired with panic?

Have you tried the Educator Wellbeing Inner Explorer sessions? 

This week I did SOS Where are my feet? It was less than 2 minutes and it grounded me in the moment. Try some mindfulness for yourself. Remember we need mindful moments just as much as our students.