Creating Control and Focus

As we enter December, mindfulness is a great way to work on self-control with our students.

I began my research on this topic Googling “Mindfulness and Self-Control”. This leads to a very general “Mindfulness boosts self-control.” This is something that we know. I wanted to dig deeper for our students and for us.

While I was doing my research, I was also spending my drive into work listening to Experts on Experts with Dax Shepard, guest: Michael Gervais. Michael Gervais is a high-performance psychologist who often works with sports teams and those engaging in extreme sports. Michael shares about mindfulness being a big part of the self-control and focus utilized by his clients.

What a better way to talk about self-control than to address the need for control in sports. Many athletes such as; LeBron James, Derek Jeter, Misty May, Kerri Walsh, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Carli Lloyd, and the Seattle Seahawks, all utilize mindfulness to hone there focus and self-control to improve their performance.

Misty May and Kerri Walsh are gold medalist Olympic athletes.

Stephen Curry is a 6-time NBA All Star.

Carli Lloyd is a gold medalist Olympic athlete.

Derek Jeter is a 5-time World Series champion.

LeBron James is a 3-time NBA champion.

Kobe Bryant is a 5-time NBA champion.

Did you know you can find examples of self-control and mindfulness in movies? 

I was introducing my children to the original Karate Kid movies and found a great example near the beginning of Karate Kid II!

Take a couple of minutes to watch the clip I have included and think about a creative way to use breathing and mindfulness to work on self-control. 

Maybe this week you can create your own mindfulness breath.

I know I will utilize the movie clip with students and have them try the “Karate Kid Breath.”

Karate Kid II: Breathing

The Mindful Side of Food

Before we even dive into the mindful aspect of eating lets back up our lesson with some science of eating. If you are a fast eater you are 42% more likely to be overweight, as compared to a slow eater. When you eat quickly you do not give your body enough time to signal your brain that you are full. Slower eating helps your brain work together with your body to run at its best.

Thanksgiving is coming up and many of us are preparing to eat a lot of food. How many of us with sit down to a meal and mindfully enjoy our food? Most of us will eat without putting much or any thought into what we have heaped on our plates. In fact, some of us may eat the main course in a rush to get to dessert.

What if we took some time this week to work on mindful eating? Take time to look at the food. Really look at the colors, the preparation, the amount. Take time to smell the food. Smell how all the different foods weave together with each other. Take time to watch as we scoop the food onto our plates. Do we place the food with care in specific spots, or does it all land wherever? As we sit down, do we feel the food with our hands, pick it up with forks or spoons and then place a bit in our mouths and note the texture? Do we chew slowly and note the different and sometimes complex flavors of our foods? Or do we chew as quickly as we can just to get on to the next bite?

With a short week at school some of your classes may be engaging in a small thanksgiving experience with your students. Before enjoying food with your students take some time to talk with them about how to mindfully enjoy the meal. Savor the experience and flavors. Enjoy the environment and company. Engage in the experience.

Below is a link to another GoZen YouTube video. It is a cute clip that is less than 4 minutes. It walks you through mindfully eating chocolate. What could be better than that?

GoZen Mindful Eating Video

If you would like to some help mindfully eating with your class, let me know. I would love to come do a mindful eating lesson.

                               

Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude Experiment Video

Over the course of our month of gratitude we have been working on our mindful gratitude. 

We have made a list of 100 things we can be grateful for, we have created a gratitude garden, and we have talked about how to hold one gratitude in our minds for 20 seconds.

Hopefully by this point in our month you and your class have begun a gratitude routine.

Hopefully you are daily journaling, talking about, or holding in your mind at least 3 things you are grateful for in your lives.

The next mindful step is to think about a person with whom we would like to write a gratitude note.

The video attached is from Soul Pancake. If you want to show your class some of it, I recommend previewing, there are a couple words to watch out for around 5 minutes 15 seconds. It is a great video that shows an experiment in extending gratitude. This takes us back to our first lesson with the 3E.

We need to emote: feel our gratitude, then we need to exercise it: hold the thought in our head and then show with our actions we are grateful, and then we need to express our gratitude: we need to let others know we are grateful for them and the things they do.

If you watched the whole video, then you have learned that the during the experiment the person who was the least happy at the start was the happiest at the end.

What if you took time this week to have your students write out gratitude notes and then you helped them make phone calls, walk to another class, or mail a letter out? What if the least happy student in your class could mindfully learn to be happier?

I know that it seems impossible to take a few minutes out of a tightly scheduled day, but what if 30 minutes of a gratitude lesson made your class happier? What if those 30 minutes you took out of your time one day helped you later in the week…or later that day? What if kindness spread in your class and those 30-minute stopped six, five minute arguments? What if you got the time back in peaceful and caring ways?

You can start small and help your students work on a SmileGram to share with someone. (I made some and have attached a copy in an email to all!)

I challenge us all to help warm the school with kindness and gratitude. I challenge us all to mindfully think of one person we are grateful for, write them a note, and the give it to them...or better yet, read it to them. 

I am Grateful for...

Video on Gratitude- Go Zen

The link that has been shared is an 8-minute lesson on gratitude when life is difficult. It’s a cute animation which is from Go Zen. Go Zen has several useful videos you can explore on YouTube.

The video talks about cultivating gratitude in less than 20 seconds. This mindful gratitude lesson teaches us to think about one thing we are grateful for and hold that thought in our heads for 20 seconds.

We can utilize the skills we began practicing last week and build this into those skills. 

Utilizing our 3Es and holding our gratitude thoughts for 20 seconds can begin to change our outlook on ourselves and others. We can strengthen our prefrontal cortex and reduce stress and anxiety.

As I have been working with students to practice gratitude and plant flowers in our Gratitude Garden, I have learned some of our students struggle with gratitude. One student even told me that he loves his family, but he isn’t thankful for them.

Breaking down gratitude we can share with our students that gratitude is defined as; the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

We can explore how we might notice gratitude in others and how others might observe gratitude in us. 

How ready are we to show appreciation and return kindness we receive?

After exploring what gratitude is and what it looks like we can then begin our gratitude list.

Some of our students may have a short list of gratitude. Some adults may have a short list. 

Take time to explore with your students the small, easy, and quick gratitudes and then begin to move toward the more complex and ever harder gratitudes.

I have started a list of gratitude prompts. Feel free to expand and add more in the comments. Let’s help each other and our students express our gratitude daily.

Gratitude Prompts

1.     About yourself

2.     Something beautiful

3.     Military *With Veteran’s Day on Nov 11 this is a great one to utilize when giving examples to students (or if you are in my house the day before is a sacred day the Marine Corps birthday)

4.     A song

5.     An accomplishment

6.     Something you’ve created

7.     A friend

8.     A smell

9.     A touch

10.  A taste

11.  A sight

12.  A sound

13.  What makes you smile

14.  Favorite season

15.  Something you like about Summer

16.  Something you like about Spring

17.  Something you like about Winter

18.  Something you like about Fall

19.  A holiday

20.  A time of day

21.  A country

22.  A state

23.  A city

24.  Any place

25.  About where you live

26.  A favorite food

27.  A favorite drink

28.  An ability

29.  A family member

30.  Any person

31.  Someone you look up to

32.  Someone you respect

33.  Someone who inspires you

34.  Something you look forward to

35.  A happy life lessons

36.  A difficult life lessons

37.  Something that challenges you

38.  A personality trait in yourself

39.  A personality trait in others

40.  Your heritage

41.  Item you use daily

42.  Most prized possession

43.  Hobbies

44.  Something about school/work

45.  Technology

46.  A movie

47.  A TV show

48.  A podcast/YouTube Channel

49.  A book

50.  What you do for fun

51.  Something that makes you laugh

52.  Something nice

53.  A part of nature

54.  A gift you’ve been able to give

55.  A gift you were given

56.  A hope

57.  A compliment

58.  A passion

59.  An animal

60.  A pet

61.  A family tradition

62.  Medicine

63.  Doctors

64.  Police

65.  Firefighters

66.  Fire Alarms—even in the cold

67.  Teachers

68.  Clothes

69.  Electricity

70.  Heat

71.  Air Conditioning

72.  Transportation

73.  Cleaning supplies (its germ season, I know this one makes me happy)

74.  Exercise

75.  Health

76.  Education

77.  Mindfulness—use mindful gratitude to be thankful for this practice which helps us be present, calmed, and focused

78.  Love

79.  Kindness

80.  Understanding

81.  Comfort

82.  Forgiveness

83.  Color

84.  Indoor plumbing

85.  Blankets --- I was so thankful I had extra in my car during the unplanned alarm and so where the students I wrapped up in them

86.  Giant Coloring Pages

87.  Sport you watch or play

88.  A value you hold

89.  Your faith/beliefs

90.  Favorite store

91.  Smiles (we had “what makes you smile” this one would be seeing others smile!)

92.  Hugs

93.  Kisses

94.  Free time

95.  Art

96.  Weekends

97.  Quiet moments

98.  Forgiveness

99.  Life

It felt good to make this list. My personal plan is to pick a few each day and do my 20 seconds of focus with the 3Es. 

I encourage you to start this practice for yourself and then begin to work on it with your students.