Check In So You Don't Check Out!

Have you ever thought of mindfulness as self-care?

Mindfulness in it's simplest definition is being present and aware. How can you be present and aware if you aren't taking mindful moments to take care of yourself?

You can be mindful when you are getting ready for school. Breathing deeply, slowing down your thinking, taking the time to truly experience your morning routines.

Am I brushing my teeth for two minutes?
Am I truly tasting my coffee?
Am I enjoying every bite of my breakfast?
Do I experience my morning hugs to my family or is it routine?

How can we promote mindfulness to our students when we can't seem to figure out our own mindful lives?
Have we taken time to check in with our thoughts and feelings?

Studies have shown that those in a service field (that's us) experience more burn out when they give, give and keep giving of themselves. Those same studies also teach us that those who practice a mindful daily gratitude toward their job, those they help, and themselves feel better and experience less burn out.

Our emotions at work can have a impact on how we view ourselves, our students, and our jobs. Adam Grant, an Organizational Psychologist and professor at Wharton has a Podcast called Work Life TED. In one episode he spoke with Alicia Grandey an I/O Psychologist and professor at Penn State. Alicia talked about the concept of "Fake it 'till you make it". She calls this surface acting and it can be the road to burn out. Alicia implores us to go beyond the surface and engage in deep acting and "Feel it so you don't have to fake it."

Really engage in feeling the welcome you give to your students every morning. Truly embody the kindness you want them see and feel.

Mindfulness can help you dig deeper and feel it. Self-care mindfulness can help you want to dig deep and feel it.

This week I challenge you to find time for self-care mindfulness. Whatever it may be...
-slowly drink your coffee
-have a cup of tea
-experience a piece of chocolate
-smell a candle/essential oil/anything that smells good
-taste every bite of your breakfast
-buy yourself lunch
-have something "bad" for you like a doughnut
-play calming music in your classroom as you get ready for the day
-meditate
-stretch/yoga... feel free to use the hallway display :)
-have a non-school related conversation with a co-worker
-do a random act of kindness
-journal, write a gratitude list

The more you take care of yourself, the better you will be able to take care of others.

After you have taken some time for your own self-care, explore self-care with your students. Many of our students are raised to be resilient and do what needs to be done. Many of our students look after younger siblings, makes meals, do laundry, and work to meet their basic needs. Our students likely do not even know that it is alright to take a few minutes every day to reflect on how they feel and what would make them feel better. The mindfulness you practice in class might be the only time they feel is just for them.

I would love to see us take time for our own self-care and then set up self-care times in class.

Studies have shown when companies put employees first, not customers first, the customers feel they are treated better and the employees are happier. In one study doctors were given a bag of chocolate before seeing a patient. The doctors took a closer look at symptoms and were better able to made a timely and through diagnosis. The doctors didn't even have to open the chocolate to perform better, just the simple act of the random gift made them feel more appreciated and they performed more effectively. 

Let me help you perform more effectively. If you have read this blog please come see me Monday morning for a self-care treat. Sometimes self-care starts with a little help. Let me help you in the hopes it inspires you to help yourself and your students.

Scan and Understand

Winter feels like it has arrived and with it, days of indoor recess.

Our students may begin to feel restless. We ourselves may feel this way too.

It is not uncommon during the winter months to experience what is known as S.A.D. Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Did you know that Michigan is also one of the 10 most cloudy states in the United States? According to FarmersAlmanac.com no matter where you live in Michigan you are likely to only see 65-75 clear days a year. This means we don’t get a lot of sun rays helping to fill us with Vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to mental health concerns. Most doctors in Michigan will test for Vitamin D deficiency due to an overwhelming amount of people in Michigan suffering from this condition. You may be a person who knows they need more Vitamin D. 

If you weren’t dealing S.A.D. before I started this blog, you might be now.

Let’s explore a few ways mindfulness can help us and our student combat all of these winter wonders we are exposed to daily.

First, it is a good idea to be aware of your body and how it feels. Take a few minutes to complete a body scan. 

Completing a body scan helps us recognize where in our body we feel; anger, sadness, pain, depression, happiness, peace, tension, relaxation, and many more sensations and feelings.

Inner Explorer has lessons for each age group to aid with a body scan or body relation.

Pre K-1 : #7 Relaxation Train, #13 Body Scan … and many individual body part awareness practices.

Grade 1-4: #10 Body Scan, #12 Relaxation Train … and many individual body part awareness practices.

Grade 5-7: #10 Body Scan, #30 Progressive Relaxation … and many individual body part awareness practices.

Grade 8-12:  #10 Body Scan, #20 Progressive Relaxation … and many individual body part awareness practices.

The students I have practiced the relaxation train with love it and have asked to do it again and again. I have watched them focus on parts of their body, tense them up and then release the tension. I have practiced with them and have found it very relaxing and beneficial to my day.

Another great body scan activity comes from a set of mindfulness cards in my mindfulness library. I practice them with students and you are welcome to come check them out and borrow for a time.

55 Mindful Games – Activity Cards: Butterfly Body Scan

This activity, I find, to be fun and relaxing.

After you have taken time to scan your body, you can do a reflection activity. This can be one students keep for themselves, to help them be more self-aware, or they can share it with you, allowing you better understand them.

A simple figure like this can be used to color in feelings. You can give guidelines such as: Red is for Anger, Blue is for Sadness, Green is for Happiness, etc… then once they have scanned their body they can color this figure.

As you work on this activity, this could be a great time to reflect on our blog regarding exploring the words use to describe feelings.

Remember our students may never have been taught to identify how they feel with words. In fact, it is likely we ourselves struggle with identifying and being alright and accepting of our feelings.

I had a student this week tell me that anger was a bad feeling and he needed to completely get rid of it. This opened a discussion about anger not being bad, however what we do with our anger has the potential to be destructive and harmful.

We can be anger, identify where we feel the anger, understand the what of our anger, and then sit with it, accept it, and then learn to let it go, safely.

I have another card from: 55 Mindful Games – Activity Cards called Pink Bubble. This is a great mindfulness activity to help us let go of feelings we do not feel we can or should hold.

This week let’s take some time to scan our body, understand ourselves and feelings better, and learn to accept and keep or accept and let go.

My hope for us all this week, is that we are able to spread an internal sunshine, and feed our bodies and minds peace and acceptance. Hopefully this can start our road to reducing S.A.D. and brighten our days.

Who Controls You ?

Let's take a minute together to sit in silence, taking deep breaths, and being completely present.



During that moment did you recognize who was in control?

This might not even be a question you know how to answer.
Or you might simply say, yes of course, I was in control. 
You might be thinking, who else at this time would be in control?

I want you to take a minute and really consider that perhaps you were not in control but rather you allowed your thoughts to be in control. You allowed your mind to wander and you followed those thoughts. Perhaps you even allowed those thoughts to aggravate or upset you.

Take a few minutes to watch the short video called The Fly & Samurai. While watching the video think about your own day and how your thoughts take over and control you.

The Fly & Samurai

Now that you have watched the video and thought about how you are like the samurai, I would like you to watch it again. This time pick a student who you see often struggles with focus, concentration, or behavior. Watch it and consider what thoughts they might be trying desperately to get rid of yet they keep coming back and multiplying and taking over.

The Fly & Samurai

Mindfulness can help us change our thoughts, accept our thoughts, and change/control/let go of our thoughts.

When the samurai accepted the fly as being on him he was able to change how he thought about the fly. He no longer considered it something he had to destroy but rather he allowed his mind to change it into something beautiful. He was then able to gain focus and a sense of calm.

This week take a few minutes to show your students the samurai video and talk with them about thoughts that take over and control their day. Ask them to share what distracts them. Be open to the answers. Let them share. The more we allow our students to share and we listen with an open heart, the more we allow them to be their authentic selves.

Try sitting like a samurai and taking deep breaths. Put on an Inner Explorer mindfulness and help your students gain control of their thoughts.



*The video in this blog is a resource I found while exploring Inner Explorer (high school). Take some time to explore and see what you can find. Feel free to share out the best resource you have found. Lets help each other build an amazing mindfulness library!

Setting a Mindfulness Goal

When a new year begins many people set a New Year’s Resolution. This resolution is faithfully followed….for a short amount of time. 

A 2016 study found that 64% of those who set a resolution were able to maintain it for one month, 46 % of people were able to keep it up for longer than 6 months and 37% of those in their 20’s achieved their goal, and 14% of this in their 50’s were able to achieve their goal.

Are we doomed before we start? 

Should we just give up now or not set a resolution at all?

No!

What might be the key to our success?

Perseverance!

In a 2012 Positive Psychology research study 24 Character Strengths were outlined. One of the strengths was, Perseverance. 

This study (Niemiec, Rashid, & Spinella, 2012) states that Perseverance is the persistent effort of doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

The study goes on to explain that Character Strengths can affect our thoughts, behaviors, affect, and motivation.

Character Strengths can be strengthened with practice of such things as MINDFULNESS!

The study also states that the opposite of perseverance is when we see impulsivity.

Mindfulness practice helps reduce impulsivity and strengths perseverance.

I have set some personal resolutions, or goals for my new year. One is to make sure I am practicing mindfulness on my own, not just with students. I love to do my mindfulness research, try a new technique, introduce it to students, and practice with the students. I admit to forgetting to practice on my own, for myself. But I'm getting better! I have started to do a mindful morning gratitude list. 

I encourage you as individuals to set a mindfulness goal and then set one as a class. Take time to get serious this new year and set an achievable mindfulness goal. Setting a mindfulness goal will help you and your students strengthen perseverance.

I want to take time to remind everyone that we have an amazing resource to help you with your mindfulness goal.

Inner Explorer

There are so many wonderful guided mindfulness short and longer meditations, journal pages to print, information to share, and even a link to send home to parents.

Feel free to set an easy goal with your class: We will use Inner Explorer Daily for the month of January. (start small and each month rewrite for that month)

Remember: Our own mindfulness practice helps us see ourselves better, which will aid with our ability to see our students fresh each day. 

With mindfulness we can start each new day seeing our students without assumptions, prejudices, or judgments.

Mindfulness offers our students a gift of truly being seen, by us.

Take a Deep Breath and Let Go

Welcome Back!

Talking over break can be an exciting and a fun time for students and staff.

As I thought about this blog entry I reflected on my own break and it reminded me that some of our students, and staff, may not have had a peace-filled break.

Over break my aunt passed away after a 15 month battle with cancer and my brother-in-law's younger sister passed away after a challenging battle with MS. I know that another of our staff experienced loss prior to break and another during break. The holidays can be wonderful, but they can also remind of us those we are missing, the things we may not be able to give but wish we could and places we would rather be but cannot afford to make the journey to.

Many of our students may have woke up to Christmas morning without anything under the tree or without a tree all together. I don't say all of this to make us sad and shame us into not talking about our breaks. I say all of this to remind us that this is a perfect time to practice and model mindfulness.

Today I took time to take a deep breath in and reflect on the time I was able to spent with family and friends. I then let out a slow breath, releasing the pain of my loss. We can teach out students to be alright with pain and sadness and then breath out and let it go.

You can use any kind of breathing to practice this simple task, but if you'd like to connect to the newest hall display feel free to do some hot chocolate breathing. Smell the cocoa and then cool it down!