Compassion

Exploring what to do next for a compassion wall lead me to find some thought provoking ideas on compassion.

Helping us to think ahead and prepare for April I wanted to share some of the information I have gathered. We can use this for April, but also when we think about how we act or react with our most challenging friends. Maybe we can take some time to mindfully reflect on our own compassion. We can remember to utilizing Metta Loving-Kindness Mediation for our thoughts and then put those thoughts into action.

Compassion v Kindness

Kindness is an action. An act we do for others. 

Compassion is a feeling. We not only complete an act of kindness for others, but we put feeling into the action.

Kindness can be done without compassion. You can do something nice for another person without putting any feelings toward the other person. 

Compassion is the ability to feel for and with someone else. The old saying "Put yourself in someone else's shoes."

Compassion is an inner experience and is often defined as "suffering together."

Compassion involves: Sympathy, Empathy, Concern, Patience, Wisdom, Kindness, and Resolving the matter

If you want thought provoking and powerful quotes on compassion look up the Dalai Lama. One of his quotes says, "Love and Compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive." 

The thought of "Suffering Together" can get scary and feel messy; but imagine how your students would feel if they knew you were in with them. 

Over the last week I kept seeing parenting comments/ideas related to compassion. I will share one of the posts. 

This struck such a deep cord with me. For parenting and our students. Often times when a child is acting out they are sent to their rooms, alone. Another similar post I saw commented on "what else can we expect from teenagers but for them to withdraw and retreat when upset, we taught them to be alone when they are in trouble."

What if instead of isolation we practice compassion? What if we "suffer together"? 

Compassion can seem like a sacrifice of our personal time, energy, and emotion. Sometimes we need to sacrifice for others to show them compassion. One of my long time favorite quotes is from Mitch Albom's book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, "Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's no something to regret. It's something to aspire to." 

What if we all aspired to have a little more sacrificial compassion? 

Today when you notice a struggling student; take a deep breath, send them some Loving-Kindness mindfulness (a wish for them to be well), and then step into the mess with them and work out of it together.

 

A Little Light Laughter for our Mindfulness

This week I found a little laughter for us. 

This is a great way to have some in the moment mindfulness and a little light fun.

When something is happening we can invite not only calm into chaos but also add a little humor.

Mindfulness is a present awareness and acceptance. It is also noticing what is going on and helping ourselves and others work through it to come out on the other side with a lightness (when possible).

What I love about his poster is that you first have to recognize the emotions of, sadness, anger, frustration, etc. Noticing your emotions is a mindful moment of present awareness. 

Take a deep breath and notice your emotions.

We can also use this as we learn to recognize the emotions on the faces and bodies of our students. 

This could be a great quick, fun, and funny mindfulness practice for you and your students to try.

Have some fun with your mindfulness this week!

Start a Mindful Check In

 Beginning your day the mindful way can set you up for a day of positivity and success.

I have shared that I start my day with a gratitude list. This sets my mind on the positive and is my morning mindful check in. 

There are other ways we can start our day with a mindful check in practice. 

Mindful.org shares a great strategy for a morning mindfulness practice. The Mindful Intentions Practice.

A quick mindful morning question can be "What is my intention for the day?"

Ask yourself this questions and explore the possibilities. 

Is your intention to:

*Strengthen a skill

*Develop a skill

* Make an impact

*Connect with someone new, someone with whom you struggle to connect , someone you love and miss, etc.

The first step is the question of  "what is my intention?" Then we move on to setting the intention as a statement of "I will..."

"Today I will connect with someone new." 

"Today I will make a positive impact."

Once you have made your "I will" statement your morning mindfulness check in is complete and all you have to do is strive for success.

This is a great practice to start because it also allows for self-reflection check ins throughout your day.

When you begin to feel stressed, overwhelmed, or perhaps looking to far forward and not living the moment, take a mindful pause and revisit your "I will" intention for the day.

Ask yourself "Am I working toward my intention for the day?" Reset if needed and refocus on your intention for the day.

  

Opening Our Minds, Opening Our Time

 

When we open our minds to mindfulness we allow ourselves the ability to open time for mindfulness. 

Opening our students minds to mindfulness starts with our own minds. 

I found some really great thought starters to open your mindfulness time.

I want to practice mindfulness because…

I am hoping mindfulness will give me…

If I am more mindful I will…

The real reasons I want to practice mindfulness are to…

Ultimately mindfulness will give me…

Mindfulness is…

I find the idea of starting mindfulness by writing out one of these sentence an intriguing idea. I am committing to trying this for the month of March and seeing how it changes my mindfulness time.

I encourage you to do the same for yourself and explore this idea with your students. 

Perhaps you can start mindfulness journals. Have your students pick one sentence to complete each day. At the end of mindfulness they can write a reflection on the sentence and mindfulness. This is a great way for them to see their own journey and progress. The journal can also become a communication tool for you and your students. 

I encourage you during this month to make mindfulness a priority. 

Pack your parachute: set a specific reoccurring time for each day, encourage silence even if not participating, encourage openness to participation, practice with them, start a journaling journey, do daily check ins.

We can help create a positive habit for ourselves and our students. 

I encourage you to explore Inner Explorer, they include an Educators series. Take time to practice those for yourself. Set yourself up for success. 

Set up your students for success.