Mirror Mirror in our Brains

Psychologist Daniel Stern once noted, "Mirror neurons ensure that the moment someone sees an emotion on your face they will at once sense that same feeling within themselves."

How is your emotional regulation? With the help of mirror neurons you have the power to affect the mood and behavior of your students, if you first regulate your own emotions.

Emotional regulation is not denying or getting rid of an emotion, but rather learning to accept the emotion, process it in a helpful way, and display it to others in a non-harmful manner. I always tell students "You can be angry, but you can't hurt anyone with your anger, that includes yourself."

Mirror neurons were first discovered in the late 1940's. They were studied in relation to associative learning. In 1949 Donald Hebb made the statement "cell that fire together, wire together." We can utilize the power of mirror neurons and our own emotional regulation to help our students wire their brains for positive, productive, and emotionally regulated brains.

In babies mirror neurons help infants understand the actions of others. As we grow and our brains develop mirror neurons help us process the emotions of others and begin to mimic them.

If we come into school with unregulated emotions we are setting up an environment of chaos and instability for our students. Our students brains unconsciously, using mirror neurons, look to us to learn actions and reactions.

Think back to the last unpleasant situation you encountered with a student. How did you handle yourself? Were you ensuring you were regulating your emotions? How did the student respond?

Studies have shown that strong mirror neurons aid us with empathy and emotions.

It is important to note that studies are beginning to show that a lack of normal mirror neurons is associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Those diagnosed with ASD more likely do not have strong mirror neurons or have mirror neurons that do not function normally. This is important for us to note when we are helping our ASD students. Our emotional regulation is extremely important during those times. Those with ASD will not automatically mirror our emotions, but they will read our regulation and learn patterns of behavior that they may attempt to mimic.

Mindfulness is a great tool to help us learn emotional regulation and teach it to our students. Taking time to pause, slow down, calm down, and process is an important practice. 

We will all face stressful times. How well do you manage your own feelings? How do you display them to others?

Engage in a mindfulness practice today and every day.

Glimmer

    

Glimmer. The word alone brings a feeling of magic, wonder, beauty, and light to mind. When something glimmers it shines and sparkles. A glimmer is not dark, but rather it is a light. A spark of a shimmer. A micro moment of light.

The term Glimmer was coined in reference to mental health in Deb Dana's 2018 book regarding the use of the Polyvagal Theory in trauma therapy. More recently in February 2022, Dr. Justine Grosso popularized the term with  the use of a TikTok video.  

What is a glimmer? How can glimmers help us in the school setting? What can finding glimmers do for you?

A Glimmer is a Micro Moment of Joy and Safety. A Glimmer is the opposite of a Tigger.

When we talk about behavior of students we often ask "what triggered the behavior?" A trigger is a response to trauma. A trigger puts our bodies in Fight or Flight.

To fully understand a glimmer we first need to look fully at a trigger and the Polyvagal Theory. 

In 1995 Stephen Porges, an American Psychologist and Neuroscientist researched and wrote on his new theory, The Polyvagal Theory. This theory states that our autonomic nervous system is always searching for cues to determine danger or safety. The concept of our body scanning for these cues is called, neuroception. Neuroception involves our Vagus, also called Vagal Nerve.

The word Vagus is Latin for wandering. This nerve is named this due to the extend that it runs or 'wanders' through our body. The Vagus Nerve exits our Medulla Oblongata in our lower brainstem and travels down our neck and chest, through our heart and lungs and into our abdomen and digestive tract. 

The Vagus Nerve makes up 75% of our Parasympathetic Nervous System. If you think back to some previous blogs you will remember why this is important to us and mindfulness. When we take a deep breath in and release it slowly out for a longer time than taken in we engage our parasympathetic nervous system. This system is also called our "rest and digest" system. This puts our bodies in a state of homeostasis. It calms us.

The Vegus Nerve is responsible for; digestion, immune response, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, mood, and many other functions in our body. 

When we experience a Trigger our Amygdala places our body in the Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn, or Faint state of being. We need Glimmers to help us find a way out.

A Glimmer, as we have learned, is a cue, both internal and external, which leads us toward the feelings of ; joy, happiness, peace, love, and safety.

Glimmers help us regulate our stimulated and overwhelmed nervous system.

How do we know we have found our glimmer? We feel it. We experience a sense of calm and safety. We feel comfort and ease. We experience peace and joy. We know we are safe.

We should all take time each day to find a glimmer. Below are a list of possible glimmers. Remember they are meant to be micro moments. They are small moments of joy.

* Feeling the warmth of the sun on your face

* The cool feeling and smell of salty sea air

* The smell of fresh cut grass

* Spotting a Rainbow... or better yet, a double rainbow

* Seeing the sun sparkle on water

* The scent of lavender or other calming scents

* Petting a dog or cat

* Being in nature

* A smile from someone as you pass them by

* The perfect cup of coffee

* Holding and rocking a baby

* Smell of fresh baked bread

* Snuggling a soft blanket

* Humming a favorite tune

* Dancing to a favorite song

* Finding a new hobby

* Being creative

* Lunch dates with friends

* Brunch with a loved one

And my list starts out...

* The smell of old books

*Soft sound of rain

*Chai Tea Latte 

*Dark chocolate with caramel 

*Snuggle Hugs (as we call them) from Leila

Finding glimmers helps us set our bodies in a state of safety and calm. Sharing our glimmers with others helps promote connection. 

Glimmers help reduce emotional distress and help us be more in the learning zone. 

You may have felt that it took some time to find a solid school connection, but there it is. Glimmers help us be in the learning zone. We want our students to be in this zone during the day. Encouraging them to find a glimmer can help!

While researching glimmers I began to find my own and I plan to build on them. Above I shared a few of mine. Please leave comments with a few of your own. Let's build glimmer connections! 

I want to help our students use glimmers as a mindfulness tool. This can be a new mindfulness we can use to help our students find a way out of a trigger and calm their nervous system and find homeostasis. 

 Glimmer Fortis! Glimmer! 

Inspiration builds mindfulness

What inspires you? 

Who inspires you?

Who makes you a better person?

What makes you better at your job?

As you think about these questions, take some time to follow the links below. I found these three Instagram accounts this summer and have found sources of inspiration.

Kaelynn 

Ms. Chang

Matt

I encourage you to explore these three pages and see more posts. Matt has some great words of wisdom regarding teaching and relationship building. Ms. Chang brings humor to truths we see everyday and may choose to overlook. Kaelynn is a young lady with autism who now shares her experiences to help others. 

As we begin this school year it is important to remember that our words and actions impact our students. Being mindful of our impact and working to make it a positive one may sound daunting but it's not. When we choose to build relationships into our day it becomes a natural part of our lives.

While working on this post, one of my long time special friend students came by my office. He stepped in and without hesitation asked "why are you always calm?" Our students notice our emotions, behaviors, and attitudes. I asked him "When needing to work on being calm would you rather come to someone calm or someone angry, loud, or engaging in high emotions?" He simply nodded in understanding and let me know that so far he was doing well this year.

The Calm App has a daily mindfulness called The Daily Jay. Today's (9/12) talked about imitating others verses making things uniquely your own. Jay shared a Bruce Lee quote that can help us reflect on how to present mindfulness to ourselves as well as our students. Maybe Bruce Lee can help inspire a new way to look at mindfulness.

Bruce Lee once said " Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own."

As we give our students inspiration from our lives and  mindfulness that works for us, we can encourage them to make it their own. Let them know what does and doesn't work for you and how you have made it your own. 

Encourage your students to listen as you play Inner Explorer and find out what is useful and absorb it and calmly and quietly discard what is not. This is a great approach to getting your students to listen. They have to listen to know what to absorb and what to discard. Once they have decided to absorb something then encourage them to make it uniquely their own.

Let's work to inspire mindfulness. Let's be inspired and inspire others. 

 

Welcome to Week 2

 Welcome back to school. Welcome to week 2 of a new year.

Quick Fact: Last school year, in the month of August we had 49 Inner Explorer practices utilized for a total of 160 mindful minutes. This year....last week... we had 184 practices utilized for a total of 658 mindful minutes!!! That is all of you doing your part to help our students take time to calm, reflect, and reset. Keep up the great work!

As we begin a new year we I want to take some time to reflect on what we have talked about in the past to help refresh our mindfulness practices.

We, as adults, set the tone for our students. We must lead by example and show our students what a mindful school looks like, each and every day.

In PD I shared the 4-7-8 breathing. I encourage you to use this practice to help you when you there is a challenge in front of you. As you reset your breathing, restart your outlook too. I have shared that my morning mindfulness practice starts with a reflection on gratitude. What (at least) three things am I grateful for today? Gratitude helps retrain the brain toward the positive.

Remember, the simplest definition of mindfulness is: Pay Attention, On Purpose, Without Judgement. 

Knowing that mindfulness is paying attention, on purpose, without judgment, we can understand that anything can be mindfulness. We can be mindful during announcements by paying attention and not allowing ourselves to be distracted. We can be mindful at recess, focused on students and their movement and play. We can be mindful, always.

Take time this first month of school to establish a solid daily mindfulness routine. Build it into your schedule. Train the brain to know it's mindfulness time. Be mindful and show this to your students.