1. What emotional energy do yo want to bring into every human interaction?
2. What ideals and principles do you hold dear?
3. What is your secret audacious aspirations for this life?
We are more than what we do in this world.
As we trudge, march, run, slow walk, and drag ourselves through these next three weeks I hope that you can take some time to remember who you really are and not just what you do.
There is always a bigger story to your life.
If you took the time to listen to the mindfulness you will notice that the three questions at the top were the questions you were asked to consider. Did you? I know I did. They seemed almost too easy to answer, however, I wonder if I live my life in such a way others might be able to guess the answers.
Can we tell what emotional energy others desire to bring into interactions with us or others?
Can we tell what ideals or principles others hold dear?
Have you ever shared your audacious aspiration with someone?
When we are struggling with a co-worker or a student it might be wise to reflect on these questions. We can ask ourselves what emotional energy we are bring to that other person. Maybe that difficult student is even more difficult to you specifically because of the emotional energy you are bringing to your interactions.
We can also take this mindfulness and utilize as a way to get to know our students. And help our students get to know themselves.
This mindfulness encourages us to reflect on our emotional energy and how we interact with others. Students rarely, if ever, know the emotional energy they bring into a situation.
If we can encourage our student to spend time reflecting on these questions they will gain a great insight on themselves. Then we can ask them to recognize the emotional energy others bring to interactions.
This mindfulness is also a great for peer conflict resolution. Together students could reflect on themselves and the other person/people involved.
Years ago when I worked in Flint doing in-home social work I worked with a gentlemen who subtlety let me know that everything about me offended him. He would make comments about people in their 20's being too young to know anything (I was in my 20s), he commented that women couldn't drive (as I drove him places because he had no transportation), he said that people without kids should never tell people with kids anything about kids (at that time in life I was childless and I was in his home because of child neglect issues and it was my job to help him work on correcting the concern) and one day he even flat out said I couldn't help him because I was white (he was black).
I talked with my supervisor about these comments and I was advised to be blunt or we weren't going to have success with his case.
I went to his home the following day and was very open with him about how his comments were preventing him from allowing me to do my job. He shared that he didn't think I would understand him because he had always been taught that white people are raised soft.
I took time to talk with him about myself, you could say that I engaged in the mindfulness we are talking about this week. I shared that ideals and principals I was raised believing and that I hold dear. After I shared he stated that he felt like we weren't so different after all.
Because I took the time my client opened up and then allowed me to help him and in the end his son was returned home.
We can find understanding with other adults, with students, and we can help students find understanding with each other.
A seemingly simple mindfulness can help build trust, relationships, and reduce anger and misunderstandings.
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