Plan to Find out Who You Are

 In her book Daring Greatly, Brene Brown shares, " What we know matters, but who we are matters more."

Knowing who we are is not as easy a task as one might think. It involves being able to be reflective and have courage.

In her book Brown tells us that knowing who we are takes courage to show up for ourselves and courage to let others see our authentic selves. Knowing who we are involves being vulnerable.

Through Brown we also learn that knowing who we are relates to being a safe person who is consistent and kind in all relationships. 

As we explore who we are we learn that it is more about how we treat others than what we achieve. Knowing who you are is about your compassion; empathy in action. 

This idea also relates back to our blog from January 16th when we talked about Adam Grant's idea about listing our contributions to the day.

Who you are comes from how you help better the day be better and how you treat others.

How do we go about cultivating this in ourselves and our students? 

I created a Daily Mindfulness worksheet we can use to help us and our students start and end the day building character and begin exploring who they are in a deeper way.

Link to worksheet

This mindfulness daily planner can help us check in with ourselves. We can begin to explore who we are and how we want to show that each day. 

This worksheet helps track mood as the day begins, setting our intention for the day, listing gratitude, and then sending three wishes. I like this last part because it stretches us to truly consider the questions related to being a safe, consistent, and compassionate person. It asks the question "Am I courageous enough to send a well wish to someone I do not like?" 

As we have explored, Brene Brown states that who we are relates to how we treat others and the compassion we have for them. The way we treat others shows our inner character, our integrity.

This worksheet can help us with our personal growth and create authentic connections with others by sharing our reflections. This will take another step of courage. Sharing is a vulnerable act that is not easy but helps us continue to build a kind character. 

The worksheet is two parts; morning and afternoon. It could be seen as a check in/check out system for who we are each day.

The afternoon reflections asks us to consider how we contributed to the day. What we noticed that day. How we feel as we wrap up the day. 

This worksheet is a great way to train our brains to focus on the positive, explore who we are, and set up our day for success.