Mindfulness

Listening to Ellen Langer, Social Scientist, talk about Mindfulness on a podcast.

She defines it such:
"Mindfulness is the act of actively noticing. "
She expands on this and talks about the impact and shift that this active noticing can create in one's life.

She adds more about our ability to reduce anxiety and stress. "It is not an event that causes stress. It is our perception of an event."

As I reflect on these practices and my goal of integrating more "active noticing" in my life, I wonder if I can share this inspiration in my address to the RI Educators at Waterfire.

With the encouragement of family and friends, I decide that yes, I can and must integrate this. If we are truly committing to integrating SEL into our classrooms and having our students practice self awareness and self management, then we must also commit to self care and taking the time to shift our own perceptions, notice more, and reduce our stress levels by control our response to events.

This is a gift to our students, our profession, ourselves.