If you’re wondering what mindfulness is really about
Mindfulness is really about love. Love and creativity. I know these are foolish, simple words these days, but sometimes it’s that worn out picture book in the library that speaks truth… generation after generation. When we choose the practice of mindfulness coupled with a daily, contemplative discipline like meditation, we are cultivating our capacity to […]
Diversifying Our Portfolio: Building Resilience and Equity
Wise financial advisors tell us to diversify our portfolio. It offers us long term benefits, reduces risk and increases the potential to perform in a changing market. A fixed mind set with any bias for one type of investment over another can be our downfall. Everybody wants to prevent loss and increase their equity. After […]
Tuning into the Climate of our Era
~Exploring Norms of Engagement Yesterday, the man next to me on the bus snorted, “There is so much hate. It doesn’t matter what side you’re on, what country you’re talking about, there is so much anger and hate.” I had been watching him hover over his device for an hour reading the endless stream of […]
Looking Through the Cracks: Fighting Ignorance with Mindfulness & Critical Consciousness
Mindfulness is a constant unfolding that gives us new sight, called insight. It moves from the inside out, unfolding outward like the petals of a lotus. It is a way to see out, from the inside cracks of ordinary life. Solomon, Emmonds and Paolini wrote a picture book called, Through the Cracks. It is about […]
Muggles, Witches, Wizards and Yoda
“Learning organizations of the future will be centers where Master Teachers and students study consciousness and practice manifesting ideas into reality.” ~Ríos, Mindful Practice for Social Justice What would have happened to Harry Potter if he had not attended Hogwarts School of Witches and Wizardry? Hogwarts is the highly selective school based on a magical […]
What Happens When Teachers Get Too Attached?
Exploring Engaged Mindfulness In my previous post on compassion fatigue, I talked about the fairly common ailment of teacher burn out, when teachers enter a cycle of apathy and weariness, usually following an intense period of supporting students with countless needs. In that post, I challenged the notion of using mindfulness meditation to detach ourselves […]
Why Do Teachers Experience Compassion Fatigue?
Towards the end of a Tibetan Buddhism meditation lecture on compassion, a woman in the back row raised her hand and asked, what about compassion fatigue? Before the instructor could reply, the woman added, I am a teacher. I do my best. I care for my students, but it gets to the point when I […]
Common Mistakes When Approaching Race in Schools… What Should We Do Instead?
Race is one aspect of human identity that changes reflecting the politics and science of the times. Now more than ever students are identifying as mixed-race or do not identify with any race category at all. The latter is especially true for Hispanics, according to a recent Census bureau research. Racial categories, which have been […]
Wildcat Strike
West Virginia teachers are on a strike involving over 20,000 teachers and 13,000 school staff. It is the eighth day and I am inspired by the activism following the Parkland massacre. West Virginia teachers are not only exhibiting courage and willingness to stand up for the justice and dignity of the teaching profession, but they […]
Ode to Dewey: Powers, Prophecy and Dignity of Teaching
I believe that this educational process has two sides – one psychological and one sociological; and that neither can be subordinated to the other or neglected without evil results following. Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed, 1897 The last few days have been dreadful— a real deep freeze. Not only has the weather been unbearably cold, but […]