Mindsight and Mindfulness in Raising Successful Kids
Mindsight is the bridge between what is happening and the social/emotional learning. It is about insight, empathy and integration. It's the basis of Mindfulness.
During CRT today, I took a moment to view some more videos from the Education Next Generation Online Conference. There are many insightful video conferences available to view, but I only have 8 hours left before they are no longer accessible for free. I chose to start with this conference as we run daily mindfulness sessions, but are they going to be successful without 'mindsight'?
Sourced from: Google
Dr. Siegel's conference raised some interesting points about how our own childhood can have a huge impact on how we react and form relationships with children, family members and colleagues in our life. He mentions that the way we communicate with other people is a sign of integration - in the brain its how we regulate our mood, relationships, behaviour and impulses.
He suggests that when things are not integrated, then they go to either 'chaos' or 'rigidity' - with 'harmony' in the middle. If a person had difficult experiences in their childhood then they may swing to a mild sense of chaos or rigidity. However, when we haven't made sense of something in our childhood it can swing to a more extreme sense of chaos or rigidity. To me, this aligns with the research conducted by Nathan Wallis (refer to my post ), where Nathan suggests that connections and relationships in the first 1000 days can determine behaviour and the way we react emotionally over our lifetime.
According to Dr Siegal, where attention goes, then it activates the brain and certain pathways. Neural connections grow through this promotion of neural pathways. He says that a relationship is the sharing of information and flow. My understanding of this is that if the attention is on the positive relationship between educator and learner, then there will be a greater opportunity for acceptance and building of a stronger learning relationship.
Wheel of Awareness
Dr Siegel describes the 'Wheel of Awareness' as being at the 'hub' of awareness, rather than on the rim. Understanding this 'wheel' will enable children and adults to be able to differentiate the difference between the hub and the rim. It will enable resilience. An example of how this works was where a young boy who had been expelled from a previous school, was involved in learning about the 'wheel' at his new school. A week later, he told his teacher that he needed some time alone to help him move from the rim to the hub as he felt like punching another boy.
I'd like to explore this further. It sounds a bit like the 'wheel of choice' - another way to focus on positive solutions in a time of conflict or unrest.
I'd like to explore this further. It sounds a bit like the 'wheel of choice' - another way to focus on positive solutions in a time of conflict or unrest.
MWE
Dr Siegel suggests that it's about the 'me' and 'we'. Our connections with others is a deep source of meaning and empowerment. Our brain is not the sole controller of our emotions and actions.
Together we can make it a better world that is more integrated, kinder and compassionate.
I have known for some time that learning is strongly influence by the relationship between educator and learner. It was interesting to learn, however, how much of our own childhood experiences could be impacting on the relationships that we have today.
