New Beginnings

The start of a new year is a great time to establish a new rhythm and set the tone for what's ahead. As a teacher, you know your students well by now and it’s a great time to revisit social-emotional learning goals for your class and commit to time every day to help nurture these skills, together. Having a rhythm that builds in connection practices to reduce anxiety and build resilience will help everyone feel better moving forward. This week, I share some simple practices that you and your students will love. 

New Beginnings

One important and foundational social-emotional skill is inner strength and a sense of mattering. You can do this by recognizing your strengths and also by celebrating the strengths of each person in your community (your family, classroom, and school). 

Knowing our inner strengths is one of the guiding principles of compassion. When we have these beliefs in ourselves, we naturally see inner strengths of others. We find more acceptance. We show up with less judgment. 

At Kind Mind, we nurture inner strengths with all kinds of practices. One of the favorites is our Weekly Connections Calendar (Download PDF for classroom). This offers daily prompts for sharing or reflecting on paper that encourage us to appreciate and acknowledge ourselves and others in big and small ways. When we do this regularly we build compassion from within. 

The key is to remember that…

Each of us is special. 

Each of us has something incredible to share. 

And each of us can recognize these things within ourselves and one another. 

When we, adults, can find this within ourselves, it becomes natural to bring these strengths out in children. We can see more clearly when they are living in a shadow and need extra help seeing themselves for exactly who they are in all of their gifts. 

Imagine a world where everyone lives with purpose and believes in themselves. And we all believe in one another, support each other, and learn from one another. This is my dream come true! 

This week use Kind Mind’s Weekly Connections Calendar with your children and students to acknowledge and celebrate one another and start cultivating compassion, together.