Blog | Teaching Well

January 22, 2017

Are my scripts running my classroom?

Our scripts can cunningly impact the way we work with our students. A script is a conditioned emotional reaction to a trigger created in response to a past, emotional experience. According to Tish Jennings in Mindfulness for Teachers, “a script is stored in your database of emotional memories that influence how you think, feel, and behave.” By recognizing and recording our emotions, we may be able to identify when our scripts are running the show. Regular mindfulness practice may help us to respond to our...

January 15, 2017

in Positive Psychology, Well-being

by Danielle Nuhfer

Why Not Try a Happiness Project?

People may generally consider me a relatively happy person. I am generally pleasant, normally look on the bright side of things and have a panache for figuring out how to practice gratitude in seemingly ungrateful situations. So, why would I embark on something called a “happiness project” for an entire year? Why would this be something I would even bother spending my time on? Well the answer is pretty simple: because I want to try to generate more happiness into my very ordinary life. According...

January 8, 2017

in Mindfulness

by Danielle Nuhfer

Resolve to Incline Your Mind to Happiness!

Our brains were not designed to focus on the good things in life, we have evolved from hunting, primal beings whose brains worked very hard to keep us safely out of danger through its fight or flight alert system. For the most part, we aren’t outrunning wild animals and regularly fending for our lives, but our brains still have our backs: constantly looking for threats around every corner. So we could say our brains are inclined to look for the negative which was very helpful...