Anxiety Mental Stillness Cultivating Self Esteem Rather Than Ego

Many of us worry. The rates vary, but in western countries between 14 and 29% of us are likely to suffer from an anxiety problem in our life time. On a scale of 1 – 10, how “worried” were you about returning to work today? 1 = Cool as a cucumber 10 = WARNING! System overload! Do you worry a lot?

5 Categories of Mental Disorders

14% of our students (175 girls) currently suffer from some form of anxiety disorder. What does this mean for our students wellbeing and their academic performance? Did you know?

Anxiety – can be a help or a hindrance

Symptoms of an anxious student Persistent worrying and excessive fears Trouble concentrating and paying attention Poor sleep Being unable to relax Excessive shyness Avoiding challenging situations Being socially isolated or withdrawn

How can mindfulness help with anxiety management?

Why? Are our students ever taking time out, alone (without technology) for themselves to switch off? Are they happy in themselves? The untamed mind of negative thoughts and feelings can consume! Our young people’s ability to control these untamed thoughts has vastly diminished. This is becoming very evident within our schools. In order to mature, young people must recognise, control and master their thoughts and emotions.

Meditation Developing self- mastery of our mental and emotional content. Mental stillness is not about modifying, editing or slowing your thoughts It’s about stopping them altogether. It’s not about mindfulness but mind- emptiness – complete inner silence. Reducing the loudness of those thoughts Control the mind!

The Mental Stillness Learning Project A simple, evidence based free resource aimed at providing students with a secular, meditation-based skill to enhance their resilience and wellbeing. Activates the integrative power of the autonomic nervous system profound balancing effect on physical, mental and emotional dimensions of the students reducing the effects of stress, enhancing both resilience and total wellbeing.

Results 12 month programme conducted at a primary school 10 minutes of mental stillness every morning Results - Children at the end of the year manifested an 80% reduction in mental health risk and a 30% improvement in social skills. The class teacher felt that the children were more calm and focused

SDQ, a standardised and validated mental health risk scale.

Your turn !

Rather Than Ego Generation X, Y, Me Dan Haesler Danhaesler.com

What would you say?

1.Tell Jane you thought her story was the best anyway. 2.Tell Jane she was robbed, and she should at least have won a place in the final three. 3.Reassure Jane that writing competitions are not all that important in the scheme of things. 4.Tell Jane that she has the ability, and she will do better next time! 5.Tell Jane she didn’t deserve to win. Would You?

We’ve all been there! Teachers being berated by over-zealous parents because their child didn’t receive a fifth place ribbon. Why do we feel the need to do this? In today’s society, it seems every kid needs to get a prize!

Since when did the rules of Pass the Parcel include a PRIZE in every layer of wrapping? PRIZE The obvious reason is so that we ensure our children feel special – and happy! Have you been to a little person’s birthday party recently?

If a child only ever experiences success, then we – as adults – have failed. As the world continues to change, one thing is for sure and certain, kids will face challenges and set-backs. The skills they’ll need to cope with these can’t be explicitly taught. Need to be developed by experiencing a struggle here and there. In our quest to have happy kids we could be setting them up to be unhappy teens and adults…

Carol Dweck PHD Stanford University Author of Mindset. How do we praise kids? … Another way of looking at things

The little things we say can be powerful.. (and have a long lasting effect on self esteem)

What you said: “Wow! You learned that fast! You’re so smart!” What they heard: “If I don’t learn quickly, I mustn’t be smart” What you said: “You’re a natural! You got an A without even studying. That’s amazing. I’m so proud!” What they heard: “If I need to study, then maybe I’m not so smart.” What you said: “That’s great! You didn’t make any mistakes!” What they heard: “Mistakes need to be avoided at all costs!”

The Fixed Mindset

The Growth Mindset

Praise the Effort!

“You must have studied really hard to get the result you got for that task.” “I know this homework task is hard for you, but if you keep working hard like you are, it will make more sense because it will get easier!” “I am proud of the work you put into that task/ project!” “You did such careful work and checking on your maths homework, no wonder you didn’t make any mistakes!” “I like you response to that question. I can tell you have really put a lot of thought into it.”

“I love the colours you picked for that painting.” “I’m proud of how hard you tried in your race today. I could see how hard you worked.” “I liked how you listened to your coach/ teacher today and really tried hard to make the changes they suggested for you.” “You did such a great job memorising your lines and performing that script today!” Be Specific in your feedback/ praise

So what would you tell Jane?

1.Tell Jane you thought her story was the best anyway. I must have been rigged! 2.Tell Jane she was robbed, and she should at least have won a place in the final three. 3.Reassure Jane that writing competitions are not all that important in the scheme of things. 4.Tell Jane that she has the ability, and she will do better next time! 5.Tell Jane she didn’t deserve to win. Would You?

“If a child only experiences success, then we have failed” Learning to Fail

“Student expectations has the largest impact of any intervention on student learning” John Hattie- Visible Learning for Teachers- A meta-analysis of over 800 educational research papers.

Be mindful of what we praise. Be mindful of how we praise. Be mindful of what we are role-modelling. Challenge kids to do better- work harder- within reason. Encourage kids to own the progress they make or the failures they encounter with all aspects of their lives. Talk about this at school with your class, and with your own kids and family at home. What Can We Do?

Romy The Voice Kids