Lately I have been doing a lot of research on mindfulness in everyday life as well as bringing it into the classroom. As I began to delve deeper into the many practices I was happy to see that I been using some of the given strategies already!
I have always believed in self reflection and I have used a journal throughout my life to deal with obstacles, review good times and reflection all of which have made me more insightful and mindful.
Now I am at a cross road when I need to be more mindful in my life and pass this practice on to my own children and perhaps others.
Being mindful in this app driven generation isn't always easy. Getting back to basics of exploration, problem solving and reflection is what needs to be done. I recently read an article written by well know Harvard professor, Howard Gardner in which he expressed this,
As an educator, Gardner favors what he calls a “constructivist” approach to learning—in which knowledge is acquired through exploration—and he believes that apps, by shortcutting discovery, can diminish this engagement with the world. Before downloading an app, he says, people should ask themselves what they would do without it: if they had to obtain directions or contact a friend, for instance, without a smartphone. “Even though a well-demonstrated toy or well-designed app has its virtues,” he and Davis write, “there is also virtue—and even reward—in figuring out things for yourself on your own time, in your own way.”
Amen to that children and adults alike have stopped thinking and are expecting things to run as they would via an app or as seen through edited social media posts such as Facebook and Twitter.
I write these words in the hopes that my own self reflection will help me improve my time here on earth.
I was reading a review of a book titled 10% Happier: How I Tamed the voice in My Head by Dan Harris.
The author writes on how he was able to do live his life with less stress and worry once he made mediation part of his life. I want to reach this point and I have been slowly working towards it.
