INSIGHTS 1 Page 2: On Learning and Development/ Neuroscience of Learning/ Learner Transformation

• The Neuroscience of Learning and Development: Enhancing Creativity, Compassion, Critical Thinking, and Peace in Higher Education(Excellent book on educational reforms! Just completed reading (08/04/2017) – just could not believe that the topic area has evolved so much to a level that makes it possible for direct implementation. It uses neuroscience and human development perspectives as the basis for reforms and discusses attention regulation (AR), emotion regulation (ER), cognitive regulation (CR), creativity, critical thinking, mindfulness and compassionate training practices, self-authorship, the essential need for a change in educational systems and how to manage the dramatic change involved and most importantly how individual learner development leads to peace in the world. A must-read for those who are in educational decision-making/policy planning positions.)
• The Center for Compassion And Altruism Research And Education at Stanford University(How would compassion and altruism help in learning and human development through the development of stress-free, relaxed minds
• Benefits of Compassion(Neuroscience of compassion reveals us that it is about our health and wellbeing. It is about being more resilient/tolerant to the unavoidable and adversities. It is about enhancing learning, creativity and wisdom. It is about attention, emotion and cognitive self-regulation through which we become more productive individuals. It is not about spinelessness or negativity; rather it is about strength and empowerment.of character.)
• Mindfulness practices that keep us away from inflammation and diseases(Neuroscience research reveals how mindfulness practices can help (in addition to helping in enhanced learning and wisdom) in managing inflammation and expression of diseases such as asthma, cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease (possibly by having an impact on the immunity system)).
• Why do children need loving care for their development?( Neuroscience research reveals that early-life chronic stress ( due to like poverty, neglect and physical abuse) can have significant negative lasting impacts on learning, memory and stress and emotion processing. In turn, they will negatively impact on behaviour, health and employment.)
• New Horizons for Learning(Recent developments in learning and teaching including perspectives from neuroscience)
• Search Inside Yourself( How true, to bring peace to this world! On many occasions, solutions to some of the most difficult problems are within yourself (especially within leaders if they look inside themselves). Practices such as mindfulness are in the forefront. They pave the way for developing qualities such as emotional intelligence, empathy, self-awareness/metacognition, resilience and wisdom, the fundamental characteristics leading to peace, individually as well as on the whole. If one of the top organisations such as GOOGLE recognised the importance, why shouldn’t the others be keen to follow their way to success?)
• Emotional intelligence leading to world peace – the roadmap(GOOGLE engineer Meng Tan, the founder of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), presenting his roadmap to peace in the world through the development of emotional intelligence. How we achieve that is through mindfulness practices.)
• The book “Search Inside Yourself” describing the emotional intelligence/human development program running for many years at GOOGLE (I completed reading the book “Search Inside Yourself” last week (11/06/2017). What an incredible experience! Few things are simply amazing. The book is about the emotional intelligence/ personal growth/ human development program conducted at one of the tech giants – GOOGLE for many years. Who would expect tech giants are to be serious about emotional intelligence/human development and the like? We would expect them to be a place for a set of nerds to work mostly with machines. Considering this general belief, it is wonderful to see that GOOGLE is giving much-needed leadership to overall or holistic human development aspect. This is lead by the GOOGLE engineer Chade-Meng Tan, who has identified that the path to world peace is developing each individual on a personal growth/human development route. Another wonder is that he has correctly put forth that mindfulness practices as the key to this goal, in an evidence-based manner. I like to see and recommend every adult (possibly teenagers) read this book in order to get guided on the personal growth/human development path.)
• Gamma Waves and Inspiration: How Is Your Brain Vibrating? (The relationships among Gamma brain waves (which can go even to levels of 250Hz compared to an average of 10-30Hz), meditation and inspirations/creativity/consciousness/wisdom.)
• The Marvellous Properties of Gamma Brain Waves(The relationship among Gamma brain waves (at higher frequencies between 25-100 MHz), peak concentration, high cognitive function, compassion, memory, learning, incredible information processing and retrieval capacity, self-control, happiness, calmness, meditation and the like.)
• Gamma – Brain Waves (Gamma brain waves and its relationship to empathy and compassion. At high Gamma levels above 40Hz, it appears that we are able to synchronise (or harmonise or in harmony) our brain operations leading to a high level of consciousness. In contrast, at high beta levels such as in the range of 20-35Hz (as typically found in daily lives), the brain operations are not synchronous (not in harmony) leading to high stress/anxiety levels.)
• Changing your mindset could be the key to changing your life (The significance of paying constant attention (i.e being mindful) to what one wants or having a clear purpose in life (reminding us constantly where we are heading). This mindfulness can be contrasted with being robotic or switching the autopilot on to get our routine tasks completed. When we are mindful of what we do, our neural networks strengthen and grow, enabling us to learn and develop wisdom.)
• Book Review on “Mindsight: Transform Your Brain with the New Science of Kindness by Daniel Siegel”(24/07/2017)(In “Mindsight: Transform Your Brain with the New Science of Kindness”, the author Daniel Siegel, a Harvard educated clinical Professor of Psychiatry, emphasises the need to integrate cognitive and emotional functions across various part of the brain along with memory types such as implicit and explicit in order to develop healthy minds with a MINDSIGHT or with higher levels of consciousness/wisdom/human development. Without such processes of integration that are well supported by the latest neuroscientific research, individuals tend to develop negative psychological conditions, become sick or would not develop to their full potential. The key neuroscientific concepts behind the above integrative processes are neuroplasticity and epigenetics that allow us to train our minds based on appropriate environmental stimuli. Professor Siegel has given some classic examples (using real counselling cases) of how mindfulness practices can be used to develop healthier minds through the processes of integration mentioned above. He has always used these therapeutic mindfulness practices as more lasting remedies ahead of alternative approaches such as prescribed drugs that usually suppress symptoms while on medication (along with any negative side-effects). The therapeutic practices he used were essentially based on developing critical characteristics of self-awareness and self-regulation. When these skills are practised and developed, individuals become more empathic and compassionate by extending integrative processes from individual to collective lives leading to harmonious and sustainable societies, following the concepts of interpersonal neurobiology.)
• Building Relationships with your Child: Learning to LAUGH Together(The importance of parent-child attunement for the healthy development of the child. This appears to play a vital role in an individual’s social intelligence development demonstrated later in the life. The well-known psychiatrist Daniel Siegel refers to this healthy relationship between two individuals as resonance that helps to develop the relevant neural circuits in the frontal lobes.)
• Book Review on “Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life” by Jon Kabat-Zinn (One who introduced mindfulness practices to mainstream medicine in the USA).(16/08/2017)(In “Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life”, the author Jon Kabat-Zinn highlights the message that the practices of mindfulness are not restricted to particular times at some locations, but it can be followed in anything one does anywhere. Further, he emphasises the fact that the mindfulness practices are not rigidly associated with a particular group or religion, rather it is a way of being that any individual can benefit immensely. The essence of mindfulness practices is the notion of getting one’s attention voluntarily on what he/she does in the present moment, non-judgementally. In other words, simply it is about not performing a task with the autopilot on, following the notion of automaticity – instead, it is about getting all the brain resources focused on it in a non-judgemental way. When we pay non-judgemental attention to a task or matter, we tend to see it more openly, in an unbiased manner or we become more receptive to the information per se that reaches us.  Such an open reception of information will help us to see the reality as is, instead of through coloured glass, as is the usual case in many situations. Just imagine the strength of the idea of possessing a mind trained with appropriate mindfulness practices with the acquired skills to see or sense everything one does anywhere, anytime clearly and vividly as is, as highlighted by the author, Jon Kabat-Zinn. In fact, Jon was an emeritus Professor of Medicine who himself had been practising mindfulness meditation since the age of twenty-two before introducing mindfulness practices to the mainstream medicine in the USA through programs such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).)
• As an educator, I see a great value for any learner in following mindfulness practices that enable achieving enhanced    learning constantly. Neuroscience research has revealed that most of our learning is implicit and it does not necessarily take place in a formal learning environment or classroom. In regard to this revelation, imagine the extent to which a learner can benefit, or can engage in learning per se if he/she can maintain a state of mindfulness constantly by paying voluntary attention non-judgementally in everything encountered and anywhere. In a universe of information that we cannot avoid as the transmission is enabled by various technologies and media cost-effectively, the best way to respond is to be receptive non-judgementally by keeping all our sense open rather than getting overwhelmed by it and closing our receptive sensors. We should also not disregard our internal body signals that help us develop a self-awareness by identifying and reflecting on our feelings, emotions and thoughts and the like in making our all-important decisions and in enhancing our well-being. Researchers have identified that such an awareness that can be developed through mindfulness practices is of prime importance in developing individuals with healthy minds or in achieving higher levels of human development. When we progress to higher levels in human development, we necessarily involve in an integration process of both external information as well as internal body signals that enable a “whole person” development learning path leading to wisdom. Further, we as learners/individuals become better-skilled in essential human functions such as attention regulation (AC), emotional regulation (ER) and cognitive regulation (CR) so that we develop the capacities required to be more effective, empathic, compassionate, resilient and productive social members. These members are better equipped and more capable of identifying and proper addressing of so called wicked problems.
• Finally, the author Jon Kabat-Zinn, who himself has been a practitioner of mindfulness for over forty years, put the readers on a path to developing wisdom. The benefits of mindfulness practices have a radiant effect on many facets of life – in enhancing learning, healthcare, self-awareness, emotional and social intelligence, interpersonal relationships, parenting, decision-making and in short overall well-being and productive human operations.
• Book Review on “Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distractions, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long – Know Your Brain, Transform Your Performance” (24/08/2017)
• In “Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distractions, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long – Know Your Brain, Transform Your Performance”, the author David Rock highlights the important fact that when we develop an understanding of how our brain works, we can significantly improve our daily functioning as human beings in general. Irrespective of the roles we play as employees, managers, leaders, learners or parents, by developing a self-awareness or mindfulness into how our brain functions, we can enhance our performance or productivity by being able to pay better attention, regulate emotions and control cognitive activities optimally. The phenomenon of mindfulness/self-awareness/metacognition is aptly emphasised by representing it as the “director” in the human life of stage drama. A skilful director (one who has developed mindfulness to a higher degree) is able to utilise the limited capacity stage (working memory) with greater efficiency by appropriately getting actors (information such as emotions/feelings, thoughts etc.) onto the stage optimally as and when required.
• The significant findings of the human conditions required for insights/creativity/wisdom are illustrated comprehensively with the analogy of stage drama of life. Essentially, a relaxed and happy mind with an appropriate level of arousal is required to get the attention focussed. Under these conditions, we make many parts of our brain (including the right cerebral hemisphere that play a leading role in creativity) to operate in synchrony at higher frequency levels (gamma range), integrating many forms of information and signals such as thoughts, memories, emotions/feelings senses and the like. These pieces of information and signals are represented in the brain, in fact, as neuronal networks that self-organise based on the learning and experience the individual undergo, following the important notions of neuroplasticity and epigenetics. To minimise higher levels of arousal such as anger, fear and sadness so that an optimal brain operation is accommodated, the author, Rock, has demonstrated the use of mental techniques that include emotion labelling, situation reappraisal and managing expectations realistically (a principle that closely relates to the notion of equanimity).
• Another key area that is emphasised in the book is the notion that the human brain is a social animal. In fact, researchers have understood that the social world or having healthy social connections is a primary human need like food and shelter. The presence of physical brain structures such as mirror neurones that help human beings to empathise or understand the minds of other human beings validate the premise of human beings essentially as social animals. Further, the author, Rock, has highlighted the SCARF (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness) model as a guide (ideally for leaders/managers/counsellors/parents etc.) for making human operations or performance optimal or positive in a social world. They are primary features that human brains are implicitly yearning towards for and any threats causing a movement away from them (within an organisation or group) would result in significantly reduced human performance.
• “Your Brain at Work” has also provided some useful guidance for successfully implementing a social/individual change/transformation, however small it is, based on the fundamentals of brain science. The brain is an organ that naturally attempts to minimise threats (fear anxiety, anger etc.) while maximising rewards (relaxation, happiness etc.). It has the inherent capacity to change (physically as well), as highlighted in the notion of neuroplasticity, under conducive conditions and environments. Consequently, following the SCARF model, any social/individual change/transformation should not move members away from (or at least minimise such a move to the lowest level) the features of Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness. Any action that makes a move away from them would result in ineffectiveness in the change/transformation process. As highlighted by Rock very aptly, the status and relatedness features in the SCARF model can compete with each other in an organisation/team environment (as status is usually a measure that compares individuals and it does not help healthy relationships). Consequently, in an ideal or healthier situation, comparison of an individual should be made to a previous status of him/her instead of against another individual. Further, the motivation for a change should be more appropriately enhanced through intrinsic (or more lasting) rewards than that of a “carrot and stick” or extrinsic type
• .Finally, as an educator, I believe that “Your Brain at Work” offers many insights that educators can make use of in teaching-learning environments. They can be used to enhance learning and motivation in individuals to progress towards higher levels of human developments with capacities of mindfulness and wisdom.
• A Book Review on ” Mindfulness: a practical guide to FINDING PEACE IN A FRANTIC WORLD by Mark Williams and Danny Penman” (21/09/2017) ( In “Mindfulness: a practical guide to FINDING PEACE IN A FRANTIC WORLD” by Mark Williams(an Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at Oxford University and a co-founder of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy – MBCT) and Danny Penman put forth the important message of the role played by inward-looking capacities developed through mindfulness practices towards finding peace within a world of unavoidable chaos. In other words, it is better that we actively look for developing appropriate conditions internally or attempt to develop a self-awareness, instead of waiting (sometimes forever) for solutions to appear magically and externally from a frantic world. Consequently, mindfulness is a practice that empowers individuals to take control of their lives and be content and happy with an enhanced perception of reality so long as the basic needs such as food and shelter are satisfied.
• One interesting notion the authors highlight in the book is the “habit release” mindfulness practice. In the words (given in the foreword) of Jon Kabat-Zinn (a pioneer in the area of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction – MBSR), it is:
• “I particularly like the simple yet radical habit-breaking suggestions, what they call ‘habit releasers,’ that they offer, which are meant to reveal and break open some of our most unaware life patterns of thought and behaviour, patterns that unbeknownst to us, tend to imprison us in a smallness that is definitely not the full story of who we are.”
• By engaging in the mindful practice of “habit release”, we switch-off the “auto-pilot” whenever it is appropriate and shift from a “Doing” mode to “Being” mode. In a frantic world, we get entangled in a “Doing” mode, trying to squeeze in as many “robotic” procedures as possible into our daily routines. We simply work like machines performing routine tasks repetitively with no time spent on reflections to see, or more correctly, to perceive what we are doing in a more detailed and creative way with wisdom/insights while being in a “Being” mode. Most importantly, the key to our health and well-being, reducing symptoms such as stress, anxiety, depression and similar negative psychological conditions is the increase of time in a “Being” mode while minimising the time in a  “Doing” mode.
• Another significant mindfulness practice that is highlighted in the book is the development of an approach/acceptance-oriented mental state as opposed to an avoidance-oriented one even in the presence of unavoidable realities of life yielding negative emotions. That is we befriend with such emotions like sadness and frustration with a loving kind/compassionate attitude towards us as well as towards the rest of the world. Clearly, this is not passive acceptance of or resignation to the adverse conditions in a spineless manner. Instead, it is the practice of equanimity through which we get to see and understand the realities of life better, possibly through the secretion of mood-control body chemicals such serotonin at appropriate levels. Through this clear vision and perceptions, we, in fact, get to the point that we can seek real solutions to the problems/conditions that caused the adverse situation. Further, we may get to see that these real solutions may not be present immediately; we may have to persevere for weeks, months or even years at times to find and apply them in a lasting manner.
• Authors also aptly highlight that mindfulness practices help us to avoid the rigid and inaccurate decision-making following a process of over-generalisation. When we are not appropriately mindful, possibly due to being entangled in a “Doing” mode, we tend to jump to inaccurate decisions or conclusions without having access to an adequate amount of information related to the matter. Consequently, it stops us from perceiving the realities better resulting in negative conditions such as stress, anxiety, sadness and frustration.  Worsening the situation further, we may continue to rigidly believe in what we understood as real without adequate information and without being reflective or open-minded.
• As educators, we have many lessons to learn from the practices of mindfulness to enhance student learning. First and foremost, we must make sure to avoid the teaching-learning process get into a “Doing” mode. Instead, we should allow learners enough time to reflect and be mindful during the learning process. Further, during the process of learner assessment, we necessarily need to get them to a “Being” mode, disallowing them from getting into a “Doing” mode in which they produce premeditated, habitual answers devoid of reflection and open-mindedness. Such conceptual changes at fundamental levels would lead to enhanced learning and more valid and lasting learner evaluations.)
• BRAINSTORM: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain (Why we should teach adolescents to SURF IN THE WAVES OF EMOTION (instead of getting drowned). Let us teach them to enjoy the journey rather than narrowing their focus on the destinations such as the GREATEST GPA or SAT SCORES. Let us make them better use of their novelty-seeking and fighting the status quo thrives. Let us guide them to be candles that light the candles on either side instead of making them compete with each other. Let us guide them to make integrated brain operations ( i.e. enhanced consciousness) leading to health and well-being, kindness and compassion throughout the lifetime.)
• Mindfulness improves reading ability, working memory, and task-focus
• Impact of mindfulness practices on cognitive abilities (the link between the historical practice of mindfulness (thousands of years old)  to modern day neuroscience) – the fact that mindfulness practices improve working memory capacity ( similar to having a computer with higher capacity RAM/primary memory) is very interesting. It will allow us to keep more pieces of information in working memory so that we can get involved in a process of INTEGRATION of knowledge to make more diverse/creative connections/meanings using them. As a result, our reading comprehension improves as well. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130326133339.htm?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_details_shares%3BdLb%2BRa9cTuSGtE5dOe3vzA%3D%3D
• Kick start your compassionate brain
• “A loving kindness practice is literally better for our health and increases well being. Studies show that a loving kindness practice develops prosocial behavior and by focusing on compassion and cultivating more compassionate behavior.” https://www.nicoletetreault.com/single-post/2017/06/29/Kick-start-your-compassionate-brain?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_details_shares%3BdLb%2BRa9cTuSGtE5dOe3vzA%3D%3D
• Mindfulness meditation regulates anterior insula activity during empathy for social pain.
• “Mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress, promote health, and well-being, as well as to increase compassionate behavior toward others. It reduces distress to one’s own painful experiences, going along with altered neural responses, by enhancing self-regulatory processes and decreasing emotional reactivity. In order to investigate if mindfulness similarly reduces distress and neural activations associated with empathy for others’ socially painful experiences, which might in the following more strongly motivate prosocial behavior, the present study compared trait, and state effects of long-term mindfulness meditation (LTM) practice. To do so we acquired behavioral data and neural activity measures using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an empathy for social pain task while manipulating the meditation state between two groups of LTM practitioners that were matched with a control group.”
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28504364?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_details_shares%3BkArhHsXcSzOKYDn5hYys5Q%3D%3D
• Sign Up to Receive the Kindness Curriculum (Neuroscience-based)(The way to go – from the grassroots! Interesting developments towards sustainable/peaceful societies. Research/evidence-based kindness curriculum for preschool classrooms developed by the Center for Healthy Minds at The University of Wisconsin–Madison (USA) led by the founder Richard J. Davidson. Just like we traditionally pay emphasis on reading, writing and arithmetic for kids who start schooling, it is equally, if not more, important to pay attention to developing “Healthy Minds” with a special focus on emotional intelligence (EQ ahead of IQ). How many of us and our educational organisations could visualise the value of such a curriculum?)
• This Class is Helping First-Year Students Start College off Right(Excellent development in the higher education towards positive futures – a new course for the first year college students – initiated by The Center for Health Minds of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• “Called “The Art and Science of Human Flourishing,” the class combines disciplines from neuroscience and psychology to philosophy and art to encourage students to think more carefully about how they maintain their own mental and emotional well-being, manage stress and build positive relationships with others.”
• Why do we need such programs/courses in higher education institutes/sectors around the world – because:
• “College students, many living away from home for the first time, are also learning how to manage stress, respond to all sorts of new and different situations and prepare themselves for eventual entry into a professional world in which change is the biggest constant.” )
• Positively Transforming Minds within Educational Systems: An Inner-Directed Inquiry Process for Educators and the Students they Serve( Positively transforming minds in an evidence-based manner – what we need badly in our education systems beyond developing a narrow skill or cognitive ability! It is about whole-person transformation. Looking forward to reading Marilee’s next book to gain insights as before.)

• Increasing Kindness and Pro-Social Behaviour (ASSESSING COMPASSION IN HIGHER EDUCATION – what a useful as well as a REVOLUTIONARY idea! The difference between empathic distress and compassion! Just-as-me/loving kindness/pro-social attitude.)

• Compassion in Education (USEFUL TRENDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION – embedding and assessing compassion in (any) university curricula!

“Welcome to the website for Compassion in Education. It offers evidence-based, practical support to any teaching practitioner – with bite-sized films and other resources – on how to embed the micro skills of compassion into university group work up to an including assessing it, that is, making compassion credit-bearing, on the modern degree programme. It’s purpose is to support a growing international network of universities whose staff have an interest in rooting the science of compassion, as a secular concept, into the HE institution.”)

Coaching for Emotional Intelligence: Matthew Taylor on Transforming Education (The dire need to introduce EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EI) skills at an EARLY AGE of learning – for a much needed EDUCATIONAL TRANSFORMATION! “There is a good deal you learn in graduate school about how to TEACH CONTENT, but very little they teach you (in my experience) that prepares you for the HUMAN SIDE of the craft. Great teachers tend to figure this side out on their own, using their INNATE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. What they figure out, in a nutshell, is how to create the EMOTIONAL CONDITIONS for learning. They know that if they want their students to take the EMOTIONAL INTELLECTUAL RISKS to learn—to make themselves vulnerable to struggling in a group—they have to build a container of SHARED TRUST and a relationship that creates a FOUNDATION of safety.” “GREAT LEADERS must do the same things for their TEAMS as TEACHERS do for their STUDENTS. They must be attuned to EMOTIONAL NEEDS and meet those needs to create the SAFETY their teams need to take the RISKS inherent in STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE. Helping leaders learn how to create these CONDITIONS is, I believe, the end goal of LEADERSHIP coaching.” )

This is Your Brain on Curiosity | Matthias Gruber | TEDxUCDavisSalon (How CURIOSITY enables LEARNING (by enhancing memory – retention/recall – through  associated neural operations/circuits). WhY EDUCATORS need to raise CURIOSITY in LEARNERS, possibly by asking QUESTIONS (ideally thought-provoking open-ended questions)!)

Exploring the growth mindset (A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA ON LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT that is EMERGING from NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH!

How COMPARING LEARNERS WITH OTHERS (competition-oriented) leads to a FIXED-MINDSET while COMPARING LEARNERS TO THEIR PREVIOUS STANDINGS will result in a GROWTH MINDSET. Why it is more important to identify a  learner’s POTENTIAL/UNTAPPED ABILITY rather than how he/she performed in a certain test as UNTAPPED POTENTIAL can QUICKLY BE REALISED with a GROWTH MINDSET.)

Richard Davidson, PhD – The Science of Mindfulness (Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry/Director CENTRE for HEALTHY MINDS at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Richard Davidson presenting at the MINDFUL EDUCATION SUMMIT on the notions of NEUROPLASTICITY, EPIGENETICS, BRAIN-BODY BIDIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION, INHERENT GOODNESS OF HUMAN NATURE. Also, he talks about WELL-BEING that is constituted of AWARENESS, CONNECTION, INSIGHT/SELF-AWARENESS/INTUITION and PURPOSE. Most importantly, he puts forth insights into how this fundamental neuroscience-based knowledge (EMBEDDED IN MINDFULNESS PRACTICES – FOCUSED ATTENTION, OPEN ATTENTION/AWARENESS, LOVING-KINDNESS/COMPASSION meditation) that help us to make appropriate positive PHYSICAL CHANGES in related BRAIN AREAS forming appropriate NEURAL NETWORKS/CONNECTIONS should guide our EDUCATION/LEARNING SYSTEMS.

Such practices follow the NOTION of EDUCATION understood by the FARTER of MODERN PSYCHOLOGY WILLIAM JAMES over 125 YEARS ago!

“…the faculty of VOLUNTARILY BRINGING BACK a WANDERING ATTENTION, OVER and OVER AGAIN, is the very ROOT of JUDGEMENT, CHARACTER, AND WILL … AN EDUCATION which should improve this faculty would be the EDUCATION PAR EXCELLENCE.”)

Two Days with Dan Siegel: Lessons on the Whole-Brain Child (MINDFUL CLASSROOMS!

How can we effectively teach students of ANY BACKGROUND (from any socio-economic background, temperament, and traumatic situation etc.)?

“Be OPEN to who a child is and let go of who you want them to be because when WE DON’T ACCEPT CHILDREN FOR WHO THEY ARE we are actively TELLING THEM THEY AREN’T GOOD ENOUGH:”

WORLD RENOWN PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY/DIRECTOR OF MINDSIGHT INSTITUTE/BESTSELLING AUTHOR (HARVARD graduate) DANIEL SIEGEL from UCLA on MINDFUL CLASSROOMS! He was presenting his EVIDENCE-BASED (SCIENTIFIC) insights at the MINDFUL EDUCATION SUMMIT.

https://lnkd.in/f46mxfP

” It is NOT CHILD’S TEMPERAMENT that determines success but rather HOW PARENTS and ADULTS RESPOND to that temperament”

Why EDUCATORS essentially need to be MINDFUL in the classroom having an understanding of how the MIND and its energy flows?

Why the emphasis on NEW 3Rs (REFLECTION (with 3 PILLARS of OPENNESS, OBJECTIVITY and OBSERVATION), RELATIONSHIPS, RESILIENCE) is MORE IMPORTANT than any TEST RESULTS (mainly on OLD 3Rs (READING, wRiting, aRithmetic))?

Three types of MINDFULNESS training (FOCUSED ATTENTION, OPEN AWARENESS AND KIND INTENSION/COMPASSION) that help to create appropriate NEURAL NETWORKS/SYNAPTIC CONNECTION in the brain.)

Helping Students Develop Executive Function Skills (Using the notion of NEUROPLASTICITY for developing EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS of the brain!

“Executive function takes time to fully develop, and it develops at different rates in different children. The prefrontal cortex of the human brain is constantly growing and changing in young children as well as adolescents. Because of the human brain’s plasticity and enormous capacity for learning, it is possible to improve the executive functions of students with deficits through classroom strategies and support.”)

SEL: The Time Is Now (It is indeed great to see the notion of SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) spreading around the world, not just in the USA! The need of the moment in our contemporary societies. Without SEL (at all levels of education) with a mere focus on cognitive abilities, it is not going to be a complete education that focus on the whole person development.)

Toward Transformative Social and Emotional Learning: Using an Equity Lens (TRANSFORMATIVE SEL (SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING) resulting in EQUITY in educational environments – insightful.

“In the school setting, building stronger SE competencies starts with teacher and leader reflection. Without careful consideration, our ideas about SEL and how we implement it risk operating from a deficit orientation. In other words, educators might operationalize SEL as a means to “fix” students rather than help them grow and thrive as unique individuals. The Need for Culturally Responsive SEL Students can have vastly different perspectives on whether they feel supported and safe in the same classroom, even if educators use their own adult SE competencies. For example, experiencing racial/ ethnic or gender discrimination, economic inequities, and traumatic events can negatively impact how students react to everyday situations with their peers and teachers. But students also develop unique protective factors to handle these stressful situations and to pursue healthy growth and development which we can consider assets.”)

The role of human emotions in science and research (Great examples/insights to demonstrate that EMOTIONS DRIVE/INTEGRATE SCIENCE (commonly understood as primarily LOGIC/COGNITION) to an INNOVATIVE/CREATIVE/HOLISTIC /MEANINGFUL PIECE! Science and SCIENCE EDUCATION should not be merely highlighting a series of facts. We need a change of focus in SCIENCE EDUCATION from a third-person to the first-person perspective. It about SCIENCE as A HUMAN CREATION – yes created by HUMANS with EMOTIONS/PASSIONS/MOTIVATIONS/CURIOSITY/PERSEVERANCE (despite immense challenges). This is why SCHOLARS highlights the notions of EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE more that GENERAL INTELLIGENCE (mainly logic/cognition-based). This is where ARTS meet SCIENCE (STEM) disciplines to INTEGRATE into a UNIFYING WHOLE, where prominent perceived/hypothetical DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES become irrelevant/inappropriate.)

Brain waves may focus attention and keep information flowing (Some indications into how the brain may be working during MINDFULNESS practices that include both OPEN ATTENTION (possibly high-frequency gamma waves etc.) and FOCUSED ATTENTION (lower-frequency beta waves ) engagements alternatively.

” …two different types of brain waves — beta and gamma — work together to selectively choose the information that makes it into working memory. Gamma waves that cycle 30 to 80 times per second…help coordinate information streaming in from our senses — what we feel, see and smell. In contrast, slower 12 to 30 Hz beta waves are the messages that help keep us on task by guiding the brain toward the sensory signals worth paying attention to.”

“These two types of waves were generated in different parts of the brain…Sensory information, organized by gamma waves, skims the superficial layers of the brain, … But slower, more goal-directed waves, a mix of alpha and beta waves, are deeper in the brain. And those slower, deeper waves could actually dial down the strength of the gamma waves that rippled along the outer brain. The deeper waves were selecting which sensory information to pay attention to”)

Inflamed Bodies, Depressed Minds (A PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY at the UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE writing on a widely misunderstood DUALITY of MIND and BODY SEPARATION. How we used to disregard the apparent simple fact that the BODY and MIND (brain) WORK and COMMUNICATE in unison and the DIRE CONSEQUENCES resulted especially in the discipline of MEDICINE.

“It is now clear that a lot of what I was taught in medical school is wrong. It has become increasingly obvious that the existence of the BBB does not prohibit all immunological cross talk between the brain and the body. We now know…proteins …can send signals .. from the body to the brain and the mind”

“Depression, schizophrenia, autism, addiction, Alzheimer’s disease—…list of disorders that psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and neurologists ordinarily treat either as if they were “all in the mind” or as if they were “all in the brain.” Let’s say I had not bounced back to work the day after the dentist…become progressively more withdrawn and melancholic..My GP probably would have asked me a few questions about my state of mind and then offered a course of psychotherapy (..about mortality) or a prescription of antidepressants… It is unlikely that my doctor would have attached much diagnostic significance to the root canal story”)

FROM A NATION AT RISK TO A NATION AT HOPE – Recommendations from the national commission on social, emotional and academic development (Moving America FROM A NATION AT RISK TO A NATION AT HOPE through SOCIAL INNOVATION/CONSENSUS – TRUE DEMOCRACY IN ACTION!

“The promotion of SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL, and ACADEMIC LEARNING is NOT a shifting EDUCATIONAL FAD; it is THE SUBSTANCE OF EDUCATION itself”

“In fact, the basis of this approach is NOT IDEOLOGICAL at all. It is ROOTED IN THE EXPERIENCE OF TEACHERS, PARENTS, and STUDENTS supported by the best EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH of the past FEW DECADES”

“children require a broad array of SKILLS, ATTITUDES, and VALUES to SUCCEED in school, careers, and in life…skills such as paying attention, setting goals, collaboration, and planning for the future…attitudes such as internal motivation, perseverance, and a sense of purpose…values such as responsibility, honesty, and integrity…abilities to think critically, consider different views, and problem solve”

“It is a mistake to view social and emotional learning as a “soft” approach to education. Quite the opposite. An emphasis on these capacities is not the sacrifice of rigor; it is a source of rigor…one of the main outcomes is better academic performance”

“The evidence also indicates that these efforts can be undertaken by schools at a reasonable cost relative to the benefits”)

Learn As You Go (LEARNING FROM ONE’S DAILY EXPERIENCES (mainly focusing on the POSITIVE ONES) – the NEUROSCIENCE behind the process. This EMOTIONAL-LEANING/SOCIAL-LEARNING/MOTIVATIONAL-LEARNING/IMPLICIT-LEARNING is available for FREE-OF-CHARGE, unlike one’s explicit/formal learning at an academic institute where you have to PAY. In fact, interestingly, MOST of our/human LEARNING is IMPLICIT LEARNING!

“First, you need to experience whatever you want to grow. Such as an INSIGHT, INTENTION, skill, satisfaction, calming, easing, soothing, or vitalizing. Second, that experience must leave a LASTING PHYSICAL TRACE behind in NEURAL STRUCTURE or function. Otherwise there is no lasting value, no healing, no growth, no learning.”

“There are lots of ways to use the power of “EXPERIENCE-DEPENDENT NEUROPLASTICITY” (that’s a mouthful) to turn passing experiences into grit and gratitude and other inner strengths HARDWIRED into your NERVOUS SYSTEM.”

“Focus on what is enjoyable or meaningful about it. As the sense of reward in an experience increases, dopamine and norepinephrine activity in the brain tends to increase as well. This flags experiences as “keepers” and prioritizes them for LONG-TERM STORAGE.”)

Students Learn From People They Love (The debate on COGNITION vs EMOTION (or IQ vs EQ or /LOGIC vs FEELING/PERCEPTION) in LEARNING – and the WINNER IS:

“Furthermore, emotions tell you what to pay attention to, care about and remember. It’s hard to work through difficulty if your emotions aren’t engaged. Information is plentiful, but motivation is scarce.

That early neuroscience breakthrough reminded us that a key job of a school is to give students new things to love — an exciting field of study, new friends. It reminded us that what teachers really teach is themselves — their contagious passion for their subjects and students. It reminded us that children learn from people they love, and that love in this context means willing the good of another, and offering active care for the whole person.”

“Extreme negative emotions, like fear, can have a devastating effect on a student’s ability to learn. Fear amps up threat perception and aggression. It can also subsequently make it hard for children to understand causal relationships, or to change their mind as context changes.”

“When you start thinking this way it opens up the wide possibilities for change. How would you design a school if you wanted to put relationship quality at the core?”)

I Feel Your Brain (How our SOCIAL BRAIN WORKS (in fact, human beings are essentially social creatures and their brains are HARD-WIRED FOR EMPATHY/COMPASSION) in INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS from the viewpoints of neuroscience.

“Before we realized that BRAINS INTERCONNECT so much, it seemed that how someone does at work has little or nothing to do with how that person’s BOSS TREATS THEM —that it’s entirely up to the person alone. But the SOCIAL BRAIN’S INTERCONNECTIVITY means that to some degree the boss’s brain is looped into that person’s brain. And so a LEADER’S RESPONSIBILITY includes helping that person get into and stay in an internal state where he can do his best work. It’s also a TEACHER’S RESPONSIBILITY with a student, because there is a strong relationship between maximal cognitive efficiency and a person’s emotional state. When people are in an alert, motivated…state, the brain operates at a peak efficiency…But if a teacher just angrily scolds a student and expects that student to LEARN BETTER, he’s basically undermining his own efforts…Or if a boss ..humiliates them, that threatens and undermines the person’s NEURAL ABILITY … So the boss or teacher has to understand that they’re partly responsible for the other person’s very brain state and subsequent inability to do better.”)

A Neuroscientist on Love and Learning (INTERMINGLED nature of COGNITION and EMOTION – the need to focus on SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL aspects of LEARNING!

“We know now that when we think about the really complex decisions in our lives — so, for example, if we think about whether we’re going to partner with a certain partner or get married to a certain partner — that’s the kind of decision that we cannot make based on a cold cognitive calculus. We consult our emotions for making that decision. And if our emotions were disrupted, it will really impair our capacity to make those kinds of decisions. So this has led to the insight that emotions actually play a really key role. They can be both facilitating of our behavior and cognitive activity, and they can also be a disrupter. It can go both ways. It’s not one way or the other, but they’re an intimate part of everything that we do.”

” you’ve framed this gathering about love, kindness, and education — strangely, three words we don’t often see together. It’s a little bit countercultural. There was language in there about restoring the richness and meaning of love and the role that it plays in education.”)

What Is Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) (Why we need SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL learning as a matter of urgency!

EMOTIONS drive ATTENTION; ATTENTION drive LEARNING (cognition)!

EDUCATING HEARTS, INSPIRING MINDS!)

Pay Attention (PROGRAMMING THE BRAIN (following the evidence-based notion of NEUROPLASTICITY) by simply PAYING ATTENTION in the RIGHT WAY on the RIGHT THING.

“In particular, because of what’s called “EXPERIENCE-DEPENDENT NEUROPLASTICITY,” WHATEVER YOU HOLD IN ATTENTION HAS A SPECIAL POWER TO CHANGE YOUR BRAIN. Attention is like a combination spotlight and vacuum cleaner: it illuminates what it rests upon and then sucks it into your brain – and yourself.”

“Therefore, controlling your attention – becoming more able to place it where you want it and keep it there, and more able to pull it away from what’s bothersome or pointless (such as looping again and again through anxious preoccupations, mental grumbling, or self-criticism) – is the foundation of changing your brain, and thus your life, for the better. As the great psychologist, William James, wrote over a century ago: “The EDUCATION OF ATTENTION would be the EDUCATION PAR EXCELLENCE.””)

Educating for the Future (“To be a CREATIVE and #IMAGINATIVE THINKER is to develop original and useful products—whether physical or IDEATIONAL. To develop these ideas, we need to have a KNOWLEDGE BASE that will allow our BRAINS TO CONNECT DIFFERENT STORES of information. Maria Popova eloquently describes why we need to have a LARGE FUND of KNOWLEDGE to be CREATIVE:”

“The idea that in order for us to TRULY CREATE and CONTRIBUTE to the WORLD, we have to be able to CONNECT COUNTLESS DOTS, to CROSS-POLLINATE IDEAS from A WEALTH OF DISCIPLINES, to COMBINE and RECOMBINE these pieces and BUILD NEW CASTLES.”

“The key is to have a STRONG FUND OGF KNOWLEDGE to SPARK IMAGINATION and develop CREATIVE THOUGHTS. Your brain takes FAMILIAR INFORMATION and ASSEMBLES it in NEW WAYS. If you DON’T HAVE that information easily available—because of Alexa, Siri, or Hey Google—you won’t come up with those CREATIVE THOUGHTS and NEW IDEAS that will DIFFERENTIATE you from the ROBOTS”

“We should also be WARY of becoming TOO CONTENT SPECIFIC, which may actually INHIBIT our CREATIVITY. ENCOURAGE YOUR KIDS to become POLYMATHS. GAINING KNOWLEDGE in MANY FIELDS can ENCOURAGE BIG IDEAS that SPAN MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES, thereby encouraging DIVERGENT THINKING.”)

124. Hal Gregersen: Choose Your Questions Well (Why do #QUESTIONS matter? Why do #CHALLENGING the #ASSUMPTIONS matter? Why do #SHADOW QUESTIONS MATTER and direct you #IMPLICITLY/ #UNCONSCIOUSLY in your LIFE? Isn’t one’s #LEARNING and #DEVELOPMENT all about thoughtful QUESTIONS, not the #ANSWERS?)

Reimaging Education: Why Contortion Won’t Get You into Harvard (POSITIVE TRENDS in the FOREFRONTS of EDUCATION, COLLEGE ADMISSION and EMPLOYMENT towards  LEARNER WELLBEING and SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY!  “REALITY IS..a 16-year old can get “PERFECT” SCORES…GRADES…ACTIVITES and STILL be REJECTED from an INSTITUTION. MINDFULNESS and COMPASSION..help REMIND us that SETBACKS are…PART of the JOURNEY and NOT a DEFINITION of WHO WE”

“..COLLEGE ADMISSIONS officers are eager to MINIMIZE ANXIETY, UNIVERSITIES DESIRE KINDER COMMUNITIES, EMPLOYERS SEEK new hires with EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, and PEOPLE are STARVING for the COURAGE to follow their own NORTH STARR. …cultivate COMPASSION for SELF and OTHERS may help them THRIVE THROUGH a FLAWED PROCESS and WELL BEYOND”

“…there is GROWING EVIDENCE that these are LIFE SKILLS, HUMAN SKILLS..support their GROWTH and WELLBEING well BEYOND COLLEGE…COLLEGE ADMISSION PROCESS is NOT simply an EVALUATION of the PAST, but an INVESTMENT in ONE’S FUTURE POTENTIAL – as a SCHOLAR and a CITIZEN”

“…MINDFULNESS and COMPASSION redirects energy from CONTORTION to “GET IN” to a GENUINE INTROSPECTION of WHO ONE IS and WANTS TO BE…HIGHER EDUCATION is MORE THAN a CHASE for a BRASS RING whose WORTH is DETERMINED by SOMEONE ELSE…INSTEAD, a THOUGHTFUL PROCESS to FIND a place where the MIND, BODY, and SPIRIT can THRIVE”)

Questions are the Answer – Are You Asking the Right Ones? with Hal Gregersen (Asking the #RIGHT #QUESTIONS (not the simple ones you know the answers) for the purpose of #INQUIRY and getting BETTER #INFORMED/ #CLARIFIED! In doing so, we will support our capacities to be CURIOUS in an ongoing manner in the DIRECTION of enhanced #LEARNING and #DEVELOPMENT.)

Learning How to Learn (EVERYONE engages in LEARNING-10-20 years of #FORMAL EDUCATION in 1st 25 years of life. But how many of us can MEANINGFULLY/ BROADLY answer the questions: HOW DO WE LEARN and #WHAT IS LEARNING? A WORTHWHILE INQUIRY!

“Think back to all the TIME you’ve ever SPENT, in any #JOB, developing NEW SKILLS. Did any of it include LEARNING HOW TO LEARN? Now think back further, to your #SCHOOL DAYS, and ASK YOURSELF the same question”

“This flies in the face of TRADITIONAL METHODS. “The EDUCATION SYSTEM INCENTIVIZES people to MASTER TEST-TAKING, NOT HOW TO LEARN,” David says. He realized at a young age that he had become what is CONSIDERED to be a “GREAT STUDENT” by getting GOOD AT TEST-TAKING.

“Amazingly, despite the #SIZEABLE PORTION of OUR LIVES that we SPEND in #LEARNING #ENVIRONMENTS, MOST of us are NEVER #TAUGHT what #SCIENCE shows about the BEST WAYS TO LEARN. That presents a HUGE #PROBLEM FACING #BUSINESSES TODAY”

“This kind of LEARNING DOESN’T #STICK, and DOESN’T LEAD to #DEVELOPMENT of CONCRETE SKILLS that people can USE for #YEARS TO COME”)

Times they are a changin’… (Why #WILLPOWER/ #SELF-CONTROL/ #SELF-MANAGEMENT (from the theory of #EMOTIONAL #INTELLIGENCE we know that these competencies are resulting from the #FUNDAMENTAL COMPETENCY OF #SELF-AWARENESS) will become an increasingly important characteristic/ competency for an individual in the years to come in #CHANGING TIMES.

“To maintain our sense of #PURPOSE, we’ll need to build the WILL to SAY NO to easy #DIGITAL TEMPTATIONS that STEAL our TIME and SUBTRACT from our #FULFILLMENT”

“We’ll need to become better at #LISTENING to our #HEARTS and carving out the space to #PURSUE what brings us #MEANING.”

“Looking to the YEARS AHEAD, as the #PLAYING FIELD #LEVELS and ACCESS to both #INFORMATION and #DISTRACTIONS INCREASES, developing a STRONG sense of #WILLPOWER will be a DETERMINING FACTOR not just for us #INDIVIDUALS, but for #SOCIETY as a whole.”)

Healthy Minds in Practice: Exploring Change Audio Practice (Helping us to face the #UNAVOIDABLE #CHANGE that IS #ONGOING from #MOMENT  to MOMENT, small or large, throughout our lives by being MINDFUL of this phenomena/ #UNIVERSAL TRUTH! )

Designing a University Around Well-Being and Purpose ( #DESIGNING  a #UNIVERSITY focusing the MUCH-IMPORTANT #BIG #PICTURE – the #WELL-BEING of the individuals that LEADS to developing #SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES – Hats Off as we see some #HOPE at the end of the #TUNNEL!

“#SUCCESS in #LIFE should NOT be associated only with #PROFESSIONAL #ACHIEVEMENTS or #WEALTH – we believe that people who have and develop their #PURPOSE in #LIFE are #HAPPIER. With that in mind, why not DESIGN a UNIVERSITY that focuses on #WELL-BEING and #PURPOSE?”

“We designed a new university model where students #LEARN #WELL-BEING #PRINCIPLES and PRACTICES, #CUSTOMIZE their own bachelors by choosing 40% of their courses and participate in a #COMPETENCE EDUCATION model that translates into the #DEVELOPMENT of highly demanded skills and high #EMPLOYABILITY.

“Our #VISION as a university is to prepare #POSITIVE PEOPLE with #PURPOSE in LIFE and #COMPETENCIES to achieve it. That was the pivotal moment in 2012 when we were #REDESIGNING the university. We learned from #RESEARCH about #WELL-BEING and #HAPPINESS. Since then, we have been using #WELL-BEING #THEORY and #PRACTICES for all #STUDENTS, #FACULTY and #STAFF.”)

The Myth of Average: Todd Rose at TEDxSonomaCounty ( The #MISCONCEPTION of #AVERAGE (i.e., pushing for CONFORMITY as opposed to individualised/personal/AUTHENTIC/CREATIVE focus/ expression) in #EDUCATIONAL #SYSTEMS that #DESTROYS HUMAN #POTENTIAL for good! From a #HARVARD ACADEMIC who was a #HIGH-SCHOOL #DROPOUT. The notion of average is a way of OVERSIMPLICATION based on the assumption that LEARNING and DEVELOPMENT is a LINEAR/SEQUENTIAL PROCESS as opposed to a COMPLEX, MULTIDIMENSIONAL PROCESS in which at least some learning and development processes are ASYNCHRONOUS, depending heavily on individual INTRINSIC characteristics as well as ENVIRONMENTAL factors.)

Understand commercialisation (What is the process/role of #RESEARCH #COMMERCIALISATION and #INTELLECTUAL #PROPERTY (#IP)?  “IP is a novel creation of the mind – a new idea or invention – that is commercially (or artistically) useful.”

“Commercialisation of IP means extracting value from the IP by marketing a new product, production method, or service based at least partly on the IP.”

“IP is an important intangible asset that can complement the tangible assets of your business – e.g. money, machinery or real estate – and the uncreative (non-IP) intangible assets – e.g. a list of important potential customers or staff expertise.”

“IP can help a business to do better than it otherwise would, or it can kick-start a new business.”)

Nokia finalizes its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, ready to seize global connectivity opportunities (Once highly reputed #TELECOMMUNICATION company #ALCATEL-LUCENT (with some of my personal nostalgia in conducting some of their industry courses for UG and PG students after gaining industry certifications with the support from the university ) is fully taken-over by #NOKIA!)

Social Justice Definitions (How does #ORGANISATIONAL/ #SOCIAL #COLLUSION impact #SOCIAL #JUSTICE?

“COLLUSION: Ways that MEMBERS of agent and target #GROUPS #THINK and #ACT, often unconsciously, that SUPPORT #OPPRESSIVE SYSTEMS and #MAINTAINS the #STATUS QUO.”)

Tell the Truth and Play Fair (Being #TRUTHFUL and #FAIR, for #SOCIAL #SUSTAINABILITY!

“Ordinary #EXAGGERATION, sales pitches, rants, snark, and #ARGUMENTS are ONE THING, but #REPEATED LYING is another. The ATTACKS on #TRUTH-TELLING and #FAIR PLAY are the F#UNDAMENTAL issue. RECOGNIZING this and NAMING it to yourself is FREEING and #HEALING. You may be UNABLE TO CHANGE anything out in the world, but AT LEAST INSIDE your MIND you can STAND ON SOLID ground.”

“many teachers say to their students: TELL THE TRUTH. PLAY FAIR. This is what we ask our own kids to do. It’s what we look for in a FRIEND, a BOSS, and a neighbor. If your child cheats on a board game, you point it out; it’s not OK. We want #CASHIERS to give us the CORRECT CHANGE and #DOCTORS to be #HONEST about our test results. It’s basic”

“There’s a saying: #GOOD PROCESS leads to GOOD RESULTS. So if there are BAD RESULTS –from BULLYING on a PLAYGROUND to a COUNTRY IN TROUBLE – it’s COMMON SENSE to figure out the BAD PROCESS that LED to those results”

“Anyone, HIGH or LOW, who LIES or CHEATS – and ANYONE who SUPPORTS such people – would LOSE  ALL STANDINGS in a schoolyard, church or temple, marketplace, or village commons. We need exactly the same to happen in our own PUBLIC SQUARE…what happens there has very PERSONAL CONSEQUENCES for EACH ONE OF US”)

The radicalism of our time (Be a MODERN DAY RADICAL: Be COMPASSIONATE by identifying SHARED HUMANITY! “COMPASSION is NOT a RELATIONSHIP between the HEALER and the WOUNDED. It’s a RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EQUALS. Only when we know OUR OWN DARKNESS well can we be PRESENT with the DARKNESS of OTHERS. COMPASSION becomes REAL when we recognize our SHARED HUMANITY.”)

It’s all related (The #UNDENIABLE #INTERDEPENDENCE – #SYSTEMS #PERSPECTIVE of our #NATURE/ #PLANET! Through the process of #HUMAN #DEVELOPMENT  to a #HIGHER-DEGREE/ #LEVEL, we come to the #REALISATION OF THIS #FUNDAMENTAL #TRUTH! #LEONARDO DA  VINCI has famously said “#LEARN how to SEE. #REALIZE that #EVERYTHING #CONNECTS  to #EVERYTHING else.”

“In 1963, #MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr., was #SENTENCED to time in a Birmingham, Alabama, JAIL for participating in #NON-VIOLENT civil rights #DEMONSTRATIONS. From the #CONFINES of his CELL, he wrote these #POWERFUL #WORDS:”

 

“#WHATEVER AFFECTS ONE directly AFFECTS ALL INDIRECTLY. I can NEVER BE what I OUGHT to BE until YOU are what YOU OUGHT to BE..”

“In a #REAL SENSE all LIFE is #INTERRELATED. ALL persons are CAUGHT in an #INESCAPABLE NETWORK of #MUTUALITY, TIED in a SINGLE GARMENT of DESTINY. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can NEVER BE  what I OUGHT to be UNTIL YOU are what YOU OUGHT to be, and YOU CAN NEVER be what YOU OUGHT to BE UNTIL I am what I OUGHT to be. This is the INTER-RELATED structure of REALITY.”)

The Creative Spirit (Why #CREATIVITY matters – most importantly as a #THERAPEUTIC MEASURE and LESSENING INTEREST in #EXTRINSIC #REWARDS!

“What I’ve learned as a psychological scientist is that CREATIVITY is an attitude, a habit, and a WAY OF LIFE that allows you to #ADAPT to CHANGING circumstances. Despite the mad genius stereotype, CREATIVE work can be HIGHLY THERAPEUTIC, and people who regularly engage in it are more likely to report GREATER PERSONAL #GROWTH. The capacity for creativity is also linked to a BROADER  range of #EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES (both positive and negative), an #INTRINSIC LOVE for one’s work, and LESS INTEREST in EXTRINSIC REWARDS (such as #MONEY or #SOCIAL STATUS).”)

Want to be happy? Be grateful ( Does #HAPPINESS lead to #GRATEFULNESS? Or does it work in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION? We need to #STOP, #LOOK and then find the #ANSWER by OURSELVES? If we JUMP to find the answer WITHOUT stopping and looking, we are likely to get an INCORRECT ANSWER  that #DISTORTS #REALITY.

“We all know quite a number of people who HAVE EVERYTHING that it would take TO BE #HAPPY, and they are NOT HAPPY, because they WANT #SOMETHING ELSE or they WANT #MORE of the same. And we all know PEOPLE who have LOTS OF #MISFORTUNE, misfortune that we OURSELVES would NOT WANT TO HAVE, and they are DEEPLY HAPPY. They RADIATE HAPPINESS. You are SURPRISED. Why? Because THEY ARE #GRATEFUL.”)

Recognize Suffering in Others (Can we be #BRAVE and #COURAGEOUS to be #OPEN to #SUFFERING ( of anyone, seen in our environments)?  “Take heart. Opening to suffering is one of the bravest things a person can do.”  “Plus, not seeing suffering harms you as well. You miss information about the nature of life, miss chances to have your heart opened, miss learning what your impact on others might be.  Small issues that could have been resolved early on grow until they blow up. People don’t like having their pain overlooked, so they’re more likely to over-react, or be uncharitable toward you when you’re the one having a hard time. Wars and troubles that seemed so distant come rippling across our own borders; to paraphrase John Donne, if we don’t heed the faraway tolling of the bell for others, it will eventually come tolling for thee and me.” )

Everything is Figureoutable with Marie Forleo ( An INSIGHTFUL way of looking out at #GROWTH #MINDSET as equivalent to EVERYTHING IS FIGURAOTABLE!)

Pain ≠ Suffering (Can we make PAIN NOT EQUAL to SUFFERING, even in EXTREME CASES of life experience?  “EVERYTHING can be taken from a MAN BUT ONE THING: the LAST of the HUMAN FREEDOMS—to CHOOSE ONE’S ATTITUDE in ANY given set of CIRCUMSTANCES, to CHOOSE ONE’S OWN WAY.” – VICTOR FRANKL ( Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor)

“In his book MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING, he describes the experience of arriving at a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. He is immediately STRIPPED EVERYTHING HE HAS, his hair is shaved, and he is left to stand in a room of similarly affected people — some strangers, others he’d known all his life.”

“It is at THAT MOMENT that Frankl has the REALIZATION that EVEN THOUGH EVERYTHING — his POSSESSIONS, his FAMILY, his DIGNITY– had been TAKEN AWAY from him, he STILL HAD THE POWER to CHOOSE how he WOULD REACT to the SITUATION IN FRONT OF HIM.” )

MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING by Viktor Frankl | Core Message ( The value of Identifying the #TASK YOU ARE #BORN FOR (with your experience, knowledge and skills), in #SEARCH FOR #MEANING in #LIFE! It appears that our EDUCATION SYSTEMS should support every individual/learner reach their IDEOSUNCRATIC POTENTALATIES (in full) in order to serve the planet in a UNIQUE way, by identifying his/her unique PURPOSE (big or small). The essence of it is to MOVE AWAY from forcing CONFORMITY while encouraging CREATIVE, AUTHENTIC EXPRESSION.)

See the Person Behind the Eyes (Seeing through, in a deeper sense! How it helps to build #RELATIONSHIPS!

“Even though it’s scary, everyone longs to be seen, to be known. To have your hopes and fears acknowledged – the ones BEHIND a polite SMILE or a frown of FRUSTRATION. To have your true caring seen, as well as your positive intentions and NATURAL goodness. Most intimately of all, to feel that your INNERMOST BEING – the one to whom THINGS HAPPEN, the one strapped to this RILLER COASTER of a life trying to MAKE SENSE of it before it ends – has been recognized by someone.” )

Want to be happy? Be grateful (#HAPPINESS vs #GRATEFULNESS – which comes first? (#PART 1 #PART 2 to follow). “Is it really the HAPPY people that are GRATEFUL?” “We all know quite a number of people who HAVE EVERYTHING that it would take to be happy, and they are NOT HAPPY, because they want something else or they want more of the same.”

“And we all know people who have LOTS of #MISFORTUNE, misfortune that we ourselves would not want to have, and they are DEEPLY HAPPY. They #RADIATE happiness. You are surprised. Why? Because they are grateful.”

Can we be GRATEFUL for EVERYTHING? (PART 2) “Does that mean that we can be GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING? CERTAINLY NOT. We CANNOT BE GRATEFUL FOR VIOLENCE, for WAR, for OPPRESSION, for EXPLOITATION. On the PERSONAL level, we CANNOT BE GRATEFUL or the LOSS OF A FRIEND, for UNFAITHFULNESS, for BEREAVEMENT. But I DIDN’T say we can be GRATEFUL for EVERYTHING. I said we can be GRATEFUL in EVERY GIVEN MOMENT…”)

What Makes You “Multicultural” ((#MINDFUL) #MULTICULTURAL #EXPERIENCE = #MULTIPLE #PERSPECTIVES (useful especially in #PROBLEM-SOLVING)! It is interesting to CONDUCT RESEARCH and find out whether assimilating HIGHER VALUES of MULTIPLE CULTURES make and INDIVIDUAL “MORE” MULTICULTURAL! “You’ve heard about multicultural societies and groups, but have you thought about MULTICULTURAL INDIVIDUAL and WHAT they BRING to organizations? Multicultural individuals — such as Chinese-Canadians, Turkish-Germans, or Arab-Americans — commonly think, perceive, behave, and RESPOND to GLOBAL WORKPLACE issues in MORE #COMPLEX ways than #MONOCULTURAL individuals.”

“In contrast, others DEFINE MULTICULTURAL INDIVIDUALS by their ABILITY to FUNCTION #EFFECTIVELY in MORE than ONE CULTURE, such as knowing MULTIPLE #LANGUAGES or having “#MULTICULTURAL #MINDS,” MEANING they CAN THINK in ways that #REFLECT MULTIPLE CULTURES.”)

An experiment (When we are DILIGENTLY #MINDFUL about being #GRATEFUL, any individual is likely to find an INFINITE list of OTHERS/EVENTS/SITUATIONS to be GRATEFUL for ENABLING him/her to be #CONSCIOUSLY #ALIVE at this very #MOMENT. Some of these events/people can be very close and directly related to them, while some others/ events can be far more distant as a STREET CHILD or BLIND/DISABLE person on the street that AROUSE his/her #SENSITIVITIES/ #EMOTIONS to a level that lead him/her in search of #PURPOSE/ #MEANING in LIFE, possibly PUSHING in a PURSUIT to SEE/UNDERSTAND #REALITY AS IS, while SUPPRESSING all #ADVERSITIES and their IMPACTS he/she has faced on his/her own THROUGHOUT the LIFE thus far)

Thinking broadly and deeply (Thinking #BROADLY vs DEEPLY – what is the difference when SOLVING PROBLEMS? “THINK DEEPLY ABOUT THE PROBLEM YOU ARE SOLVING BEFORE YOU THINK BROADLY ABOUT THE WAYS IT CAN BE SOLVED. AND THINK BROADLY ABOUT THE WAYS A PROBLEM CAN BE SOLVED BEFORE YOU THINK DEEPLY ABOUT ANY ONE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM.”

“It’s the DIFFERENCE between a DOCTOR that JUMPS to PRESCRIPTION MEDICINE versus a HOLISTIC APPROACH to HEALTHCARE. Once your brain is in PROBLEM SOLVING MODE, it’s HARD TO GET BACK into problem UNDERSTANDING mode.”)

Being Grateful – to Whom? (“When we are #DILIGENTLY #MINDFUL about being #GRATEFUL, any individual is likely to find an INFINITE list of OTHERS/ EVENTS/SITUATIONS to be GRATEFUL for ENABLING him/her to be #CONSCIOUSLY ALIVE at this very MOMENT. Some of these events/people can be very close and directly related to them, while some others/ events can be far more distant as a STREET CHILD or #BLIND/ #DISABLE person on the street that AROUSE his/her #SENSITIVITIES/ #EMOTIONS to a level that lead him/her in search of #PURPOSE/ #MEANING in #LIFE, possibly PUSHING in a PURSUIT to SEE/UNDERSTAND #REALITY AS IS”)

The Power of Writing Your Own Eulogy to Live Your Best Life! (How would WRITING YOUR OWN EULOGY INSPIRES you for the REST of your LIFE!  “We ‘GLOSS OVER’ the UNDESIRABLE TOPIC of DEATH. But today I’m going to ASK YOU NOT TO. I’m going to ask you to CONTEMPLATE IT. In fact, LOOK IT SQUARELY IN THE EYE. And then WRITE YOUR OWN EULOGY. I know you think I SOUND CRAZY …. But I promise you that this will be such an INVALUABLE EXERCISE, you’ll be ASTOUNDED and AMAZED at just how FAR this ‘far-fetched’ idea WILL TAKE YOU.”

“By doing this exercise you can achieve UNIMAGINABLE INSIGHT into WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE MOVING FORWARD. It will GIVE you CLARITY about whether you are INVESTING your TIME in the right places. Because TIME IS PRECIOUS and there’s NOTHING MORE POWERFUL than a EULOGY to bring that concept home to us.”

“On a related topic, the highly venerated Sri Lankan artist, novelist and lyrist/songwriter, MAHAGAMASEKERA (died in 1976) wrote the following lyric thinking about his death in the final years of his life filled with illness:

After my death

Would a totally unknown person to me

Write a sad/melancholic song

On my tombstone

Then, on a dark cold night

When the half-moon sets down

While the crickets chirping

I would get to hear that song

Then it would tell me

That at least one person in this world loved me!

This melancholic song can be enjoyed in the following link. Even the music/rhythm/tone equally matching the lyric.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPbB1ZZLa0s”)

What Is Social and Emotional Learning? (SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) – Beyond the past century TRADITIONS OF focusing merely on 3Rs (Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic) in the COGNITIVE domain towards the WHOLE CHILD/ PERSON DEVELOPMENT proven/evidence-based outcomes! The UNANIMOUS evidence is that SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING propels ACADEMIC SUCCESS yielding an INTEGRATED WHOLE PERSON/CHILD DEVELOPMENT!

Most importantly, they all start BY DEVELOPING notion/competency of SELF-AWARENESS by looking INWARDLY to identify/recognise one’s EMOTIONS, DRIVES, PASSIONS, STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES where improvements needed etc., before moving onto developing the competencies of #SELF-MANAGEMENT and RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT)

The Impact of Social and Emotional Learning (SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) impact/success in NUMBERS/ QUANTITIES:  11:1 Return on Investment (ROI) – every DOLLAR spent on SEL will give 11 DOLLARS in RETURN. Can we ask for any more?)