JumpStart National Bologna Day and Kangaroo Awareness Day (10/24/22)

Big Idea:  In your life, you can really only control two things:  1) how you mentally respond to things (predictions, judgement, etc.), and 2) how you physically respond to things (what you do or say).

The trick is to find the ‘Gold in the Gap’. In between the time something external happens and the time that we respond, there is a gap. For some people, it’s very small - they get punched in the face and they punch right back, regardless of consequences.

For others, the gap is much wider. Someone punches them in the face and before they respond they take a moment, process what happened, identify emotions and motivations from both sides, and examine probable consequences for all their possible responses.

Mindfulness helps to build this self-awareness muscle.

This week, try this: The next time something good or bad happens, take a full belly-breath in before you respond. Did your response change?
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Quote:  "Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it." (Charles Swindoll)

Resource:  FREE BOOK STUDY in NOVEMBER! TeachIllinois.org is offering 9 PD Hours for participating in a 4-week, asynchronous book study over “Educating Mindfully: Stories of School Transformation Through Mindfulness". It’s a collection of 40 essays/stories of how people transformed their classroom or their school to be more mindful. I’m also setting up a virtual author chat for the end of the month where you can ask the editor and one of the authors questions.

Dad Joke:  I was wondering whey this frisbee kept getting bigger and bigger.  And then it hit me.

It may be the week before Halloween, but at least it’s not a full moon.