It’s not just getting to stay in my PJs all day that I value about winter break (though that’s high up there on the list). It’s the opportunity to begin again. It’s the chance for me to reset, to reprioritize, to remember what it is that is important to me when I enter the classroom.

My meditation teachers recently offered us the suggestion that perhaps we could try setting intentions instead of resolutions for the new year. Instead of coming up with some concrete unlikely to obtain SMART goals (ex- I will get all my grading done within two days of an assignment due date. HAHAHAHAHA! Ahahaha. Ha. Sniff), what if we dug a little deeper and used this time to remember how we want to show up in the classroom each day, regardless of what is in front of us?

So think about what qualities you’d like to embody as you enter your classroom this year. What do you aspire to each day, not as an aim to self flagellate when we fall short (which will will), but as a gentle guiding reminder of how you would like to be?

Incline the mind towards the quality, and note the ways you might shift your thoughts and actions to be more in alignment with that intention.