Card signed by Deering HS mindfulness students
It has been a few months since my last day at Deering High School, and I had the pleasure of being treated to chocolate mousse by the teacher I worked closely with when there. In addition to the delicious cake, she brought other sweetness in the form of a thank you card from the students and her evaluation.
I wrote a blog post recently for Mindful Schools about the importance of trust when working with mindfulness- trusting our practice to support us and trusting our students to take what they need from the practice. We can't always see the impact of our work. We aren't always so lucky to get feedback from our participants, and so after prepping and delivering lessons, there is a certain level of letting go we have to do in order to maintain our own peace of mind.
This makes it especially important when we do get positive feedback to really experience it. To try it on and walk around in it for awhile. To roll around in it. To savor it. After all, our brains are wired to remember the negative more than the positive (a little something science likes to call the negativity bias), so we have to work to really experience those moments of light.
In this spirit, a few comments I will hold close:
"Thank you so much Erica! You helped more than you know!" - Nate
"Erica, I'll really miss you... please do keep in touch. Keep us sane for the remainder of the school year! Due love." - Madlien
And from the teacher:
"Erica, our trainer, had just the right presence for teaching mindfulness. She was calm and personable with some very hard to reach students."
"The lessons were tailored nicely to the students' needs and developmentally appropriate...simple, yet they addressed serious topics with depth and relevancy. Students sometimes talked about a lesson long after it was taught, showing that they really internalized the skill and are maintaining somewhat of a practice."
"I just want to share my gratitude for a time well spent learning a much needed skill for all of us."
Thank you for sharing, Tracey. The cake, card, and evaluation were a much appreciated boost.