A note from your (real) school psychologist!
As you may or may not know, I went to a professional conference this past weekend. Along with all “rah-rah, our career rocks” talks that are bound to happen at these events, there was an air of resolve present too. I went to the mindfulness session and there was a call to action for serving and supporting our co-workers with mindfulness, mental health, and other positive mental training and support activities and information. And you know what I did? I thought of y’all and the work that we are doing with these self-care and mental health newsletters that I send out. Don’t worry, although I did come away from the conference with a few new “groupies” I will not let it get to my head. Ah- who am I kidding? I was over the moon when people mentioned that they were interested in reading and “subscribing” to my memo. So in between feelings of elation and pride I also found myself feeling self-conscious and ashamed that I was proud of myself.
So here is my question/query for this edition: Is your natural response to pride- shame? Do you often find yourself hyper-focused on why you shouldn’t have done what you did in speaking up for/about yourself? Does the society we live and work in support these defeating behaviors continuing?
So, now that I am back at my work desk, two monitors, and mountains of work to complete, I find my mind wandering to that mindfulness session. I feel the irony coming to my mind just as it comes to yours I am sure. What do you do to practice mindfulness in your busy life? Do you practice mindfulness? One of the activities shared was on gratitude meditation. So I want to take a moment this November to share with each of you what I am focusing on in my gratitude meditation. I am thankful for YOU, my sister-in-law, my work friends/family, my personal family, my youngest son’s speech progress, babysitters (can I get an AMEN from the moms out there), house cleaners, the children I work with, and the impact that something as simple as this newsletter can make. So, what you may have noticed, that when we take a moment to focus on what we are thankful for, we often find that what we are thankful for is what makes us who we are.
In conclusion, who I am is someone who loves other people, craves real relationships, and has a top love language of quality time. In order to achieve this I need others to work in their skill and passion so that I can work in mine.
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