Good Morning Families, today is Wednesday March 25th 2020 and it is now time for our morning moment of SEL.

How are you feeling? Try, if you will to check-in on this fantastic Mood Meter created by a Pre-K class.

Using our awareness and focus to study that wonderful Mood Meter can help induce mindfulness. In fact, some people use Image Mediation as a part of their mindfulness practice. Essentially, image mediation uses a picture, likely inspiring in some way, as the source of focus. Sometimes when we just give ourselves a moment to sit and be still and look at a wonderful image, maybe a picture of favorite place, or a picture of a friend, pet, loved one, can help us to be more receptive to the feelings we may associate with that image or what the image represents. For me, this Mood Meter produces a feeling of joy and feeling of hope.

And this joy and hope can help me when I face two big obstacles of mindfulness, Stress and Pressure.

In his recent book on emotional intelligence titled Permission to Feel Marc Brackett provides some granularity between stress and pressure. “Stress”, he says, “is a response to too many demands and not enough resources. Pressure can be found in situations in which you perceive that something at stake is dependent on the outcome of your performance.” I think a lot about stress and pressure these days, particularly when I think of folks who work in the medical profession. Right now, there are too many demands and not enough resources on these people. To my mind that could create a lot of stress. I think of how these folks will function, not necessarily from patient-to-patient but in the moments between. What do they tell themselves on the way to work, or after work when they are with their families? The perception of “the stakes” for all things seem to be high these days. How are these folks measuring their performance and against what outcomes?

For today’s mindfulness practice let’s try to use some mindfulness in a way that may send “the good vibes” to our friends in the health care profession.

First, let’s hold in our minds an image of ourselves. See yourself, maybe you are standing, maybe you are sitting, maybe you are lounging. Hold that image and shift your breath to your nose. As you inhale, see yourself, and ty saying in your mind the word “strong”. As you exhale, still holding the image of yourself, say in your mind the word “healthy”. Try that for a few breaths. Remember, if any thoughts other than the image of you and the words strong/healthy creep in, gently dismiss them.

Now, do this same practice with the breathing pattern and the words “strong” and “healthy” but this time, hold the picture of a person you know who works in health care. Maybe your nurse or doctor. Or, maybe you work in health care, in that case imagine a professional colleague.

Giving your mind the chance to balance some the other messages it is receiving can be a real act of kindness, that a lot of us could benefit from right now.

I wish you the very best and look forward to connecting in whatever way we can, tomorrow.

Until tomorrow, best wishes,

Manzo