Posts Tagged ‘relationships’
The Human Connection
“Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.” -Kid President While visiting with my mom, my daughter took out her phone and her nimble fingers went to work, quickly answering a text from a friend. She went on automatic pilot, tuning us out, as our inter-generational visit quickly came to a halt. My…
Read MoreThe Empathy Test
Since I’m blogging about empathy this month, I decided to take an online empathy quiz. I ended up taking several and basically they all said the same thing. I have a high level of empathy. This didn’t surprise me to be honest. However, the test I found most interesting was “The Empathy Test” by Greater…
Read MoreI Feel Your Pain
“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” – Mohsin Hamid Have you ever been outside with your students and all of a sudden you see a rogue kickball come flying by? You automatically cringe and feel the pain of the child who was boinked on the head with the flying sphere.…
Read MoreLook Me in the Eyes
“Listen with your eyes for feelings.” -Stephen Covey I have often heard people say that the eyes are the window to the soul. These ocular tools deliver important nonverbal messages and are natural transmitters of emotion. Most educators develop their “teacher look” early in their career. You know, that look that we shoot across the…
Read MoreBuilding Emotional Muscle
“Well look at it from their perspective.” How many of us have ever heard or said this before? We believe that in order to have compassion for other people, we must see the situation from their point of view. While this is true, it takes more than perspective to have true compassion. We need…
Read MoreChanging Hats
I was the perfect parent before I had a child. I had taught for several years before our daughter was born, so I thought I was well prepared for the role. I had observed many parent/child relationships, had read multiple parenting “how to” books, had tried incredibly hard to follow every doctors’ order, and…
Read MoreWhat Does Compassion Sound Like?
From the desk of Alice… I went into the media center in search of an outlet to charge computer. I thought I hit the jackpot when I found a tiny outlet beside a small round table in the media center. I plugged in and was able to work while my computer recharged. I considered this…
Read MoreCompassionate Action
I quietly observed as several of my kindergartners were racing on the playground. The first couple of races had been quite spirited, so I was watching closely as the third was ready to begin. The starter counted 1-2-3-go and off they went. As they sprinted to the finish line, two boys became entangled and one…
Read MoreCompassionate Classrooms
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” …
Read MoreThe Power of a Smile
“I will never understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish.” – Mother Teresa I just read The 43 Habits of Absolutely Happy People by Brendan Baker and I found myself actively participating in habit #2 – smiling. Then I came across an article in Psychology Today by Sarah Stevenson that reports smiling activates the “feel…
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