Recently on the blog, we talked about how we (people of all ages) deal with disappointment and how to go from “dis(appointed)” to “renewed”. Click here to read that post. How can we help our students be playful with their self-acceptance and their future? By experiencing it, of course! This is a great opportunity to […]
Cultivating Resilience Through Disappointment
Marc from Maui, an applied improv colleague, texted me the other day and asked me if I had any activities that help to productively work with disappointment. He specifically wanted exercises to help his clients turn disappointment into motivation and new behaviors. It got me thinking… These days disappointment comes at a regular pace. It […]
The Motion of our Emotions
Honor the motion of your emotions. Our emotions are a form of energy. If you stop them, you block them. If you feel them, you heal them. They are meant to move through us. They are meant to inform us. They’re never random. They always have a message. We don’t always want to hear what […]
Teaching Your Students That There’s No Courage Without Fear
Fear of social failure is real. It’s especially devastating for our socially challenged students. If you’ve been continually rejected, ostracized, left out, marginalized, chosen last, avoided, and not invited to your classmates’ parties, why put yourself in a situation where you’re pretty sure that will happen again? Learning the improvisation activities and cognitive awareness exercises […]
The Effects of Engaging Our Students in Problem-Solving
One of our students (who is non-binary and uses the pronouns they, them, theirs) liked to draw and color during the online group time to calm them down and help them focus. They were definitely paying attention to what was transpiring in the class as they offered input at all the right times. At first […]
Three Simple Ways to Become More Mindful
Now that mindfulness has become a ubiquitous buzz word, let’s break it down. Mindfulness is intentionally directing your awareness. Where your awareness goes, your energy goes. Your awareness is how you vote in this life; it’s how you spend your precious, limited energy. Yes to this. No to that. You become more of whatever it […]
Creating Joy with Children Through Improv
This pandemic is hard. But I know that in spite of a world in pain, there’s still joy to experience. Joy that has been pushed aside by so many challenges. Let’s go on a journey to expand it together. How? We grow it by paying attention to what brings us joy. What we pay attention […]
The Harmful Power of Labels
Labels help us categorize, arrange, identify, and find things. Applying labels to objects is quite useful. It’s less so when we use them to describe people. Words like “dumb” or “lazy” or “fat” are labels that hurt feelings and have no positive purpose. Labels become your idea about that whole person (or yourself). If someone […]
This is How Our Students Build Self-Esteem
Self-esteem and resilience go hand-in-hand. Why? Because when you have self-esteem, you judge yourself on your own set of standards and aren’t easily thrown from your seat when others behave badly. You bounce back from external adversity more easily when you know you can rely on yourself. We can teach our students that one of […]
Two Subtle Benefits to Online Learning
This new social landscape the pandemic ushered in really changed our interactions. In-person events have transferred onto a two dimensional screen. Many people aren’t enjoying the transition and I was hesitant at first, but now I’m seeing some interesting advantages in showing up online. We can become aware of the benefits and appreciate how these […]