Posts

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Write Your Own Self-Care Manifesto

The author of the poem below intended it for academics. I’m reprinting it here for all of us, educators, parents, basically if you’re human you might relate. My Dad and children exchanged terrible poems that they’d composed. It was a wonderful…
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The Ten Things: A To Do List for Restoration

Typically, as an educator, summer was a time for me to get caught up on the hovel my house had turned into. I would end every school year determined to clean the attic, purge my closet, and organize the piles that had accumulated in the basement.…
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Empathy

In homes around the world, life isn’t as usual. In many schools, it just isn’t the same. Students, parents, teachers, and administrators, each have their own challenges and internal response to those challenges. Let’s take a glimpse…
Perception is Projection This week my husband turned 59- my mother-in-law 89 and my granddaughter 5 months. A 2009 survey of Americans asked participants when they believed someone grew ‘old’. Those in their twenties believed said…
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Opt Out of the Collective Anxiety

The collective anxiety of humanity has people so engrossed in the media, so hypnotized by the news of possible horrible outcomes that we are missing the present moment, which might not be so bad. The truth is, if something bad happens, we’ll…
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Self-Compassion Isn't for Sissies

On Thursday I’ll be delivering a keynote at the West Chester University Scholarship of Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference #wcusotla . The audience will be predominantly professors from various universities. What’s impressive…
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5 Compelling Reasons to Retreat

Retreat comes from the Latin verb “to pull back”. Wouldn’t you like to pull back from the world for just a few hours in the midst of the holiday season? Here are 5 reasons to step out of your structured day to day routine and create a…
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Extreme Self-Care for Educators

For educators everywhere, the stretch between late October and Thanksgiving is akin to a survivor episode. Second only to March (read my book Practicing Presence for more on March meltdowns), this is when we are most likely to lose our sh_t.…
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Gratitude Practice

What if every Sunday you vowed to in some way reach out to one person that you’re grateful for in your life? My favorite gratitude practice in action was when Fred Rogerss accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award. He modeled that we should…
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Failure Progress

Last week I presented a keynote in Ohio to a large group of educators- mostly administrators. I wanted to “knock it out of the park”. In the last 5 minutes of my presentation the slide deck on the power point presentation froze (as did my…