Mindshifting is recognizing and shifting from the mindsets that hold us back to the mindsets that push us forward. I write about mindsets, Mindshifting, learning, and education, with the hope that these posts give readers more power over their own lives and helps them give others, like their students, more power as well.
Denial is human
|
Why and how do people deny things that are eminently true? And possibly even more important, how do we go from denial to acknowledgement to possible action? We all deny. It’s a survival reaction that is very related to cognitive dissonance.
Outright denial is saying or believing that it didn’t happen or it’s not happening. That's how much of us think of denial. In her post, Overcoming Denial, Anya Kamenetz articulates 6 other types of denial:
We all look on others with scorn when we catch them doing any of these. We all use all of these. Whether it’s us denying or whether it’s someone else, the way one overcomes denial is to give space and give hope. When a person is in denial, facts and reasoning only fan the flames of fear, anxiety, and anger. We have to quiet our emotional reactions, perhaps with establishing a connection, perhaps with mindfulness, or perhaps with some other activity. This is the process of giving space. And we have to provide hope, or a mechanism for thinking that things might change. Tapping into the innovation, critical thinking, or collaborative functions of the cerebral cortex. These just happen to be techniques covered in the Mindshifting: From Conflict to Collaboration course that starts January 14. |
Mindshifting Educators
Mindshifting is recognizing and shifting from the mindsets that hold us back to the mindsets that push us forward. I write about mindsets, Mindshifting, learning, and education, with the hope that these posts give readers more power over their own lives and helps them give others, like their students, more power as well.
In her Rethink newsletter, Rachel Botsman wrote about What we can learn from being wrong. Botsman showed how Danny Kahneman, Vincent van Gogh, Kathryn Shulz, Thomas Gilovich, Carol Tavis, Elliot Aronson, Adam Grant, Alistair Campbell, and Ann Frieman all demonstrate that learning is a product of being wrong, and that not being willing to be wrong leads to stagnation and mediocrity. Sweet things are made of this, who am I to disagree? I’m me, and I always find a way to disagree. It's through...
The OODA Loop, developed by military strategist Colonel John Boyd, stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. Originally conceived as a tool for tactical military decision-making, the OODA Loop has since found applications in various fields, from business and healthcare to education. At its core, the OODA Loop is a framework for navigating dynamic, complex, and uncertain environments, making it particularly valuable for educators, who face constantly shifting landscapes in the classroom....
My friend Ana Amiguet challenged me to write about a time I had to stand up for someone This was over 50 years ago, but I remember it as if it was yesterday. I was in 9th grade, which was the last year of Junior High School. Martha was slightly developmentally disabled. She was in 7th grade, so this was her first year in Junior High. Martha was one of my sister Sue’s friends, a half year and a full grade older. Martha’s parents were very good friends with my parents. And her parents had...