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.
Slow Restaurant/Positive Mindset
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On New Year's Eve, I had a 2-hour dinner with family in a restaurant. Luckily, I was sitting next to a two-year-old who kept me entertained so I didn’t create any disturbances. We all sat down, and I noticed each napkin was wrapped in a red ribbon. I took the ribbon and wound it around my index finger, and Annie reached for it and pulled it off with a whole-body smile. She gave the ribbon back to me, and I wound it again, and she pulled it off again with the same show of joy. We repeated this about ten times until she held out the index finger of her right hand, and I wrapped that. I held on to the end as she moved her hand away and the ribbon unwound and was left in my hand. Her face showed her joy as she held out her finger again. And again. Until she held out her thumb, and it worked the same way. And then for each of the fingers on her right hand, and each of the fingers of her left hand. And then my index finger again, and then each of her fingers. Each time I was rewarded with a smile brighter than the sun. After 35 or 40 minutes the food came, and we got to play with the food while eating some of it. If it hadn’t been for Annie, I would have had to talk to adults for two hours and probably would have acted out. What a blessing that a small child can keep one entertained for two hours. Kids can teach us so much. By the way, the next MindShifting: Mastering Your Resourceful Brain class 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.
I was brought up short this week by a post condemning values. Or rather, values statements by organizations. Paul Sweeney, on his Disruption Space blog, used an excerpt from his book Magnetic Nonsense: A Short History of Bullshit at Work and How to Make it Go Away, and gave some thought provoking examples of worthless values statements. Here are three. People who Act with integrity This was Ernst & Young’s number one value at the time the company knew some its auditors were cheating on exams...
The human toll from the 2025 California fires is heartbreaking. In my mind it rivals the damage from Katrina. So many people’s lives have been torn apart. I hope everyone does something, contributes something, to help out those who have been hurt. You can reach out personally. You can support the Red Cross. You can find GoFundMe pages like this one which is a recovery fund for Black residents of Altadena and Pasadena. Every one of us can find a way make a difference for someone. California...
Gurwinder Bhogal published an intriguing list of 25 Useful Ideas for 2025. A list of 25 is too many. Maybe my little brain can remember three. On the other hand, these are all thought-provoking. The 25th is on Sphexishness. Sphexishness is when you blindly follow a rule without checking if the rule works in the present situation. Gurwinder Bhogal has a great example. Ants follow each others’ pheromes which lead them to food and back home. But some ants may start moving in a circle, and all...