Mindfulness_andme

It’s World Mental Health Day🫶🏻

In the past I have often felt like “Stop the world I want to get off for a while” ... it has taken me a long time to realise a lot of what I was carrying around was stuff that was not mine to worry about. I have had to learn to offload things that are unhelpful and focus on what matters most to me

Get Involved in the ATTEND Mindfulness Study Get Involved in the ATTEND Mindfulness Study

So we made it through our third and final multi-sports and mindful activities day 🙌🏻 with another 50 children in attendance ❤️

Today’s activity was ‘paint how the music makes you feel’ …. And wow what results we had, a lot of thought went into this and some amazing art work was produced 🎨 ❤️

Day two’s activity: up cycling mini plastic bottles using paint pens, making paper flowers with the message :

“Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds, you can grow flowers, or your can grow weeds”

Focusing on what seeds we would like to sow, whilst creating something fabulous 🌺

Some beautiful works of art created, around 60 children attended today and despite the heat, another amazing day was had by all 🙌🏻

Not the greatest of photos but as we were outside, these little Bee’s were drying off in the glorious sunshine☀️

Today’s activity: painting wooden bee’s with a little positive and mindful reminder to ….

Bee you
Bee happy
Bee Kind
Bee confident
Or whatever you would like to bee 🐝 ❤️

Such a lovely day with almost 50 children joining us for multi sports and mindful activities ❤️

Busy preparing activities for next week’s multi sports and mindfulness camp.

I love sharing mindful activities with so many children and so lucky to be involved with such an amazing group of people, who understand the importance of offering such activities to children & young people and every year go out for funding to keep this going 🙌🏻

When my eldest first got a phone, he was in Year 6 and only had a few contacts, by the time he had entered secondary school and was half way through year 7, I didn’t recognise hardly any of the names that would appear on screen.

Having had a childhood where ‘screen’ was not a past-time and a no-one had a mobile phone, I felt completely out of my depth, finding a balance between offline and online became a huge challenge and at times a battle.

Our children will not know what it is like to grow up in a tech free world, so the best thing as parents we can do, is to try and understand what that is like, and educate ourselves around the pros and cons.

Internet Matters is a great resource and has lots of up to date information, advice and parent guides to help you and your child navigate the online world.

Back to school online safety guides Back to school online safety guides | Internet Matters. Help your child prepare for new school year's online opportunities and challenges.

Absolutely it can !!!! In fact school is a perfect place to learn about compassion, not only for others but for yourself 🫶🏻

Can compassion be taught in schools? Research has found that compassion reduces anxiety and stress and can improve emotional regulation - so how can staff and students learn to put it into practice?

“When a child gives you a gift, even if it is a rock they just picked up, exude gratitude. It may be the only thing they have to give, and they have chosen to give it to you” - Dean Jackson

This may just look like a tiny carrot but it’s not just any carrot, this carrot is one of the first carrots grown in our school wellbeing garden 🥕

I can’t describe how happy this makes me feel or how proud I am of what has been achieved over the past few months.

I was presented with this carrot this afternoon by a young man who has been involved in the project since the start, he has had a lot going on outside of school and at times needs much nurturing himself. He comes to life when he is outside digging, planting, nurturing and supporting the younger children and it is so heartwarming.

So yes it is a tiny carrot but what it represents is a whole lot bigger than that, and that will stay with me forever ♥️

♥️

Would you add anything to this list on tips for teens? Good mental health tools from 🩵

So looking forward to this today and much needed as we come to the end of a busy school year 💖

Life seems to be frantically busy and often time out can get pushed to one side but it is really important to make space for the things that matter, the things that help us reset, reflect and replenish 🫶🏻

Relationships are key to everything, every child deserves a champion 🤍

"Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be." ~ Rita Pierson

www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion

11 THINGS I’D TELL MY YOUNGER SELF

You don’t need to wait for the right person to come into your life, you can become the right person in your life and everyone else will be icing on your cake.

Success is measured by how peaceful is the sleep, not how busy is the day.

If being more you pushes people away, they were never supposed to be there.

Don’t attach your self-worth to something you could lose. You are more than your talent, your looks or your relationships.

Hardening up for this hardened world will only contribute to the hardships.

Staying soft is where the true strength lies and your warmth will melt some of the hardness you come up against anyway.

Fitting in and belonging are not the same energy. You don’t need to change anything, when you belong.

Being different isn’t easy but being fake is much harder and will eat you from the inside out.

Approval, real approval, can only come from one source, yourself. Everything else is opinion.

Life is hard, it hurts, but the beauty of it heals, too. Do not pick at the wounds as they do.

It is short this life but feels long, if you are travelling in disguise, loaded down with shame.

Travel light, love weighs nothing.
❤️

Donna Ashworth

(11 because that’s my number 🪽)

‘All of it has always been BIG stuff to them’ ♥️

Love this from The Swallow's Trail Parenting Support 🌊💙🩵

Meet them where they are at ❤️

I don’t consider myself as much of a gardener but I do like to potter around occasionally and to see everything starting to bloom now we have a little more sunshine, is somewhat satisfying 🥰

🤗

We ♥️ sharing this one, over & over because it’s such a good reminder.

It’s Pride Month 🌈

Cutting my fabric ready to sew some bunting for the school library

Celebrating love ❤️

Kaya Toast for the Soul 💙💛

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I have this up in my office ❤️

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Research tells us that having one supportive adult during childhood can reduce the risk of mental illness later in life …. The power of connection is phenomenal and free !!

If only wellbeing underpinned our education system and learning was built on the foundation of safety and love ❤️