SEL isn’t just for students. Fostering SEL skills as adults can help us navigate stress and improve our quality of life. By nurturing an awareness of our thoughts, feelings, and actions and being able to effectively self-regulate, we can increase job satisfaction and improve the relationships we have with our colleagues and students.
We owe it to ourselves and our students to cultivate our SEL skills. How can we do this without it feeling like one more thing on our plate? Try these brief, yet beneficial activities:
Doodle Time:
Doodling is known to relieve stress, improve focus, and spark creativity. Find a piece of paper and start drawing! Don’t worry about how it looks or what you are creating, just draw. For inspiration try this or doodle to music with a Musical Line Drawing.
Inner Compass:
Build your self-awareness through writing and reflection in this practice.
When our days are filled with stressful situations, it can feel like life is happening to us without anything being within our control. A daily intention practice can become an energetic “true north”—a point of grounding rooted in a choice you have made. It sets the tone and can become something you return to over and over throughout the day. An intention can help align our beliefs, emotions, and actions which brings more integrity to our lives.
Take time today to ask yourself,
“What do I wish to have in my life today?”
When you have an answer, reframe it as if it is already happening. For example, if your answer is patience and peace it would become:
“I am patient and I am at peace today.”
Reflecting on your intention, take a few mindful breaths in and out. Then, go about your day!
Just like any skill, the more you practice, the stronger your neural pathways become, and the easier it will get!