Helping Children - 7 Ways to Find More Meaning in Your Life

I discovered GoodRx from a friend and physician and how it supports ongoing health information.

"7 Ways to Find More Meaning in Your Life" is one of the great articles passed on to subscribers. These "7 Ways" certainly serve as role models for children. Here are the "7 Ways," and do click over to the article to get a nice fill-in for each way.

1.  Find your passion

2.  Embody your values

3.  Give back

4.  Reflect on your gifts

5.  Look for role models

6.  Practice gratitude

7.  Think about your legacy

Teaching Our Children Humanity

With all that is going in in our world today . . .

"We should teach humanity in school. Our children need to be taught how to be compassionate to themselves, to others and to our world. Education is universal. We are missing the greatest opportunity to teach our children what is most important: kindness, compassion, self-love, and equanimity. They were born with it but life has buried it."

From the September 8 Daily JAM

There's more to life than being happy

In Emily Esfahani Smith's TED Talk, she builds "there's more to life than being happy" with 4 pillars of a meaningful life: 

1)  Belonging

2)  Purpose

3)  Transcendence — stepping beyond yourself

4)  Storytelling

Learn more by watching her 12-minute TED Talk video.

Contact

Humankind A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman is powerful and gives a comprehensive look at the history of humanity. It crosses paths with Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens.

There is one chapter — "The Best Remedy For Hate, Injustice and Prejudice" — that is excellent on presenting the best remedy for these humanity issues, and the remedy is "CONTACT." Here is an excerpt (page 358) from that chapter: 

"Contact engenders more trust, more solidarity and more mutual kindness. It helps you see the world through other people's eyes. Moreover, it changes you as a person, because individuals with a diverse group of friends are more tolerant towards strangers. And contact is contagious: when you see a neighbor getting along with others, it makes you rethink your own biases."

Teaching Children

 A beautiful JAM (Inspiration for all in Just A Minute) lesson for parents, teachers, and adults who care for children.

Volunteering — Its Value to Others and Life

Throughout my career and life, volunteering has been so important, especially once I retired. Helping children, schools, older folks, nonprofit organizations, and those in need have become a goal for my wife and me. I had the opportunity to share my experiences with volunteering via an interview for the Granite Senior Journal, a New Hampshire quarterly publication. The picture you see (with some others) in the article appears in this 2023 spring issue. Here is the link to the interview article:  "A 'consultering' life — Staying Active Through Work, Volunteering and Leisure." Give it a read and see what you think.

A Follow-up to - The Body Keeps the Score Book

 

"How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime" by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, is a very important follow-up to my April 28, 2023 blogpost "The Body Keeps the Score." 

Take 15 minutes to hear what Dr. Harris has to say in her TED Talk. What she has to say and her presentation are so good!

Nutrition, Exercise, Socialize

Three important practices in life: Nutrition, Exercise, and Socialize . . .

The Good Life by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schultz is such a good resource for helping us with socializing and building relationships that are so critical to happiness in our lives. "Technologies like the smartphone and social media now play a role in shaping some of the most intimate parts of our lives. Quite often, when we connect with another person, there is a device and a piece of software between us." (page 126)

AND, give some thought to AI (Artificial Intelligence) and what it is doing to humanity at this point!

Watch Waldinger's TED Talk — one of the top ten TED Talks of all time (44.7 M views) . . .               

A Look at AI (Artificial Intelligence) via Dr. Montessori's Great Lessons

 "Cosmic Education And The Seven Great Lessons For 2023?" is an article I wrote and is published in the latest issue of Montessori Leadership from the International Montessori Council. 

With the advent and persistence of AI and its impact on humanity, and with much more to come, I reviewed Dr. Montessori's Five Great Lessons — that are a part of the article — to see how they might be reviewed and used to prepare us for the unanticipated realities of AI and to  make sure that love never goes away from our lives.

We have so much to do for ourselves AND our children to help all of us manage the rise in AI.

When Should You Reach Out to an Old Friend or Colleague?

Here is a 96-second podcast by author Daniel Pink. Short as they always are, Daniel gives excellent advice. Watch and listen to what he has to say about reaching out to an old friend or colleague. 

The Body Keeps the Score

The Body Keeps the Score a phenomenal book by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D., explains so much of why we are struggling with so much trauma over the past few years. The book has been on the NYTimes Paperback Nonfiction Book List 231 weeks. This past week it was number four on the Combined Print and E-Book Best Sellers list, which it has been on for 135 weeks. AND, the book has a copyright of 2015! Not an easy book to read, Kolk has so much insight based on his experience and research over so many years. The last two sentences in the last chapter say so much — "Trauma is now our most urgent public health issue, and we have the knowledge necessary to respond effectively. The choice is ours to act on what we know."

I will let Lara Hammock at Marble Jar Channel give you her excellent summary of the book. Invest the 10 minutes to view this excellent video.

The True Way Children Teach

Here is a beautiful story about Teddy, Mrs. Thompson—his elementary teacher—and how she adjusted her teaching based on what Teddy taught her. This video is 5:47 long, well worth investing the time, and it may bring tears to your eyes. 

The Light We Carry

If you have not read Michelle Obama's The Light We Carry, do find it at your local library, borrow it, or buy it. And, if you don't have the time to read the whole book, do get to the library or a book store and at least read Chapter 3 — "Starting Kind." She also does a nice job on explaining the life of "When they go low, we go high" statement she made at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Would versus Could

When you watch this Daniel Pink research-based two minute Pinkcast, you will get some simple, powerful advice when you are confronted with a problem.

Using Judgement in Life & Work

 

Great advice from Sarah Gardner in the January 27 Weekly JAM (Just A Minute).

"I think one of the things we struggle with the most is judgement. Judgement of ourselves, judgement of others, judgement of beliefs and ideas...honestly, judgement of life. It's important to try to be better and ask the world to be better but not when it comes from a place of judgement.

Judgement is born and bred from our ego. It's that voice in our head that says you have control over what is not in your control. It's the voice in our head that says you have control over what is not in your control. It's the voice that says you are not equal to others. It's the voice of the past and the voice of the future. Clearing the mind of judgement allows for calm and equanimity. 

Judgement is always self-absorbed. We judge because we are dissatisfied with how things are and we desire to have things be the way we want them to be. Remember: Life just is...we put the meaning to it."

Unstoppable Us — Yuval Noah Harari Talks to Young Readers

What a fantastic follow-up to his bestselling book Sapiens. Yuval Noah Harari wrote this book especially for middle readers and young adults. Unstoppable Us is written and illustrated to help them understand the evolution of humans and is currently number five on the NYTimes bestseller list for Middle Grade Hardcover books.

Here is a brief YouTube where he explains his newest book.

Chatter

"The Voice in Our Heads, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It" is part of the title of the book Chatter—a book that gives a great deal of good information on how to deal with the chatter in our heads. View this brief interview to capture the essence of Ethan Kross and his powerful book. 

Five Mindsets

 JAM (Just A Minute) — the amount of time that it takes to read a weekly message that gives great, warm advice. Go to the JAM website to learn more. 

Check here to see a recent example of a great JAM that talks about five mindsets: Victim, Pessimist, Optimist, Realist, and Warrior.

Think Again With Adam Grant

Adam Grant is a superstar author. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know is a must-read book. Here are a few quotes that just might entice you to get the book now:

• "It turns out that emotional intelligence is beneficial in jobs that involve dealing with emotions, but less relevant—and may be even detrimental—in work where emotions are less central." (pg. 176)

• "The power of listening doesn't lie just in giving people the space to reflect on their views. It's a display of respect and an expression of care." (pg. 159)

• "On average, students scored half a letter grade worse under traditional lecturing than through active learning—and students were 1.55 times more likely to fail in classes with traditional lecturing." (pg. 192)

• "When students confront complex problems, they often feel confused. A teacher's natural impulse is to rescue them as quickly as possible so they don't feel lost or incompetent. Yet psychologists find that one of the hallmarks of an open mind is responding to confusion with curiosity and interest." (pg. 199) 

Here is a great video to help you get to know Adam Grant.

Class versus Caste via a Middle Reader

"Class versus Caste" was my March 12, 2021 blogpost, highlighting Isabel Wilkerson's fabulous book Caste The Origins of Our Discontents. 

Class Act by New York Times bestselling author, Jerry Craft, is a follow-up middle reader to his 2020 Newbery Medal winning book New Kid, a book presented in my February 21, 2020 blogpost — "New Kid - 2020 Newbery Book Award."

Class Act is a terrific graphic novel that does an admirable job in helping students learn/understand some of the class issues they face in school and life, especially as they work their way through preadolescence. 

Three Important Words From Daniel Pink

Well known author Daniel Pink's Pinkcast 4.27 is so good—as are all of his Pinkcasts. His latest one which is 131 seconds long talks about "how to avoid overreacting to ugly problems and annoying complaints."

Daniel Pink has always been a star in my leadership and life lessons. I interviewed him in 2010; here is a link to that article.

Go to his website to learn more about his wonderful work.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

 How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie was first published in 1939 and was recently updated and published in May of 2022. My first reading about Carnegie (via Wikipedia) is a wonderful story unto itself. Here is a sample of how this precious book works with emotional intelligence to help you win friends and influence people:

"In a nutshell six ways to make people like you:

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.

2. Smile.

3. Remember a person's name to that person is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.

4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.

5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.

6. Make the other person feel important — and do it sincerely." (page 117)

More Dale Carnegie information at the Carnegie website.

Meet Author Jason Reynolds

In case you have not already met author Jason Reynolds, I read three books by him and cannot recommend him enough. What impressed me the most was his 2015 book All American Boys and how he captured the May 25, 2020 George Floyd disaster long before it occurred.  

This 10-minute video of Jason Reynolds being interviewed by Stephen Colbert gives a great impression of who Jason is as an author dedicated to middle/high school students and young adult readers . . . 

Understanding Bittersweet in Our Lives

 

Want an uplifting, positive book to help you in life? Get a hold of Susan Cain's newest book Bittersweet. In case you are not familiar with the word bittersweet, here is the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition:

"1) something that is bittersweetespecially : pleasure accompanied by suffering or regret2) being at once bitter and sweetespecially : pleasant but including or marked by elements of suffering or regret"Watch the TED Talk with Susan Cain — "Why Bittersweet Emotions Underscore Life's Beauty."

Can Children Appreciate Classical Music?

Of course they can. Here are some fabulous resources.

The book, The Carnival of the Animals is a beautiful rendition of the classical piece with the same name as the book. The book I received from Amazon is precious and is accompanied by a CD with a reading of the story and the classical piece by composer Camille Saint-Saens.

The book, Wild Symphony written by the popular author, Dan Brown, is beautifully illustrated and comes with an app that plays classical-like music that is composed by Dan Brown. It is spectacular.

Benjamin Zander helps us appreciate classical music, AND what makes his talk so inviting is how he weaves in classical music and children.

I Color Myself DIFFERENT

 I Color Myself Different by Colin Kaepernick is a fabulous NYTimes bestseller book in the way it reaches preschool through middle school children, helping them AND adults better understand families of mixed races. The fact that Colin was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) AND was the player who taught everyone how to "take a knee" (Sept. 2016) during the playing of the pregame national anthem speaks volumes on helping us understand that we are all humans and should not be treated differently, particularly when it comes to law enforcement practices.

When you get a chance, view the Netflix series "Colin in Black and White"

The 1619 Project

The 1619 Project created by Pulitzer Prize-winner Nikole Hannah-Jones is a powerful, inspirational book made up of 18 chapters built on individual essays and poems to help us understand how humanity evolved in the US from when the enslaved people from Africa arrived in the British colony of Virginia to where we are today. Chapter titles include DEMOCRACY, RACE, FEAR, CAPITALISM, POLITICS, PUNISHMENT, MUSIC, HEALTHCARE, and others.

This PBS video with reporter Amna Newaz interviewing the author gives a strong overview of the book, its powerful message, and how it has been received.

Why Great Leaders Take Humor Seriously

Whether you are a teacher, a principal, a president of a board of directors, a corporate CEO, or . . . you will get a perfect understanding of why great leaders take humor seriously by watching this powerful TED Talk. In just 10 minutes, you will learn and laugh. 

This is the TED intro to the August 2021 video: "There's a mistaken belief in today's working world that leaders need to be serious all the time to be taken seriously. The research tells a  different story. Based on the course they teach at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, behavioral scientist Jennifer Aaker and corporate strategist Naomi Bagdonas delve into the surprising power of humor: why it's a secret weapon to build bonds, power, creativity and resilience -- and how we can all have more of it."

Here are two other humor resources I have previously posted on this blog:

"The Importance of Using Humor in Our Work & Lives" (April 9, 2021) and "Humor in Our Work as Educators and Leaders" (August 31, 2019).

Gaining Strength as We Age

The book title tells it all: From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brooks. It is an outstanding read. 

One excerpt that provides simple, excellent advice;

"Much more useful are the factors we can influence and that matter a great deal for late-life wellness. There are seven big predictors of being Happy-Well that we can control pretty directly;

1. Smoking. Simple: don't smoke—or at least, quit early.

2. Drinking. Alcohol abuse is one of the most obvious factors in the Grant Study leading to Sad-Sick and putting Happy-Well out of reach.

3. Healthy body weight. Avoid obesity.

4. Exercise.

5. Adaptive coping style. That means confronting problems directly, appraising them honestly, and dealing with them directly without excessive rumination, unhealthy emotional reactions, or avoidance behavior.

6. Education. More education leads to a more active mind later on, and that means a longer, happier life.

7. Stable, long-term relationships." (pages. 116-117)

Great Reading For All Ages

My granddaughter recommended a book to me, and as soon as I saw the gold Newbery Medal seal on the cover, I grabbed it and gave her a big thank you. A Year Down Yonder (2001 Newbery Medal) by Richard Peck is precious and so well written. The facts that the prequel to this book, A Long Way From Chicago, is a 1999 Newbery Honor book; he has written over 25 novels; AND his books can be read by Newbery middle readers, young adults, and adults, all give much credibility to this fine author.

What sealed the deal for me was catching this three-minute YouTube with Peck entitled "Richard Peck on Reading and Writing." He nails it with his preciously astute recommendations.