Live and Learn New Mexico!

Animals provide companionship, help us deal with life in general, and help us heal. It only seems natural to think about animals and the mutually beneficial relationships we can share with them. As I was researching a story about horse vaulting last month, I asked Facebook friends and followers if they had stories to tell about animals in their lives. One friend, who took care of his father before he passed, told me that he trained his dog Ruby to "check on Dad". When something was wrong, she would bark. This is an example of a dog supporting the son but I'm sure she was also comfort and love to Dad as well. I'm convinced my own dog Joey is an empath. I am always interested to see who he will sit by when people are in the house and having a conversation. Often it is a visitor he doesn't really know. I think he sits by the person he senses needs a friendly spirit by their side. He doesn't bug them at all, just sits quietly. They often reach dow...

(This is the second post in a series about mindfulness in the classroom. In the first post, we talked about how incorporating mindfulness practices into the school day can help our kids deal with an ever-anxious world. That post can be found at  http://liveandlearnnm.blogspot.com/2018/04/being-mindful-in-classroom.html.) In today's modern, high-tech world, we are watching our kids becoming more and more stressed out about life in general, and we are realizing that it is affecting their overall health. Our children dread going to school and it breaks our hearts. Learning should be a natural, enjoyable endeavor, not a stressful one. It shouldn't be about standardized tests, getting into college and later getting the really good job that we all know college doesn't guarantee. We don't want them to feel as anxious about school as many of us did. I was anxious in kindergarten! I'm in my fifties now and only recently became aware of the concept of mindfulness. I'v...

Let's face it, these days we live in fear. We are an anxious lot. Our kids are growing up afraid of all the bad things that could happen in their lives, to the point that many are afraid of going to school. I never imagined a world where this could be so but it is. What do we do about it? We could strengthen our defenses against violence that might enter the classroom. We could install security equipment, train school personnel, ask military vets to maintain a presence. Or we could work toward a more peaceful solution, one that isn't difficult either. Let's put mindfulness in the classroom. Practicing mindfulness builds bonds and creates a feeling of connectedness. Simply put, it is paying attention to ourselves, others, and the world around us. We are all part of this planet and have challenges to overcome. Mindfulness is based on simple concepts, according to Calm Classroom (https://calmclassroom.com): Self awareness: if we understand how our emotions and though...

I've been doing a lot of thinking and learning in the last many weeks, still reeling from the Florida school massacre, where 17 people lost their lives far too early. Of course, as it always does, the conversation focused on guns, which led to the second amendment and on to incredibly angry arguments on social media and everywhere else. I tried to open up a non-political discussion about the issue of so many innocent lives lost to violence but it is impossible, I found, to keep a discussion about guns either a discussion or non-political. A lot of people became rude and defensive. Too many wrote angry and obnoxious comments. Instead of presenting arguments, they were simply calling each other names, and really bad ones at that. I had to delete my final post on the subject from Facebook because of the unreasonable anger. It was appalling how people talk to each other, just because they have a differing opinion. Respect each other, people! We're all on this planet together. ...

I thought I'd share more of what I'm learning from my acupuncturist. This week, I haven't touched cashews and other nuts, for the most part -- I slipped up on Halloween candy. Still, I think the doctor was right about them. They contribute to the "dampness" he senses when he takes my pulses. It's been hard to get rid of that dampness completely, and it's been hanging around for a long while. I've been going to him weekly for a while now, and we work on my issues together. I believe that combining his acupuncture with healthy and natural nutritional practices (I'm interested in ayurvedic nutrition) will work in the end, though. I am learning. I have come to value his knowledge immeasurably, and he is willing to learn as well as we look at nutrition combined with acupuncture to promote healing.  I have also started drinking teas that help with mood and digestion, etc. Traditional Medicinals are good, as are Yogi teas. I like Cup of C...

Today I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around the tragedy of Victoria Martens, who was killed by her mother and two other meth addicts a few weeks ago. More of Victoria's story has come out since and it isn't pretty. In fact, it's so ugly, I can't quit crying for that little girl who deserved so much better.  I know, too, that Victoria isn't the only child out there in desperate need of help, and obviously, agencies like CYFD aren't able to solve all the problems. They never will be, either, as long as we work on a money model. I could go on about money but I'm tired of it. I would rather look at things with some common sense and compassion.  What if we tried tackling this problem as a community? What if it wasn't about money at all but resources?  I listened to the conversation about Victoria on my favorite radio station this morning and the point was made that teachers had reported concerns about her a while back but CYFD's actions w...

I went to the Outside of the Classroom meeting yesterday. Good turnout. There were many young people there, many paid to attend, which is fine. We live in a capitalist society; every effort we make should be rewarded with money, right? We have to play the game for now. I paid my daughter, who helps me with L&LNM, to go with me. I have to say it was nice to talk about what we learned in the car on the way home. I learned a lot. I learned that, in all the years I've worked in education, the conversation hasn't changed one bit. At this meeting, we participated in a world cafe activity,  where you talk with one group about a topic, report out to the group at large, then regroup and talk about a follow-up topic and again, report out. The topics centered around the systemic problems we see in our education system, the mindsets we need to break free from, etc. But the conversation was the same old stuff that had little to do with systemic problems. The same ideas of hel...