Category: Free Inquiry

When deciding on an inquiry at the beginning of the semester, I wanted to base it off of something where I felt I needed to make more time for in my life. I believe I stated this in my first blog post (woh feels like forever ago) that my roommate and I recently got into mindfulness a month or so before this inquiry presented itself. I thought doing my inquiry on mindfulness was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone as I could complete an assignment while finding time to do something I was interested in. But I never thought I would grow this much from this experience and I am very grateful for this opportunity. When I was practicing mindfulness with my roommate I felt like I had no time to reflect on it, I just did it and went on with my day with little impact struggling to find meaning to the practice. With this inquiry however, it allowed me to actually be in the full present moment of my mindfulness practice and to be able to reflect every week on how I felt and how I progressed in my mindfulness journey. I don’t believe I would change anything if I had to repeat this process over again. I feel like the ups and the downs are all a part of learning and a part of inquiry, so even if I felt like I didn’t have a great week with that much content or time to reflect, (which did happen) I wouldn’t change that because it was all a part of the process, it was all apart of the game of life! 

I took some huge takeaways from this inquiry. The greatest impact that occurred for me was definitely the chapter I read on negativity. I still think about it daily and work on it non-stop and I feel like it’s a practice that I am really starting to get good at. My last two posts were about implementing mindfulness in the classroom, and I am so happy I took the time to research that because I now see the benefits of mindfulness for students. This inquiry has not only benefited my future self personally, but also my future teaching self. I can now implement what I have learned into my future classroom in hopes of creating healthy habits and beautiful moments for my students. 

I have to give a shoutout to my boy Jay Shetty one final time because I relied on (and still rely on) so much throughout this inquiry. I would recommend following him on Instagram if you have that platform because he shares awesome quotes daily and tips to all sorts of topics in everyday life. 

So as I sit here writing one last blog post with the beautiful sun peaking through the window, I want to give a moment of gratitude for this experience and for the learning I did along the way. I cannot wait to continue this practice even after this semester comes to a finish because mindfulness is now apart of my everyday life, and a way to keep my mind and body healthy.

 Photo By Ashley Hall  is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Thank you to my loyal readers, I appreciate you all so much, I hope to meet again in the future.

Ashley Hall, signing off.

I have decided to carry on with the topic of mindfulness in the classroom for this inquiry post!This week in P.H.E class we learned about how to bring yoga into the classroom. One of those activities was to read the story Good Morning Yoga, by  Mariam Gates. It is a beautiful story that my cohort and I got to interact with that allowed us to follow along in the imagery and do yoga poses. After this class it made me curious about other books out there that could have the same effect of calm and mindfulness like Good Morning Yoga did so this blog post is dedicated to books I find that could be used in the classroom for mindfulness. 

I found this website which lists a ton of mindfulness books for children, and I am going to list below my favourite ones that I would add to my classroom library. 

A Handful of Quiet

by Thich Nhat Hanh

This book is written by Thich Nhat Hanh and that caught my eye because I am currently reading a book by him that I have mentioned in previous blog posts, so I was intrigued. This book helps kids connect with nature and increase their awareness, concentration, and calm using scripts, activities, and ideas that parents can try with children. Each of the four pebbles in the meditations represents something for children to visualize: a flower, a mountain, still water, and space.

Calm: Mindfulness for Kids

by Wynne Kinder

This book looks cool because it offers space for journaling to encourage important moments of reflection. It offers mindfulness activities that help kids become more appreciative of the world around them, giving them greater peace of mind.

Puppy Mind

by Andrew Jordan Nance, illustrated by Jim Durk

I think this book would be awesome for all age ranges  from the youngest of children to even adults, because who doesn’t love puppies! This book seems very easy to grasp for young readers as it explains that just like a puppy, our minds can wander to the future or dig up memories from the past. And just like yelling doesn’t work for training a puppy, neither does it work for calming our minds. But, if we take three deep breaths, it’s like giving our puppy brain a treat that helps us enjoy the present moment. This book seems very useful for introducing mindfulness and breath.

Look and Be Grateful

by Tomie dePaola

 I think gratitude is such a beautiful concept to teach at a young age, and so this book can help foster that in children. It is about a young boy who takes notice of the simple but profound beauties around him: a rising sun, a tiny ladybug, a ripe orange, and so much more. I want to read it!

Although there are so many great books out there on mindfulness, The books mentioned above really spoke to me as I made connections between my mindfulness journey and how to foster mindfulness in a classroom. The final book that I want for my classroom library was introduced to our cohort in the first semester. It is called Breathe Like a Bear by Kira Willey. It is filled with super cute breathing practices that have so much imagery, I was immediately drawn to it when it was passed around in our class! 

Photo by Ashley Hall  is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Thank you for reading, and I hope this blog post gave some of you ideas for bringing mindfulness into the classroom!

This week I am shifting my focus from my own mindfulness practice to mindfulness in the classroom. I thought this would be an appropriate topic to gain some knowledge on since I will be a teacher one day. Upon doing my research, I found this article that stated in a 2015 study by Schonert-Reichl students who were  trained in mindfulness scored higher in math, had 24% more social behaviors, and were 20% less aggressive. The group of students  that were trained in mindfulness excelled above the other group (who were not trained) in the areas of attention, memory, emotional regulation, optimism, stress levels, mindfulness, and empathy. So there is proof that mindfulness really does work, but  how can we bring it into the classroom? 

First of all, it is important to note that it is crucial the teacher is practicing mindfulness and is fostering that environment, because that is the only way children are going to learn to be mindful. As I was doing my research, I came across this article and found a very valuable tool within it. This article discussed the idea of mindfulness through guided imagery. This concept develops children’s imaginations and also provides mindfulness. This article stated that when you start a new topic in your classroom, have your students close their eyes (if that’s comfortable) and slowly talk them through a pretend journey. For example, if you’re studying the ocean, have them imagine getting into underwater vehicles and cruising through the ocean waters, looking for fish, animals, and plants. End the guided relaxation with a few deep breaths, and then they can draw what they imagined and discuss their ideas as a class. This allows for the teacher to take the students on journeys through relaxation stories to help them calm down and re-energize. I remember doing a similar thing as a cool down for PE in grade 3 and it has always stuck with me. Our teacher turned off the lights and got us to lay down. She started telling a story about a beach and told us to use our imagination. I remember loving this activity because it calmed me down and made me happy. The article takes it one step further than my experience by actually connecting it to the curriculum, which I thought was so cool! 

I asked chat GPT its thoughts on how to bring mindfulness into the classroom and this was its response 

• Mindful Moments: Begin each class with a brief mindfulness exercise to help students center themselves and prepare for learning. This could be a simple breathing exercise, a short guided meditation, or a mindful listening activity.
• Mindful Movement: Incorporate movement-based mindfulness practices into the curriculum, such as yoga, tai chi, or walking meditation. These activities can help students release tension, improve body awareness, and cultivate a sense of calm.
• Mindful Reflection: Integrate opportunities for reflection and self-awareness into classroom activities and assignments. Encourage students to journal about their thoughts and emotions, set personal goals, and reflect on their learning experiences.
• Mindful Communication: Foster mindful communication and interpersonal skills by teaching students active listening, empathy, and conflict resolution techniques. Create a supportive space where students feel comfortable expressing themselves and sharing their thoughts and feelings with others.
• -Chat GPT

I also thought it would be a cool idea to have mindfulness posters in the classroom so students can always come to them and practice their breathing like this one!

Image by Jennifer Fernandez on Printerval is licensed under CC 4.0

All of these are great tools and examples of how to use mindfulness in the classroom and I will definitely be coming back to my research and implementing it into my future classroom! 

I hopped over to my friend Sinead’s blog, and took some inspiration from her free inquiry she is doing on finding joy in the small moments in life. I found an article that talked about finding joy in the little things in life and its connection to mindfulness. First of all I like how this article defined the “little things” by saying, “the ‘little things’ refer to the simple pleasures and small moments that bring us joy in our day-to-day lives. They are the often overlooked or taken-for-granted moments that can be found in the ordinary routines and activities we engage in.”  The article then goes on to talk about how enjoying the little things can cultivate mindfulness by saying, “paying attention to the little things in life requires us to be present in the moment and practice mindfulness. This state of awareness has been shown to reduce stress, improve mental clarity, and enhance overall wellbeing.” After reflecting upon this article and what it had to say, I decided to write down all the little moments in my week that made me happy, and how it made me feel in connection to mindfulness.  

Here are some of the little things this week that brought me joy:

-I have been enjoying my mornings with my roommate, we play songs that make us “happy” and we just dance and sing and laugh while getting ready, and I left the house smiling every time we did this. I am very grateful for her.

-Face timing my parents and laughing with them. I often feel like I have no time in my day to face time those I love, but I made an effort this week to do it, and it made me so happy.

-This cherry blossom tree right by my front door is starting to bloom, and I am so grateful for these beautiful trees and that I get to see it every morning.

Photo by Ashley Hall is licensed under CC BY 4.0

-Having ice cream with my friends during our break.

Photo by Ashley Hall is licensed under CC BY 4.0

-Hanging out with my friends in the sunshine!!!

Photo taken by a UVic student who got roped into taking this photo licensed under CC BY 4.0

-Playing crib with my roommate at the beach.

Photo by Ashley Hall is licensed under CC BY 4.0

By embracing these moments and taking it all in, I felt a state of calm every time I focused on being in the present moment. It was like all the worries I had in the moment stopped while I was focusing on the good of the day and it made my days feel less stressed and more calm. When I reflected upon my day, I was able to point out those moments, that made my day feel more happy. Before practising finding the little things in life, it felt like I was just trying to get through each day one step at a time, which is ok, but at the end of the day I never reflected on how I felt during the day. When you become present in the moment, it feels like you are living a more authentic life and its amazing what finding the joys in life can do to your overall happiness.  

I would like to finish this blog post by sharing a quote that goes hand in hand with this topic, I thought it was quite beautiful. “Our appointment with life is in the present moment. If we do not have peace and joy right now, when will we have peace and joy-tomorrow, or after tomorrow?” -Quote from the book  Peace is Every Step by Tich Nhat Hanh (page, 10).

We are getting to that point in the semester where everything is piling up and its a constant grind from the time we open our eyes in the morning to the time we close them at night, or at least that’s how I am feeling. With life being so busy and full of stress and deadlines, I find myself overwhelmed and trying to find the smallest pocket in my busy day to practice mindfulness.

I stumbled across a passage in this new book I am reading called Peace is Every Step by Tich Nhat Hanh. I was able to find time in my day to sit in the sun with my coffee and read a bit of the book, and the passage that stood out to me was called Thinking Less. The gist of the passage is about how we think too much, “it is as if, in our head, each of us has a cassette tape that is always running, day and night. We think of this and we think of that, and it’s difficult to stop. With a cassette tape, we can just press the stop button. But with our thinking, we do not have any button.” This summarized how I have been feeling in this stressful time of the semester. My mind is constantly thinking about how I can finish all these assignments so that I can move onto the next and it becomes exhausting. The book suggests a method of conscious breathing that I tried out and it really helped. 

Photo by Ashley Hall is licensed under CC BY 4.0

“When we breathe in and out, we stop thinking, because saying “in” and “out” is not thinking- “in” and “out” are only words to help us concentrate on our breathing. If we keep breathing in and out this way for a few minutes, we become quite refreshed. We recover ourselves, and we can encounter the beautiful things around us in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here. If we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.” 

 I tried this conscious breathing method all week doing it a couple times a day when I felt overwhelmed and stressed. It allowed me to take a moment for myself, and just pause the hectic day and refresh myself. The first couple of times I tried it, I had to really focus on saying “in” and “out” and block out other thoughts that came into my mind. But as I did it more and more, it became easier and it was amazing how doing this simple exercise helped my thoughts just pause for a moment. This will definitely be added into my mindfulness toolbox, and I highly suggest my readers try it out!!! 

So far in my mindfulness journey I have learned and made adjustments in my life that have produced positive outcomes. But the one skill I have learned that has made the biggest impact on me, is how to deal with negativity in my life. I know I have already talked about negativity in a previous blog post, but today I want to talk about how it has really impacted me since reading about it four weeks ago. This post feels a bit vulnerable for me because it is talking about my internal thoughts about myself and the world around me, but I thought it is important to share because the way I now deal with those internal thoughts has helped me become a better person. 

The technique I have been using when I have negative thoughts comes from an exercise in Jay Shetty’s book, Think Like A Monk. Jay says to become aware of the negative thoughts, then stop and think, and then swap it out with a good thought. Four weeks ago when I read this, I decided to give it a try, and I have been practicing this ever since. I will give an example of me spotting a negative thought, stopping to think and then swapping it out with a positive one. I was driving to school and I saw a biker with a bright lime green bike that had tassels flying around in the wind. My first initial thought was oh boy that is a crazy weird looking bike, but then I recognized that I wasn’t thinking in a very kind way. Instead I swapped that negative thought with a positive one. as I looked at the person riding the bike, I noticed their smile, they looked so happy on that bike, and I had no reason to judge that. When I saw their smile and thought positively it made me smile and I felt really good. It is quite a beautiful thing to be able to see the positives in life rather than the negatives. It was like I was purifying my mind, I became free of creating toxic impulses. Just because that style of bike wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean I had the right to think negatively towards that person who looked awesome riding it. Negativity comes naturally to humans, but it’s how you react to it that has the most impact. 

I have been swapping out my negative thoughts with positive ones for four weeks now, and the difference I feel is awesome. I feel happier, and more connected to the earth around us, I see beauty in everything and everyone, I squash the negativity that is all around me and I don’t allow negative thoughts to be the norm. It is hard to explain the feeling I went through once I started being positive in my everyday life rather than focusing on the negative, so you will just have to trust me, and try it out for yourself! I am no expert but just by simply noticing a negative thought and swapping it with a positive one whether it is a judgment you are making, envy or being upset, it can make you feel a whole lot better. This is not to say that I don’t have any more negative thoughts, I do, and sometimes I can’t shake them, but by trying it has allowed me to give gratitude and allow me to deeply feel something positive in my life. 

Photo by Achael on DeviantArt licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

If you have time I would highly suggest listening to Jay Shetty’s (wow shocker)  podcast on negativity and how it is all around us, and ways we can avoid it to create more positive mindsets!

That’s all for now!

This week I focused on letting go of things that are out of my control. I listened to a daily check in from ma boy Jay Shetty, on the Calm app, which unfortunately you have to pay for so I wont be able to share free access to this exact podcast, but I will give you the link in case you want to check out the app. (The app does have a free version which offers a lot of great mindfulness minutes and podcasts.) No need to worry though, I will give you a recap on what wisdom was shared with me during Jay Shetty’s mindfulness check-in called, “Letting Go Of Control.”  

Jay asks the listener to draw a large circle on a piece of paper, and then a much smaller circle in the middle of the big one. Label the outside circle “outside my control” and the little one “inside my control.” Now think about what is inside and outside of your control.

Here is my example of the exercise ^^

Photo by Ashley Hall is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Then Jay goes on to say “part of the reason why we made the outside circle so much bigger is that you need a lot of room to write down the countless things you don’t control. If you really think about it, there are so few things we directly control, the economy, weather, politics, other people’s behavior, your flight, there is no control. In fact in the outer circle, you might as well write pretty much everything. But certain things are within your control like how you use your attention and how you respond to all the things you don’t control. The purpose of this exercise is to not to despair over how little control you have, it’s simply to reframe your sense of control so that you can spend less time and energy over things you can’t change. You don’t control what time your flight takes off at, what you do control is your response to the three hour delay.” Jay suggests working the inner circle and challenging yourself to make experiences less stressful, tap into patience, do some mindful breathing, and see it as a chance to catch up on other things.

After doing this exercise I saw how much of life is outside of my control. But like Jay suggested, you can take that and instead of getting mad about situations that aren’t in your control, you can direct your energy into something more useful.  This is what I did for the week, and I wrote down the moments that I felt annoyed by the things that I can’t control, and the ways I turned that around to make it positive, here are just a few.

1. I missed a green light on my way to work and I felt annoyed. Then I realized that’s out of my control, so instead I waited and enjoyed the music that was playing.
2. A group of people were walking really slow in the hallway and blocking any way of me passing by. I realized it’s out of my control and instead I took the time to slow down and be in the moment. 
3. My roommate took a shower one minute before I was planning to take one and that really annoyed me lol. Then I realized it was out of my control, and instead took the time to clean my room while I waited. 

These are just a few, but this experience will follow me as I go through my days because it allows me to not dwell on things that made me annoyed. Once I realized they are out of my control, it helped me to practice mindfulness and think about the situations in a more positive light and assisted me to let go of negative emotions. It also made me realize that I am always rushing through my day, and that maybe I need to take time to slow down and control my annoyance towards little things  that seem to be prevalent in my life. Lol.

Thanks for tuning into my mindfulness journey this week, huge shoutout to Jay Shetty, thanks for spreading your wisdom, you are so cool. 

This week I started the chapter called “Purpose” in Jay Shetteys book Think Like a Monk”. One quote stood out to me, and I related it to my journey of mindfulness. 

“There are two lies some of us hear when we were growing up. The first is ‘you’ll never amount to anything’ the second is ‘you can be anything you want to be’ the truth is- You can’t be anything you want. But you can be everything you are.” 

This quote really made me think for a moment. While trying to start this mindfulness journey I find myself trying to “better” myself but sometimes that puts a lot of pressure on me because I feel like I need to change. I feel like “to be” mindful and zen, I shouldn’t be as loud and outgoing as I usually am, and when I become aware of that I sometimes pull back from situations because I feel obnoxious. In reality that is stopping me from being who I really am, and that can be harmful.  So when reading this quote I had an aha moment because it made me realize that although I am eager to become more mindful, that does not mean I should change my whole personality and stop being who I am, because I can be everything I am.   

I then went to a yoga class with a couple of classmates, taught by one of our amazing classmates, Eddy, and during the practice he said, “be your authentic self during this practice” and this stood out to me as I had been thinking about the idea of authenticity for the week. This word and idea kept jumping out to me, so I realized I needed to do some deeper research to see what I could find out about authenticity and mindfulness.

Photo by Ashley Hall is licensed under CC BY 4.0 my friends and I at yoga 🙂

I stumbled across this article by yogapedia, and I found comfort in it with this quote, “The definition of authentic is ‘genuine’ and ‘real,’ or in other words, the combination of all your true qualities. I like to describe authenticity as ‘living your truth in the present moment.’” I pondered this quote for a while and I realized that I was trying to become people who come off as naturally calm and zen such as Jay Shetty because that is the idealistic or the stereotypical person who practices mindfulness. But through this article and my reflection on what I thought about authenticity this week, I realized there is no perfect mold for a person who practices mindfulness. I don’t need to change myself to become a more calm person. I can still practice mindfulness and better myself internally, but I don’t need to slip into being someone I am not or hide my authentic self.

I had a hard week. I felt very off, agitated and emotional by the smallest things. I tried very hard to put my mindfulness into practice but I was in a rut. I searched up some mindfulness practices and came across this article,  “Five Ways to Find Time to Pause.”

It suggested to start your day with a drink such as coffee or tea, and to not just make it and drink it, but to notice the intention of the experience. How does my body sense when I make it, and drink it, the sounds in the room,  the aroma of the coffee, the warmth of the cup in your hand, the taste as you take that first sip, and the feelings of warmth as the coffee is swallowed. Don’t multitask, just sit and experience the drinking of coffee.  The article then says, “When we begin our day with this Purposeful Pause, we are intentionally engaging in a mini-training of our mind to be present. We use our body’s sensations to keep us grounded in the present. And, rather than letting the coffee get cold while we are distracted by texts or to-do lists, or missing the experience completely so that we wonder if we actually had a cup of coffee, when we finish and turn to the next task at hand, our attention is rested and ready to engage.” 

I really tried to focus on this for the week so that I could start my day off in a calm way and so that I was present with myself. Once I slowed down in the mornings and actually just sat with my coffee and scanned my body, it became my favorite part of my day. This made me very happy, and I am now going to try and incorporate this practice in my everyday life in the mornings. My mornings did start off great, but through the day I still felt very agitated, and so I practiced mindfulness through breathing, pausing and taking a moment and I found it calmed me down so that I could proceed with my task. 

This week I also started the chapter “negativity”  in my book Think Like a Monk, by Jay Shetty and it was one of the most beneficial chapters I have read. I can talk about the chapter forever, and I think I will touch on it every week because the practices and information really stuck with me. One of my favourite quotes that stuck with me this week allowed me to open my mind. 

“You wake up. Your hair looks terrible. Your partner complains that you’re out of coffee. On the way to work some driver who’s texting makes you miss the light. The news on the radio is worse than yesterday. Your co-worker whispers to you that Cadence is pretending to be sick again… everyday we are assaulted with negativity. No wonder we can’t help but dish out as well as receive it. We report the aches and pains of the day rather than the small joys” (pg.22).

My favourite part of that quote is,  No wonder we can’t help but dish out as well as receive it. We report the aches and pains of the day rather than the small joys. I loved this quote, and as I reflected on it, it made me realize there is a lot of unwanted useless negativity in our everyday lives, and it often weighs us down and consumes our minds over the good things that happen in our day. I read this quote on Wednesday night and on Thursday I tried to really practice being aware and present in the ways negativity could affect my day and instead of letting that negativity dwell on me, I focused on the positives of my day and tried to not let the negativity get to me. Becoming aware of this made me realize that there is lots of negativity in our everyday lives, but once we become aware of that, and choose to focus on the positives, you mindset will change for the better. On Thursday I decided to focus on the positives. I had a presentation that I was nervous for and negative thoughts came into my head of messing up, but instead of focusing on that, I thought about how good it will feel when i’m done, and there are no horrible consequences if I stutter or mess up my words during the presentation, so I told myself to  just relax. I then drove home and instead of getting mad about the traffic, I soaked up the sun and rolled down my window to get some fresh air. I got home and I sat outside and noticed one singular flower sprouting from my lawn and I just sat there and admired it and thought about my day. It felt so good to be aware of the negativity that comes up in my life and to not allow it to ruin my day.

Photo by Ashley Hall is licensed under CC BY 4.0

To end off this blog and reflect on the learning that occurred for me this week was that I had an off week that I couldn’t seem to shake, but once I put my mindfulness practices into place, I turned my week around. I became very aware of how I both receive and give negativity in my everyday life and how to become aware and produce a more positive outcome out of my days!

There are so many topics I would love to explore for the rest of this semester, however the one that I would like to focus on is how I can bring mindfulness into my everyday life. I have already somewhat started my journey of mindfulness and finding meaning in the little things, but this inquiry will allow me to take the time out of my day to dive deep into this subject that I am curious to learn more about. My Roomate and I recently started reading a book called Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty which aims to help you understand how to overcome negativity, how to stop overthinking, how to learn from everyone you meet and so much more. We also try to do a guided meditation each day because we find the practice quite beautiful. We have been doing this for a couple of weeks and I am fascinated and see the benefits already, however I find that in my busy day I often don’t have the time to reflect on my meditation or put into practice what the book has to say. This has led me to the idea of creating an inquiry on mindfulness so that I can hone into what my meditations mean and research more about mindfullness so that I can gain the full benefits of it.

Photo by Ashley Hall is licensed under CC BY 4.0

My Plan

What I want to take out of this inquiry is to continue on with reading my book and meditate as well as do outside research and interview some friends who are into meditation and mindfulness. What this inquiry will help me accomplish is to really work on practicing mindfulness throughout the week. My posts will consist of my biggest learning experience for that week, what went well and what perhaps didn’t go as well in my mindfulness journey and how it made me feel. I also want to bring in the idea of mindfulness in a classroom and how I can use this wonderful practice with my future students!

The Question

Inquiry Question: How can I practice meaningful mindfulness in my everyday life to create positive outcomes?