I am a husband, writer, and teacher exploring what it means to cultivate mental silence.

Update on Yearly Theme

Update on yearly theme...My theme for this year is compassion. It's been a while since I've written about it here.My compassion in the car is doing well...except when I'm tired. This should be a signal to me to be even more mindful of things. For example, just a few minutes ago…on my way home from a long week of work… I noticed myself talking to the cars in front of me because I was getting impatient trying to get home…even though I left school at my regular time and wasn't going to get home “late.”My compassion in public is the highest of all the four places that I am attempting to get better at. The only exception is when I am at stores, in line checking out I find myself again…impatient. This too should be a signal for me…a time to be more mindful.My compassion at work is getting better. I say this because I feel that I'm trying really hard to be more calm when dealing with the difficult students I've been working with this year. I have found that the calmer I am with the students the better my day goes and the better their day goes. I've been given a couple of compliments recently by colleagues telling me how amazed they are at how calm I am when I'm dealing with students in crisis. I've told them that in those moments I try to absorb the energy of the student while remaining calm outwardly.Lastly, I think my compassion at home is doing just fine. The only exception would be in the quiet moments…when I'm alone…or when I wake up in the middle of the night…beating myself up inwardly for what I think I am not doing.

I’m excited about tomorrow...

Insight Timer and box breathing...