self awareness - Wildewood Learning

Understanding Trauma and Creating Safety for Children

In this video, you will learn the difference between the learning and survival brains and the importance of nervous system regulation to create safety in the learning environment.

Four Tools to Calm, Connect, Activate, and Affirm

Each lesson has a set routine: Mindfulness activity, connection question, skills lesson, and closing. Routine is so important in having a classroom that feels calm and connected.

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Four Steps to Reflective Listening

Many moons ago, I was a director of a girl’s leadership program that worked with teen girls in rural northwestern Minnesota. It was a fantastic program that provided teens with life skills. One of the skills we taught was reflective listening. I still use this important communication skill today.

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Four Resources for Exploring Culture

Culture is described in the dictionary as “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.”
In May 2020, the murder of George Floyd occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota—my home state—the state of Minnesota Nice. Minnesotans are white Scandinavian folks that eat lefsa and bring hotdishes to potlucks at the church. The event did not fit my perceived image of Minnesota culture. There was something I needed to explore and get curious about that was not within my worldview.

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Three Strategies to Embrace Change

Change is here to stay; it’s a constant in life. You get to choose how you approach change, and your tools and strategies can make a difference in moving through a wanted or unwanted change in your life.

change mindfulness Resilience self awareness Self care

Gotcha Day

In the language of adoption, Gotcha Day is when your children arrive in your home. This week, 18 years ago, Gotcha Day happened for us. We adopted our four children from the foster care system 18 years ago: all siblings and all at once. We essentially became parents overnight!

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Toxic Positivity and Emotions

Do you have a hard time confronting your emotions? How are you really feeling? Give way to naming sadness, disappointment, and anger. This is real progress for me: naming my emotions, feeling the feelings, and being brave to share.

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Unwrapping Peace – Gift #4

The holiday season can be frantic for both adults and children. There are the usual day-to-day things: school, work, practices, and homework. Then add the school programs to attend, sporting events, holiday events, decorating, baking, and shopping; the to-do list can get pretty long! It can get overwhelming, and we all need to give ourselves a little grace during this time of the year.

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Unwrapping Peace – Gift #3

Welcome to my blog series on Unwrapping Peace. The first gift you received was to stop and notice, and the second gift was to slow down. I now present you with the third gift for the season: connect.

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Unwrapping Peace – Gift #2

Here is gift #2 for bringing peace to your season, S-L-O-W D-O-W-N! We often say that time is moving so fast that we don’t have time to spare or that we want to slow down. What is stopping us from slowing down and taking a pause?

mindfulness Resilience self awareness Self care