Habits of Mind

For the last couple years, my school district has been emphasizing twelve  "Habits of Mind" that all teachers should be working to include in their lessons like persistence, managing impulsivity, listening and creative thinking. Great stuff. Teachers like it, and we have  posters on our walls to remind us of these intellectual capacities. Some of us believe that cultivating these habits is the real work of teachers. 

Of course, the trick is translating these habits into practical lessons, and making them stick. And like all habits, they are strengthened through repetition. How to do that? 

Mindfulness practice may be one simple way to inculcate new "habits of mind." 

Even a basic concentration practice, like sitting and focusing on the breath, engages many of these habits, like persistence: we keep coming back no matter how many times the mind goes off the breath; listening with understanding: we listen to our minds and bodies without judging what we observe; engagement: we are fully focused of the miracle of respiration, being aware of all the subtle sensations in play; continuous learning: each moment is new, and we approach it with curiosity and interest; managing impulsivity: we stay seated and keep at the task, even when we don't really feel like it, or when we want to get up before our session is over.  

Another habit of mind that I've discussed in my classroom, especially as an art teacher,  is observation. How often do we teach students the simple act of observing what's going on inside them, or around them (unless you're an art teacher)? The psychologist Russ Harris contrasts the observing mind with the thinking mind, a distinction I find useful. He says, 

"The Observing Self is the part of you that is responsible for awareness and attention. We don’t have a word for it in common everyday language – we normally just talk about the ‘mind’. But there are two parts to the mind: the thinking self – i.e. the part that is always thinking; the part that is responsible for all your thoughts, beliefs, memories, judgments, fantasies etc. And then there’s the observing self – the part of your mind that is able to be aware of whatever you are thinking or feeling or doing at any moment. Without it, you couldn’t develop those mindfulness skills. And the more you practice those mindfulness skills, the more you’ll become aware of this part of your mind, and able to access it when you need it."  (http://www.thehappinesstrap.com/about_act)

To be clear, mindfulness is not against talking or thinking. These are important human skills, and their development is crucial for success in life. It simply asks us to bring awareness and intention to these processes, so that we are not led around by habitual patterns or automatic ways of doing things. Self-awareness increases choice and personal power. I'm glad our schools are recognizing the need to focus on the mind, and on the habits of mind that create our future realities.