The Biology of Positivity

This short little video (with fun emojis!) goes along with this very useful article: Your Brain May Be Hard-wired to Focus on the Negative, But (With Practice) You Can Reprogram It by Leah Shafer and Iman Rastegari.

This notion of "positivity" overlaps with growth mindset in powerful ways. Instead of focusing on the negative (making mistakes, the fear of making mistakes, etc.), you really can train your brain to look at mistakes as useful information that you can use for your own learning. Some other good tips here include not comparing yourself to others and being patient with your own progress!

The Biology of Positivity

Here's a transcript of the video:

Your brain is hard-wired to focus on the negative. Fortunately, we can re-wire our neural connections. Learning new things makes your brain stronger, and repeating those new things creates new neurons The same is true for positive habits of mind; they're learnable and self-strengthening. Mindfulness is a bridge to positive habits:

• Take a break and look at something different. Savor the calm. 
• Look for good things in small moments.
• Look for and talk about the good traits of others.
• Exercise.
• Be persistent, knowing that change takes time. 

(image from the You Can Reprogram It article)

Richard Twice: A Musical Life Interrupted

This is a lovely short animated film about life and the search for happiness; here's the blurb from the Aeon site:

After losing part of his leg in a motorcycle accident in the early 1960, Richard Atkins took to playing guitar and writing songs, quickly landing a coveted deal for his debut album Richard Twice (1968) with Mercury Records. But what appeared to be a fast track to folk-rock stardom came to a sudden halt when a make-or-break performance brought his dreams crashing down. Traumatised, he stopped listening to the radio and playing on stage for 40 years, deciding instead to dedicate his life to woodworking. Using expressive, psychedelic animations and featuring Atkins’s original music, the US director Matthew Salton’s film is a bittersweet reminder that many dreams go unfulfilled, and while past failures are always with us, they needn’t define us.

Open Heart, Open Mind

Jake Morgan was a student in Myth-Folklore a couple of years ago, and I am very glad to share his TEDxOU talk here: Understanding mental illness through empathic storytelling: Jake Morgan and Neal Walia at TEDxOU.

See more videos / read more articles in this series: OU Mental Health.

Life From Above, and Beyond, with words from Alan Watts

Alan Watts is one of the great teachers of the 20th century; you can read more about him at Wikipedia, and you can find many more Alan Watts videos (many based on his radio talks) at YouTube: Alan Watts.

This video has music by Hans Zimmer (Interstellar), with words from Alan Watts; it was created by Trey Ratcliff.  You can read the text here: Symbols and Meaning.

Be Brave for Education

From a discussion with someone at Google+ today, I learned a new word: didaskaleinophobia, which is the fear of school. Growth mindset is a good way to confront the fears that can stand in your way, including those little fears —what if I make a mistake? what if I look foolish? what if I just don't get it? — that do not merit the label "phobia" ... and if you need a bravery boost, just watch this video: Be Brave for Education. For the lyrics, see the Sara Bareilles - Brave page at genius.com.

You can find out more about the Montessori teachers who made this video at their website: BeBrave4Education.com.

Louis Schwartzberg: Gratitude, with David Steindl-Rast

Gratitude and happiness are profoundly intertwined, as you can learn in this Louis Schwartzberg video from Everyone Matters, featuring the words of Brother David Steindl-Rast:

GRATITUDE

(Brother David Steindl-Rast)

Alike (a short film)

This is a beautiful film told without words: trust me, it is definitely worth 8 minutes of your time to watch this one! You can find out more in this Wikipedia article about the film.

Alike

The puzzle of motivation

Understanding your own motivation(s) is a great way to grow: if you can get in touch what really motivates you, then you can set your goals and find the strategies that will be powered by your inner drive. Dan Pink offers some really great insights into motivation in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (highly recommended!), and you can also learn a lot from this video. Autonomy, mastery, and purpose: these are three words that, in my opinion, could and should change our whole approach to school and to learning.

There's also a transcript of the talk you can read.

The puzzle of motivation by Dan Pink

What makes us feel good about our work?

There is so much to learn from Dan Ariely's video about motivation, and what he says here about "work" applies very well to school work. You can see what you think about that! Here is the transcript if you prefer to read or to read while you listen.

Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?

One of the experiments that Ariely describes is named after a classical myth: Sisyphus!

[...] And this other condition we called the Sisyphic condition. And if you remember the story about Sisyphus, Sisyphus was punished by the gods to push the same rock up a hill, and when he almost got to the end, the rock would roll over, and he would have to start again. And you can think about this as the essence of doing futile work. You can imagine that if he pushed the rock on different hills, at least he would have some sense of progress. Also, if you look at prison movies, sometimes the way that the guards torture the prisoners is to get them to dig a hole, and when the prisoner is finished, they ask him to fill the hole back up and then dig again. There's something about this cyclical version of doing something over and over and over that seems to be particularly demotivating.

Here is Sisyphus with his rock as shown in a Greek vase painting from the sixth century B.C.E., and you can read more about Sisyphus at Wikipedia. I hope this class does not make you feel like Sisyphus toting that rock... if it does, let me know, and we will figure out a solution! :-)

(Greek vase, circa 530 B.C.E.)

The Science of Character

This video is by Tiffany Shlain, and I first learned about her work because she is the daughter of one of my all-time favorite authors, Leonard Shlain (Alphabet versus the Goddess).

The Science of Character

Shlain begins with Peterson and Seligman who worked on creating a taxonomy character strengths (rather than weakness or illness). They also looked at human relationships and how we can respect and value the character strengths of other people. Also, keep an eye out for the discussion of Carol Dweck's growth mindset. The film also discusses Adele Diamond's work on the brain's prefrontal cortex and self-regulation.

Shlain singles out seven character strengths that are really important in education: curiosity, perseverance, gratitude, optimism, social intelligence, and enthusiasm (enthusiasm is one of my personal favorites). These are all qualities that can be learned... which means you have to practice them. And learn from your mistakes, too.

Become the best version of yourself! Who do you want to be...?

Find out more at Tiffany Shlain's website: Let It Ripple, which is the source for this poster:

Pharrell Williams - Happy

I am such a fan of Pharrell Williams... and here is his hymn to happiness! You can find the lyrics at Genius.com. It even has an article at Wikipedia.

Pharrell Williams - Happy

(Because I'm happy)
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof.
(Because I'm happy)
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth.
(Because I'm happy)
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you.
(Because I'm happy)
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do!

Peter Dinklage: Commencement Address

Here's some inspiration ... especially of interest for Game of Thrones fans: Peter Dinklage '91 Addresses Bennington College's Class of 2012. The speech was featured in NPR's best commencement speeches collection.

I waited a long time out in the world
before I gave myself permission to fail.
Please don't even bother asking.
Don't bother telling the world you are ready.
Show it. Do it.

Animated Review of Csikszentmihalyi's Flow

In another post, I shared Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's TED talk: Flow, the secret to happiness.

Here's another video which is an "animated book review" of Csikszentmihalyi's book Flow. (And if you enjoy this book review, you might like the other videos at the FightMediocrity YouTube channel.)

Happiness and Flow

I am a huge fan of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and so I was excited to see that he has made a TED talk: Flow, the secret to happiness. You can read the transcript here, and I highly (HIGHLY) recommend his book: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

For a graphic that encapsulates some of his thinking, here's something I found in an article on happiness, flow, and leadership:

Monica Sheehan: Be Happy!

This graphic is inspired by Monica Sheehan's book, Be Happy: A Little Book to Help You Live a Happy Life. There's a video also; see below. The graphic features just some of the many pieces of advice in the book. When you watch the video, what leaps out at you? Is there something you are forgetting to do in your quest for happiness...?

From the graphic: Have a sense of wonder. ~ Stay inspired. ~ Help other. ~ Do things you're good at. ~ Read books. ~ Limit television. ~ Love your work. ~ Exercise. ~ Face your fears. ~ Believe in yourself. ~ Stay close to friends and family.  ~ Let your heart be your guide.

There are lots more suggestions in the video version: