Action Plans
How to Convert Daily Life into a “Mindfulness Classroom”
We live in an era where information abounds. It seems the world is in the palm of our hand, everything is known, and in real-time, it is all so fast…And yet, we crave the simple life, look back to the times where people greeted each other instead of growling at the neighbor on the way to the car.
We crave to replace anger and alienation with humaneness and caring.
We wish for our children to live in a pleasant, calm and accepting environment that can guide the child in their choice-making. Such that in the ocean of information, the child can choose based on their consciousness to their own needs and wishes, and thus promote their own skills and gifts to be developed, and used with kindness, goodness, and the highest human values and not as a result of being influenced by inner urges and outer pressure and the media.
We wish for our children an environment that empowers them, as they are, with their strengths and weaknesses. We wish for them to learn of themselves and the surrounding world in a protected and soft manner while still remaining challenging, adventurous and promoting their growth. We would like to encourage people to group up and form such environments – for themselves and their children. We wish for such communities to interact, share knowledge and support one another and we propose to facilitate all that.
Several centers of focus will serve us in the creation of such environments:
Openness to the forefront of educational technology
AHI keeps abreast and invests in an intimate knowledge of all domains of life which impinge on education.
Worldwide, there exist today many readily available experiential teaching and learning methods, ranging from computerized programs (“Dot Net ”) to the traditional anthroposophy paradigm, And many more.
AHI shall make available to its members the latest and up-to-date knowledge and know-how, facilitating the formation of individual educational creeds.
AHI does not promote a single agenda or one recommended methodology – we realize there is no single way that is an absolute truth.
Mental flexibility is crucial in all aspects of life, and more so in education.
Thus, AHI shall support each lawfully-abiding community that shall express its wish to join it.
Mental and Emotional Flexibility
“The cognitive readiness to be aware to what is occurring each moment without judgment or attachment to any particular outcome.” (Napoli et. Al, 2010)
Worldwide, such a practice adoption by elementary school students has been demonstrated to lead to: the expansion of the concentration ability, the sharpening of attention which leads to the formation of an emotional identification and development mechanism , the formation of the self, a reduction in the usage of violence, etc.
The Individual at the Center of the Community
During the last few years, this idea is taking form and spreading. The idea that the child is a central and integral part of the communal life is radically changing the therapeutic and educational attitudes around the world. Regarding the community as a formative factor repeatedly leads us back to the base education on equality, tolerance and the acceptance of individual differences.
Acceptance does not mean that we treat the other as a deviant. It means that we recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each individual. When children are shown this truth, they will always accept themselves, realize their own value and have belief in their own abilities. These children have an inner emotional world that is less susceptible to outer influences. They choose from self-knowledge acquired by examining their own reactions to the environment. The abovementioned awareness teaches the child to analyze their interactions, moment by moment, learn and grow. Thus, the community becomes a guide to mindfulness, for the students as well as for all other individuals (yes, adults too) in it.