People who are curious are interested in learning more about anything and everything. They are always asking questions and find all subjects and topics fascinating. They like exploration and discovery.
Key Concepts:
There are two key components to curious individuals: They are interested in exploring new ideas, activities and experiences, and they also have a strong desire to increase their own personal knowledge.
Benefits:
Curiosity fuels intrinsic motivation to learn
Curiosity brings pleasure and enhances memory
Curious people have more developed cognitive skills; they learn more and
learn better
Self Belief: “I know what I believe in and I wonder about the world I live in”.
People who believe in themselves have inner confidence that helps them to understand their purpose. They value themselves, and believe that they contribute value to others and to the world. Their belief in themselves helps to drive their actions.
In “We’re All Wonders,” Auggie looks different from other people and uses his inner strength to stay strong. This book taps into people’s desire to be seen as who they really are.
Hope means looking forward to the future and believing that good things will happen.
It also means that you expect the best in the future, and you work hard to achieve it. You believe that the future is something that you can control.
We can combine hope with Goal Setting and this week at school we will focus on both of these. As students, setting and achieving goals is an important part of learning and feeling a sense of worth.
It’s fantastic to be back at school and especially great that we have the first 10 days to focus on PosEd and how we can flourish at school.
We have our BHPS PERMA model which consists of :
Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Mindfulness (and meaning) and Accomplishment
Research by Martin Seligman and others shows that these five elements can help people work towards a life of fulfilment, happiness, and meaning.
A quick run down of what each of these means and how we can apply them to our lives…
Positive Emotions is about having feelings of optimism and hope towards the future. Meaningful positive emotions are achieved by working hard and feeling proud of your efforts, they are about thinking creatively and while going to a birthday party, for example is fun and makes us feel happy, the happiness is not as long lasting and more a “quick fix” type of happiness. Building a tricky lego car that requires concentration and patience on the other hand will create a deeper kind of positive emotions.
Engagement means taking part and enjoying activities such as school work, a sport, dancing and hobbies. Wellbeing is increased due to the body being flooded with positive neurotransmitters which leads to feelings of calm, focus and joy. When we are totally absorbed a feeling of “flow” can be achieved.
Relationships: Belonging to a group and having strong social connections and relationships with family and friends are crucial to living meaningful lives. “Positive relationships with one’s parents, siblings, peers, coworkers, and friends is a key ingredient to overall joy. Strong relationships also provide support in difficult times that require resilience”. https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/
Mindfulness/Meaning: Mindfulness means focussing awareness on the present moment while calmly noticing and accepting what you are thinking and feeling. Mindful meditation can be used to spend small grabs of time to do this.
Meaning is having an understanding of why you do what you do and appreciating that you are part of something much bigger than yourself. Activities such as volunteering (eg helping a teacher with a job) just because you want to and understanding the impact of your work will contribute to higher levels of wellbeing. Materialism tends to have the opposite effect.
Accomplishment is about having goals and ambitions in life. At school and with the support of your teachers, you will be able to make goals that are realistic and achievable. Achieving these goals will give you a sense of pride and satisfaction which elevates feelings of fulfilment and wellbeing. Students with a Growth Mindset tend to be more resilient and persistent. “When students believe they can get smarter, they understand that effort makes them stronger. Therefore they put in extra time and effort, and that leads to higher achievement” https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/
We also adhere to the 24 VIA Character Strengths
“Character Strengths are the positive parts of your personality that impact how you think, feel and behave. Scientists have identified 24 character strengths. Some examples of strengths are bravery, creativity, honesty, humour and social intelligence.
Character strengths are different than your other personal strengths, such as your unique skills, talents, interests and resources, because they reflect the “real” you—who you are at your core. These strengths are the key to you being your best self”. https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths-via
At BHPS we identify our own Character Strengths and those that we would like to work towards. We spot strengths in others and research has shown that when you know your strengths, you can improve your life and thrive. People who use their strengths a lot are 18x more likely to be flourishing than those who do not use their strengths. https://www.viacharacter.org/ If you are over 13 years of age you can do the free survey and find out your strengths.
We also integrate ideas around Empathy, Gratitude and Persistence into our day to day teaching.
