WORKBOOK FOR SESSION 1 VIDEO: Introduction to Conscious ...

© 2021 Loving Guidance, LLC. All rights reserved. ConsciousDiscipline.com1

OVERVIEW• The Powers of Conscious Discipline come from within. They lie at the intersection of

consciousness and neuroscience, and they give us the opportunity for choice and change.

• The Conscious Discipline journey helps us shift from “Do as I say, not as I do,” to “Be the change we want to see in the world” by doing our own internal work first.

• We pass both our conscious and unconscious beliefs down to the next generation. Once we become conscious, we have the opportunity to make wise choices that create positive change for ourselves and the children in our care.

• Ultimately, the goal of Conscious Discipline and the seven Powers is to widen our window of tolerance (our resiliency) and allow us to see and do things differently.

• The Powers of Conscious Discipline are essential to begin uncovering our barriers to equity.

WORKBOOK FOR SESSION 1 VIDEO:

Introduction to Conscious Discipline“�How�we�respond�to�the�behavior�of�the�children�we�serve�is�the�greatest��social�emotional�lesson�we�will�ever�teach.”��–�Dr.�Becky�Bailey

© 2021 Loving Guidance, LLC. All rights reserved.ConsciousDiscipline.com2

WORKBOOK FOR SESSION 1 VIDEO: Introduction to Conscious Discipline

BRAIN SMART® START

Activity to Unite

Click the audio link for a short uniting meditation activity. Relax into this moment with me to prepare your nervous system for the upcoming learning. Practice bringing your mind to where your body is.

Activity to Disengage Stress

Focus all your attention on your breath and conduct these steps.

Breath 1: Practice breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, doing a S.T.A.R. breath (Smile, Take a deep breath, And Relax).

Breath 2: Breathe in through your nose and have your belly go out. Breathe out through your mouth and have your belly go in.

Breath 3: Inhale through your nose, having your belly go out. Exhale slowly through your mouth, having your belly go in for a count of six.

Activity to Connect

We are all energy. To move energy or create from energy, we use our imagination. This is also the case with wishing others well. Think of someone you are deeply grateful for. Place your hands on your heart. Take a breath to relax your body, then inhale one more time with the person’s name in your mind. As you exhale, imagine gratitude flowing through your back and out of your open heart to that person.

Activity to Commit

Make a commitment for yourself as you begin Workbook Session 1 of this course:

I commit to ____________________________________________________________________________.

When I notice that I am off track, I will ___________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________.


POWERS OF RESILIENCE SEL FOR ADULTS

SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION

What Are the Powers of Conscious Discipline?

We often think of power as something outside of ourselves. We think of it in terms of competition and influence over others. Generally, our view of power is power “out there” to use on people, situations or things “out there” so we can experience safety, peace and happiness. The goal is to make or get the world to go our way.

Our belief is that we can obtain safety, peace and happiness by getting something from “out there” or getting rid of something “out there.” Unfortunately, building a life on this concept of power is like living in quicksand. The more we seek power from the outside, the farther away from safety, peace and happiness we sink.

Trying to make the world go our way is a constant struggle we endure to avoid feeling out of control or vulnerable. Sometimes it temporarily appears to work, like medicine that provides symptom relief. But all the upset generated from our efforts keeps our happiness, peace and felt sense of safety elusive. We continue to seek external approval, success, money and getting what we want as a substitute for the true power of connection with ourselves and each other.

Directions: Look at the two images below. On the first image, write in the blanks provided the things you believe you need to get from life to feel happy, safe and peaceful. On the second image, write in the blanks provided the things you believe you need to get rid of in your life in order to feel happy, safe and peaceful.

Quicksand



The Powers of Conscious Discipline are different. With Conscious Discipline, we shift from viewing power as something “out there” to focusing on developing the inner resources that come from within. Power “in here” allows us to transform from surviving our victim mindset to thriving in a growth mindset.

Transformation occurs as we shift from a habitual, unconscious way of living to a conscious new formation of our lives. Transform literally means “form a new way,” and the Powers of Conscious Discipline give us the opportunity to do just that. It is from these Powers that we create a firm foundation on which we can live our most sacred values, make wise choices, and teach future generations to do the same.

These inner resources lie at the intersection of consciousness and neuroscience, which form the basis for the Powers that we will explore in this course. The complete path of transformation through Conscious Discipline travels from Powers, to Skills, and finally to Structures.

Powers g Skills g Structures

Consciousness and the Seven Powers

The Powers of Conscious Discipline give us the mindset that yields the intention required to access the Skills necessary to build or repair healthy relationships. Without the Powers, we cannot consciously, wisely or effectively use the Skills. The Skills of Conscious Discipline equip us with the tools we need to solve problems, manage upset, create or repair healthy relationships, and set and achieve goals despite all obstacles. The Structures in Conscious Discipline provide us with constant reminders to stay on track with our values. They also offer a tangible way for adults and children to practice these values in everyday life.



Mindset shapes our intention. Wherever our intention goes, energy follows it. Our mindset and intention, whether helpful or hurtful, create the health of our relationships and the culture of our homes, classrooms, schools and communities. Culture lives in our bodies and trumps all things cognitive such as ideas, principles, laws, philosophies and opinions.

Research from neuroscience and consciousness sheds light on how to bring ourselves to the corner of choice and change instead of staying stuck in preprogrammed habitual actions.

The Powers of Conscious Discipline help us become conscious of our intention, allowing us the opportunity of choice and change in each moment.

Neuroscience and the Seven Powers

Window�of�Tolerance

All children and adults have a window of tolerance that determines our ability to handle tough challenges and strong emotions. We fall out of our window of tolerance in two directions: we either lash out at others, becoming aggressive, or we lash in at ourselves, becoming depressive, feeling hopeless and giving up.

The size of our window of tolerance represents our resiliency and is shaped by the quality of our relationships, especially with our earliest caregivers.



Children learn to regulate their feelings, thoughts and behaviors by anticipating their caregivers’ responses to their actions. Answer the following questions about your early caregiving. Select an early caregiver such as mom, dad, grandma, etc. as a point of reference.

When I misbehaved by lying, I anticipated my early caregiver would

If I made poor grades in school, I anticipated my early caregiver would

If I was seen as disrespectful as a child, I anticipated my early caregiver would

If the caregiving we receive is frightening, our window of tolerance will be very small. This is true of both children and adults, and it is especially true of those who have experienced trauma.

The goal of Conscious Discipline is to widen our window of tolerance (strengthen our resiliency). If we don’t know how to increase our own window of tolerance, children cannot possibly increase theirs.

BRAIN STATE MODELThe Brain State Model consists of three general brain states: survival, emotional and executive. Each state shifts your perception, and each state has a trigger, a question we must answer to move to a higher state, and a skill set that we can access.



In the survival state, we see only from our genetic preprogramming to stay safe. In the emotional state, we see from our preprogrammed insecurities. In the executive state, we can control our impulses and choose our perception.

�

Activity�to�Examine�Our�Perception�of�Power:

Directions: The two images below represent our perception of power. The first image illustrates the belief that our power to achieve happiness, peace and safety lies in the world “out there.” The second image represents the internal world we have created, with our many thoughts generating an upset and overwhelmed heart. In the blanks provided, write the steps you believe you would need to take to improve your situation from the differing perspectives.

Ultimate Goal of Conscious Discipline

As you reflect on what you learned from this workbook session, what do you remember being the ultimate goal of Conscious Discipline?

The ultimate goal of Conscious Discipline is to widen our window of tolerance (increase resiliency) by creating the opportunity to see and act differently.

We learn to notice and regulate our own brain states so that we can help children manage their upsets, regulate their emotions, and resolve their conflicts. We also learn to consciously set an intention that will help children. Our intention either guides children to the executive state, where they can learn from upset and conflict, or it pushes them down into the preprogrammed, automatic reactions of the lower centers of the brain, where they defend against learning and cooperation.

EQUITY The core mission of Conscious Discipline is equity for both children and adults. Equity in education requires putting systems, policies and practices in place to ensure that all children and the adults serving them have an equal chance for success. It requires us to address all social inequities such as race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, language, religion, family background and family income.

We must work toward a conscious understanding of the unique challenges and barriers faced by individual students, families, administrators, teachers and staff in order to provide additional supports designed to help overcome these obstacles.

Just as Conscious Discipline addresses adults first and children second, it explores our internal world of mental models first and the external world of policy and application second. We start with the unconscious, internalized cultural inequalities, trauma, and social and emotional mental model barriers within an individual and the collective that have been passed down from generation to generation. As these emerge into consciousness, the opportunity arises to release and replace them with a growth mindset based on mental health and neuroscience. In turn, this allows us to develop an empowering set of skills that promotes the agency of all stakeholders, especially in response to conflict.

This process culminates in a sustainable and synergistic culture of safety, connection and problem solving that is the foundation of equity for all. The felt sense of safety embedded within each individual then spreads throughout classrooms, the school, back into families and ultimately into the community as a whole. We begin this critically important process by examining our unconscious or implicit biases and mental models. Breathe deeply and relax into the exploration as much as possible.



Introduction to Conscious Discipline

1. Share a situation in your life when you were able to live your values during an upset time.

Next, share a time when you were aware of the gap between your true values and the actions you displayed.

Can you see that in the gap between unconscious and conscious awareness lived a lot of judgment? What are some of your judgments (bias) you are aware of (including those related to social inequity)?


REFLECT AND DISCUSS After writing your answers to the following questions, discuss each with a friend(s) or colleague(s) if you are willing. Every person sees and understands the Powers through a different lens, and it’s helpful to examine additional perspectives and insights.


2. Kids will not increase their window of tolerance until we increase ours. Think about your

early caregivers and list a few behaviors they found difficult to tolerate.

Do you struggle to tolerate these behaviors as well?

Are you willing to explore to see if some of the behaviors you find intolerable are related

to biases you unconsciously hold about race, gender, socioeconomic status, language, religion or sexual orientation?

3. Until we uncover the unconscious beliefs that guide our actions and behaviors, we cannot provide effective guidance to the next generation. Reflect on this statement and share your thoughts.

Then fill in the blank if you are willing: I am willing to uncover my unconscious beliefs so

I can provide more meaningful tools to



Introduction to Conscious Discipline



COMMITMENTWhat was you personal takeaway from this Workbook Session?

How will you put this takeaway into practice in your own life?

Fill in the blanks below to create a commitment statement:

I commit to __________________________________________________________________.

When I find that my actions are not matching my vision, I will return to my commitment by

___________________________________________________________________________.

NEXT STEPS• Read more about the Brain State Model on page 30 of Conscious Discipline: Building

Resilient Classrooms.

• View additional digital resources and recommended products in the online course module.

You are now ready to watch the next video session.

WORKBOOK FOR SESSION 1 VIDEO: Introduction to Conscious ...

Documents