Navigating Transitions with Patience
The new school year is now underway. Students across North America are gearing up, getting excited and dealing with the general nervousness and anxiety that often accompanies new events and experiences. Unfortunately, more often than not, young people are left to deal with these emotional ups and downs on their own. Even the most attentive of adults can't eradicate these feelings, but you can help the youth around you learn to effectively deal with and manage them. Whether you're a parent, coach, mentor or educator, your guidance and advice can help youth process these feelings with patience and compassion. So, as summer turns to fall, let's come together and do our part in helping young people appreciate that the emotions they experience as they transition into their new academic year are real and, with a quality of patience, they can turn nervousness into self-awareness, disappointment into understanding and challenge into an opportunity.
Practicing Patience: Tips for Teens
- Notice when impatience arises and pay attention to how it feels in your body
- Slow down and use our TAKE FIVE to calm your mind and body experience
- Identify the root cause and purposefully reframe your approach with patience
- Treat yourself and others with compassion understanding
By Theo Koffler, speaker, author and founder of Mindfulness Without Borders – a charitable organization that facilitates programs and workshops to strengthen social and emotional intelligence and secular mindfulness in youth and the adults that surround them.