Reinforcing Gratitude and Mindfulness with SEL Skills in Schools

Photo of young adult smiling up at the sky with eyes closed.

Imagine you’re sitting at the dining room table with your family members. Quick, name something you’re thankful for that no one else at the table has said yet! It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means it’s time to get thoughtful and creative about what’s going right for you. Thinking about what we are grateful for can be good for making your grandmother cry happy tears at the dinner table, but it can also be an exercise in mindfulness and gratitude.

Practicing Gratitude and Mindfulness This Thanksgiving

Mindfulness is the practice of bringing one’s attention to the present moment in an accepting way. Practicing mindfulness can involve noticing one’s thoughts, feelings, or surroundings, and it involves one allowing their thoughts and sensations to drift into and out of their awareness without being distracted by them, judging them, or reacting to them. With practice, engaging in mindfulness can help an individual stay present, be less impulsive, and reduce their stress. For school personnel, specifically, using mindfulness is associated with having lower levels of job stress and lower rates of burnout and alleviating their depression and anxiety symptoms (Braun et al., 2019).

Three Mindful Practices for the Busy Season

  • Mindful Eating: Take time to really notice the flavor, texture, and smells of your food without distractions.
  • Attentive Listening: During conversations with family and friends, practice listening attentively and nonjudgmentally to what’s being said right now. Try not to plan what you’ll say next or think about the “baggage” others may bring to the conversation.
  • Appreciate nature: Getting outside and noticing the change of the seasons can be good ways to practice mindfulness and grounding. Notice the sounds, colors, and smells that surround you.

The Importance of Gratitude for Mental Health

Gratitude can also be a helpful tool that you can use to improve your mental health. The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California (Berkeley) reports that engaging in gratitude practices is associated with several improved individual, social, and health outcomes. For school professionals, participating in gratitude practices is also positively associated with better and more fulfilling work engagement and lower rates of burnout (Nicuță et al., 2022).

Three Ways to Practice Gratitude Year-Round

  • Reflect: Take time and reflect on your year, the last month, or just the last day. Consider all of the moments, decisions, and connections that have gone right.
  • Journal: Gratitude journaling is a common way to start keeping track of people or experiences you are thankful for. Writing for a few minutes a day can make a big difference in your perspectives on family, life, and even the world.
  • Give Back: Volunteering or donating can be a way to share your gratitude for your community.

Encouraging Gratitude and Mindfulness in Students

We, as educators can also encourage our students to practice mindfulness and gratitude. These skills can be incorporated into SEL skills lessons, or they can be themes that we can draw connections to throughout this season. We can also teach these skills by modeling them: give thanks and praise when students are doing well, appreciate the present, and ensure we provide students with positive feedback so they can learn how to support others.

Explore More SEL Resources

For more training on SEL and self-care, explore our SEL Learning Modules or check out our Self-Care Learning Modules for school personnel.

 

Reference(s):

Allen, S. (2018). The science of gratitude [White paper]. Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GGSC-JTF_White_Paper-Gratitude-FINAL.pdf

Braun, S. S., Roeser, R. W., Mashburn, A. J., & Skinner, E. (2019). Middle school teachers’ mindfulness, occupational health and well-being, and the quality of teach-student interactions.. Mindfulness, 10(2), 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-0968-2

Nicuță, E. G., Diaconu-Gherasim, L. R., & Constantin, T. (2023). How trait gratitude relates to teachers’ burnout and work engagement: Job demands and resources as mediators. Current Psychology, 42, 30338–30347. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04086-8