Tag: mental health

Gen X Similarities with Baby Boomers

Carolyn Worthington, editor-in-chief of Healthy Aging® Magazine and executive director of Healthy Aging®, is founder of September is National Healthy Aging Month. The annual celebration has the mantra, “it is never too late to reinvent yourself.” I call this “rewiring” your personality and skillset.

Worthington champaigns those 45+ to take charge of physical, mental, social, and financial well-being. As she highlights, U.S. attention is no longer predominantly directed to the Baby Boom generation (born 1946-1964), with 76 million Boomers over age 50 today. Gen X individuals (born 1964-1980), 65 million strong, recently streamed into their 60’s.

Consider each take-charge goal (actually for everyone, not just Gen Xers and Boomers):

  • Physical well-being

As U.S. Gen Xers age, health-related decisions become crucial. According to the Mather Institute Gen Xperience Year 2 Report, stress levels run high – nearly 69% of Gen Xers reported moderate-to-extreme stress in the previous 3 months. A majority (67%) reported “good”-to-“very good” physical health, while 9% reported “excellent” physical health. However, research from Ohio State University indicates that risks for metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and chronic inflammation are higher in Gen Xers compared to Baby Boomers at the same age. Compared to previous generations, Boomers are reported to have 1½ times more cancer, lung disease, heart problems, diabetes and high cholesterol as they reached their 50th–60th decades.

  • Mental well-being

My labeling, Midlife Maze — the squeezed generation caring for children alongside aging parents — is upstream challenged in work-life balance and job security; nearly 60% reported these factors affect well-being. Only 45% of Gen Xers rated their mental health as “very good”-to-“excellent,” compared to 57% of Boomers.  

  • Social well-being

Gen Xers and Boomers report increasing rates of loneliness. An AARP study found 46% of U.S. adults ages 45-59 identifying as lonely. A Cigna Group study found Boomer loneliness rates to be 44-45%. Ben Franklin was 29 when he penned these words: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Let’s prevent social isolation for both groups.

  • Financial well-being

Nearly 40% of Gen-X households have no retirement savings, while 27% of Boomers have zero personal retirement savings. There are misperceptions about who picks up the retirement tab. Without savings, many retirees assume Social Security will bankroll retirement. However, average 2026 S.S. checks for retired employees run about $2,000 monthly with average households headed by an individual 65+ incur monthly expenses of approximately $5000 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey).

Worthington’s advice is to treat September like “back-to-school” season for adults. She proposes asking, “What was your best year so far? 28? 40? Now? Pic­ture your­self at that age and be it. Some…may say this is denial, but…it’s pos­i­tive think­ing and goes a long way toward feel­ing bet­ter about your­self.”

 Tip: Don’t keep swimming in thrashing thoughts about how you look in the mir­ror. Make well-being plans.

Pearls of (PoP) Quiz

536. How do you rate yourself on these 4 indices of well-being?

537. What steps might you take TODAY to leverage better self-care?    

Procrastination Interruption

Are you tied up in knots by “I would have, I could have, I should have _______” self-talk? How often do you interrupt your progress in meeting a goal with procrastination? If you have ever relied on procrastination’s crutches, you have lots of company. The procrastination part of me lingers too long on some projects. Let’s interrupt our procrastination!

Retired professor and researcher of procrastination at Carleton College in Canada, Timothy Pychyl maintains that poor time management is not the cause of procrastination; rather, the culprit is our emotional regulation. The key reason we avoid doing something is not due to lackadaisical time management, but the task at hand generates some uncomfortable emotion – fear, anxiety, and/or self-doubt.

Research by Pychyl found another procrastination myth — that we work best under pressure. While stress might force you to complete something, it may not result in your best work. You may gain an adrenaline rush and believe that without pressure, it’s difficult to “find” motivation.

Pychyl prefers to call procrastination a choice. For example, we may choose to read some self-help book instead of addressing a distracting emotion. We may learn some information and tell ourselves, “I learned what I need to do!” When we take in some new information in this way, there may be a temporary relief that we are closing in on a solution. Brains love learning. In learning there is a sense of “solving” some concern. Yet, research suggests that this fleeting satisfaction might get in the way of actual motivation to follow up with actions. After all, most of us are elaborate excuse-makers.  

It is good to learn about change! Actual change is the real pearl.

So, what is the procrastination story? Pychyl writes a “Don’t Delay” blog with Psychology Today. He advocates taking small, achievable steps to address both your stress level and deliver a jumpstart to your motivation. In an interview with Eric Zimmer, the creator of “The One You Feed” podcast, Pychyl offered tips from his book, Solving the Procrastination Puzzle: A Concise Guide to Strategies for Change:

  • Present-self explains there is benefit from procrastination. Future-self reaps the results.
  • Ask yourself, “How are you actually going to implement this goal?” Your implementation intention can start the engine of motivation.
  • Leverage a positive habit you already have: “After I brush my teeth, my next morning action is _______________.”
  • We do not do projects; we do actions.
  • Follow this quote by a monk: “You’ve got to give the monkey something to do.” 
  • Most of us seem to believe that one must be in the mood to do something, that motivation proceeds action. However, it’s often the other way around.

Research offers ways to interrupt our procrastination: take action! I would add, be curious; greet your exiled emotions like old friends: “Ah, you always have my back. Let’s take baby steps together!”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

524. When do you catch yourself procrastinating?

525. What project calls out to you to interrupt procrastination?   

The World Works Better When Equality Works

July is Disability Pride Month, celebrating a key civil rights victory since 1990 when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. Boston held the first Disability Pride Day, but the first official celebration of this important milestone happened in July 2015 when marking the 25th anniversary of the ADA. The 2026 theme captures the best of inclusiveness: “The World Works Better With Us.”

As the Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Foundation points out, we are all “different” in some way: “Just as wearing glasses is a way to clear blurry vision, using a wheelchair is another way to get around if walking is a challenge. Approaching the concept of disabilities this way keeps the emphasis on ways we are similar, rather than on differences.”

Parents and schools educating children about disabilities is key to changing stereotypes about certain “differences.” Consider English astrophysicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, a genius who espoused “Multiverse” theory, offering a new mathematical framework for astronomers to discover the existence of parallel universes. At age 21 Hawking was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) that paralyzed him and confined him to a wheelchair. Losing his capacity for speech, his understanding of general relativity remained intact. Using cheek-muscle control, a computer helped him communicate. Disabilities often require swimming-upstream challenges.

All of us might consider conscious changes in our views of disabilities. Recognize that many institutions do not embrace employees with disabilities; unconscious prejudice is systemic. We must start with simple advocacy for those with disabilities: say that a person has a disability rather than a person is disabled. This connotes that disability or illness is just one aspect of a person, not their total identity. Those with disabilities who are people of color and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community face discrimination on several fronts.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1 in 4 Americans (about 70 million adults) have some type of disability with 10% coping with invisible disabilities. You may not recognize that a neighbor or colleague suffers from chronic pain, mental health disorders and/or neurological differences. COVID may have shed some awareness on disabilities initially, but people tend not to dwell on infirmities; it is a reminder of what can “go wrong” at any age.

Barbara J. Howard is American Bar Association President-Elect. In a commencement address for Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law, she urged new lawyers to speak out, because “silence is complicity.” She reminded law graduates that lawyers are uniquely qualified, as well as obliged, to uphold the Rule of Law: “Constitutional protections are a reality for all.”  Howard and her associates specialize in family law, including custody and parenting issues. Her firm prioritizes use of collaborative processes.

My version of inclusiveness is this: the world works better when equality works.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

514. When have you advocated for an individual with a disability?

515. What is one change that you might make to foster equality for those with disabilities? 

Personality “Weeds”

My definition of a “weed” is a plant in the wrong place. Ralph Waldo Emerson was more philosophical: “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.” As I pulled mighty weeds in my side yard with some that had fluff-ball heads getting ready to explode their seed, I wondered where they came from, as no other part of my garden had this pest. Then I peeked through the fence where a host of the rascal plants were blooming undeterred in my neighbor’s yard.

Perhaps the neighbor was a fan of Carey Salerno’s poem, The Weeds (Accidentally on Purpose): “I watched the first weeds burgeon and decided this was the summer /  I wouldn’t stop them, every inch of crabgrass, every foot higher /  the woody stem of nightshade… /   When faced with all that overgrowth, doesn’t some large part of you want to /  watch it manifest more, just a little bit, to see how wild things really /  can get… /  if I can get myself to see it that way, to let myself feel what it’s /  like to let anticipations go, to learn to revel in what might seem more like /  mess but could just be learning….”

Or, perhaps the neighbor had read Jake Eagle’s and Michael Amster’s book, The Power of Awe: Overcome Burnout & Anxiety, Ease Chronic Pain, Find Clarity & Purpose – in Less than 1 Minute Per Day, where almost any topic might become awe-inspiring! Mindfulness author Amster finds the practice of tuning into weed awe instructive for teaching resilience to flourish in difficult conditions:

“Weeds are remarkable teachers. They grow in places where nothing else seems able to survive. They push through cracks in sidewalks, emerge from gravel, and thrive in harsh conditions with little water or care. Their resilience is extraordinary…some had delicate purple blossoms. Others displayed geometric patterns more beautiful than many cultivated plants…the only reason we call them ‘weeds’ is because they are growing where we don’t want them. How often do we do the same with people, things, experiences, or parts of ourselves?”

Yes, we do misinterpret “weedy” parts of our personalities on a regular basis. Do you have some part of your personality that seems like “taking-up-too-much space” might apply?

Let’s apply an awe exercise to ourselves: Turn on your imagination. Notice some part of you that seems bothersome. Imagine this part of your personality having color, shape, texture. Ask yourself when this part first showed up — perhaps in some momentous time. Consider the part’s tough resilience to flourish in difficult situations. Thank this hard-working part of yourself, likely trying to protect you from some real or perceived danger. Awe often hides in ordinary days.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

510. Is there a part of your personality that you regularly cast aside as “weed?”

511. What might shift in your mind’s eye if you took time to investigate how that part of you filled a purpose, likely years ago?   

Grandma Pearls

I have entered Grandma territory! And what wonderful territory it is!  We need more positive people-to-people connections in these challenging times. There is nothing like welcoming a new baby to bring smiles from absolutely everyone! Strangers — who might ignore you any other day — want to send good wishes to the babe. No one cares who you voted for. No one wants to talk about their views on wars, just “What’s Baby’s name?”  

Grandma is a term of endearment. Early versions were Grandam (grand + dame) or Great Mother. Growth of a simple Great Mother idea was initiated by Mike Mathews in 2012 in Central Park. Mathews honored his Grandma, Eileen Wilkinson, by setting up a makeshift stand (painted purple, his 104-year-old Grandmother’s favorite color). He named his invention “Grandma Stand.” The wisdom of sage women, and perhaps the spontaneous decision of a passerby to have a listening ear at just the right time in their week, makes a compelling connection for strangers. An accompanying sign asks one question: “What’s something you’re working on?” or “What stands between you and happiness?” or “What’s a conflict you have right now?” or “Who doesn’t know how much they’ve impacted your life”?  or “Who’s someone you wish was still around?” or “What’s a relationship I need to fix or let go?”

Grandma Susan has gentle grace in her empathy response to a young woman who had moved to NYC from out of state. A box of Kleenex appears on the stand when tears surface: “…Most people fear change…it is normal to go into a kind of grieving with change…but what are we going to do about it?…talking is very valuable …we write our narrative. We create in our minds a story…sometimes that is constructive; sometimes it is destructive.” 

Mathews has 20 grandmothers who volunteer at Grandma Stand in NYC and the concept spread to at least 6 more states (and 20 other locations). Perhaps it is as important for the Grands as it is for the diverse passer-by clientele. Grandma Kathy espouses, “You can’t stop me from doing this. It’s the most gratifying thing I’ve ever done.” A satisfied “customer” told filmmaker Susan Polis Schutz, “Just a little love, a little talking. She’s speaking to my soul and my essence.” Another told his listening Grandmother that he told her things that he had never told anyone else.

Schutz made a documentary showcasing 20 individuals, ages 10-81, talking at Grandma Stand. Even these brief encounters can kindle hope, and perhaps ongoing awareness, for those who take a few minutes to stop by. https://www.kpbs.org/news/2026/05/07/grandma-stand

Babies and Grandmothers can bring about unlimited friendliness. Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön writes about unlimited friendliness in her book, Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears. While no particular religion is part of Grandma Stands, many who avail themselves of Grandmotherly pearls are in sacred territory.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

508. When do you talk to strangers?

509. What have you learned from a stranger?            

Boys and Men Need Our Attention

Author David Deida has a new book, The Man of Zero. “Zero” Man is defined by Deida as arriving at “…a point where he’s no longer motivated by the same motivations as in the past…[he]could become depressed. A man can collapse when he’s feeling unmotivated. But if you don’t collapse, if you can stay very present with the moment, with what is, without collapsing—even though you have no sense of purpose or meaning—something else happens. You begin to live and think and move from a deeper place that’s not personal anymore.” 

Some can identify with Deida’s philosophy; others might question its veracity for their life. Perhaps everyone can agree to attend to boys’ and men’s wellbeing. June is Men’s Health Awareness Month with the intention to emphasize a critical need for preventive health screenings. This year’s theme reflects how important it is for whole families to invest in men’s wellness — “Partners in Care: For Better Lifespans Across the Lifespan.” Men’s health is a special focus in the week leading up to Father’s Day.

The rates of male depression and suicide have risen sharply according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. More than 6 million U.S. men experience symptoms of depression every year; a recent survey uncovered that 49% of men feel more depressed than they admit to people in their lives. A further cause for concern, men are less likely to ask for help with mental health challenges.

Risks for male wellbeing include these identified factors:

  • Toxic masculinity — the stereotypical gender roles to be strong, silent, and self-sufficient.
  • Stress at work – long work hours, high-stress roles, job burnout and depression.
  • Financial concerns — often the primary breadwinner, yet men more likely to face unemployment.
  • Substance abuse – men more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs, increasing their mental health concerns.

Victor Fontanez is a barber, motivational speaker and entrepreneur, who gave free outdoor haircuts when business collapsed during the pandemic, leading to his social media platform. He became a barber-turned-counselor in Atlanta. Fontanez is a strong role model for youth. He asks 11–12-year-old boys, “What would you change in the world?” They all say gun violence.

Fontanez shares how at age 23 he experienced a mental health crisis prior to his diagnosis of bipolar I disorder: “I thought I could physically push through anything. There was no need for therapy; there was no need to slow down…I pushed my body to the limits—and then I realized, it’s mind, body, and soul. It’s three things that a person needs to take care of.” He radically changed his behavior. Along with psychotherapy and medication assistance, he no longer compromises his sleep, eats a better diet, and exercises. He celebrates his positive changes.

Join “Wear Blue” on Fridays in June to show support for men’s bodymind health.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

506. When are you a role model for wellness?

507. What further steps might promote wellness in others?   

Mothering Mental Health

What does Mother’s Day mean to you? There is a continuum of responses, as each person has unique and perhaps thorny memories of their upbringing, sometimes without a mother.

Let’s consider a mother of 6 children who lost her mother when she was 5 years old (her mother died during childbirth when a sister was born). This resilient mother is Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910). In addition to motherhood, Howe was a published author and poet, playwright, newspaper publisher, activist in abolitionism and woman’s suffrage, but perhaps best remembered for her Battle Hymn of the Republic as lyrics to the tune, John Brown’s Body. As early as age 20, Howe anonymously published in literary magazines.

Howe’s mother also was a poet in her shortened life. Her father was a Wall Street stockbroker and banker. Due to a mothering aunt and a privileged educational life with private tutors, Howe became a scholar, eventually reading and speaking 7 languages. Raised in her father’s Episcopalian religion, Howe read extensively and came to reject a Calvinistic view. She became a Unitarian; her faith became a strong motivator in her reform causes. Howe was friends with other Unitarian scholars and writers — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Lucy Stone, and Theodore Parker among others.

Howe’s husband, 18 years older, reportedly wanted a stay-at-home wife, but Howe lectured widely without benefit of stay-at-home Zoom. When her husband confessed to multiple affairs on his deathbed, Howe took the high road and wrote a flattering biography of him. Never assume that “famous” or “upper class” people escape trauma. Each person’s mental health path, regardless of significant losses, has the possibility of restoring a healing journey.

May is Mental Health Awareness month with a theme of “More Good Days, Together.” It is likely that Howe’s time spent nurturing deep friendships was part of her sustaining wellness. With Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe established the American Suffrage Association. There are many ways to mother or father in one’s life. Howe mothered a peace movement when she traveled to Europe for the promotion of an International Woman’s Peace Congress.

Howe’s 1870 Mother’s Day Proclamation is a testament to her passion and persistence in peace-building. Over 150 years later, Howe’s poetry has meaning for today; she frames a mother’s love for her offspring and calls into question the “justice” notion that wars can solve problems. See her full Proclamation: https://allpoetry.com/Mother’s-Day-Proclamation

“…our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn / All that we have been able to teach them of clarity, mercy and patience. / We, the women of one country, / Will be too tender of those of another country / To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. / From the voice of a devasted Earth a voice goes up with / Our own. It says: ‘Disarm! Disarm!’ / The sword of murder is not the balance of justice….”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

496. What are your earliest memories of your mother?

497. How do you view motherhood today?   

Peace One Plant at a Time

May is a wonderful month! If you are living in the Northern Hemisphere, you might welcome a reset from cold temperatures, a warming up in body comfort. Let’s also warm up peace in our hearts. I am a gardener at heart. I find much peace in gardening. Literally, gardening is grounding. I love the whiff of earthy soil turning over when I dig a hole to plant a new perennial in my garden.

A sweet inhale comes from the many scented blossoms that begin their seasonal run every spring. Angela Haupt (health and wellness editor at TIME) writes about holding a flower’s inhale for just 30 seconds to realize measurable body changes! Not only does your mood smile, but your heart rate slows and your nervous system switches on a calming state.

Cognitive psychologist Pamela Dalton is a researcher of taste and smell at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. She explains the science of smell. Our olfaction is so dominant that it evolves before the brain’s cortex, our thinking tool. A sense of smell helps define what we feel and may even be responsible for our survival — as in the case of smelling smoke before a life-threatening fire erupts. Although difficult to believe, the human nose can detect about 1 trillion different scents!

When you inhale a pleasant scent, you do breathe more deeply in the present moment. That deeper breath affects your entire body, including the releasing of muscle tension. Different from touch, hearing, or vision which have to pass through the brain’s thalamus before there is conscious awareness, smell travels directly to your amygdala and the hippocampus. The hippocampus holds your memories, so scent can trigger past emotions you experienced in some memory. Imagine a smell of a special food from childhood. Just a whiff of chocolate contains hundreds of different odor molecules.

Dalton suggests that such scented experiences form very early. Some compounds found in breast milk are linked with chemical properties in vanilla and may be responsible for why vanilla seems universally pleasant to nearly everyone across cultures.

I visited a lilac farm recently and experienced many inhalations of lilacs. While every person responds to scent in unique ways, this is a pleasing scent for me. Some think of lilacs with nostalgia. Seeing graceful lilac blooms swaying in the breeze brought back memories of my childhood home with a white lilac tree.

Lilacs represent peaceful vibes of tranquility with a sense (and scent) of renewal. The delicate blossoms are an early food source of nectar for bees and butterflies. Lilacs of various colors are associated with various representations.

Purple lilacs: Emotions of love and passion; White lilacs: Purity, humility, and innocence; Magenta/pink lilacs: Strong friendships and affection; Blue lilacs: Serenity and happiness; Violent lilacs: Reflection and wisdom.

Let’s embrace the symbolism of peace-enhancing lilacs.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

494. What pleasant scents linger for you from your childhood?

495. What plant or flower gives you bodymind serenity

Reading Is Not Dead (Yet)

Can reading books make a comeback?

U.S. daily book reading for pleasure is steadily declining (40% drop from 2003-2023). A National Endowment for the Arts research lab at University of Florida teamed with University College London researchers to analyze data from 236,000+ Americans who completed the American Time Use Study.

The dearth of pleasure reading does not reflect all groups; people with higher educational levels and women are more likely readers. Unfortunately, reader-less homes where reading for pleasure could support mental health, creativity and lifelong reading are those in lower income or educational realization and rural (versus metropolitan) areas. One might argue that these folks often have two jobs to make ends meet and reading time is a luxury that is not sustainable.

March is National Reading Month. The intent is to encourage daily reading habits to promote literacy as well as nurture reading habits in both children and adults. A focus set by Read Across America Week (March 2–6), was “Champion Kindness,” a goal much needed today. Helping children read diverse books can foster empathy along with developing a love for broad-ranging literature.

One reason March is a special reading month is due to honoring of Dr. Seuss’s birthday on March 2nd. Much-loved Dr. Suess books, with their quirky illustrations and humorous storytelling, remain favorite choices for parents who read books to their children at bedtime. His Grinch character provides food for thought for both parents and kids. Dr. Suess was right when he said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.”

While many blame our digital-relying habits for a reading downfall, British author and technology guru Kevin Ashton maintains that technology is not to blame. He reminds, “What’s on their phones is words…go look at [a]…TikTok video…There are captions that help it make more sense when they’re communicating with one another. They’re sending text messages. Children today are writing more words than you or I did when we were teenagers.”

Yes, “words” are present in technology, but I think the technology vs. reading-books issue needs more discussion among educators and mental health providers. When there is a winning lawsuit against Meta and Google, blaming social media for the anxiety and depression of a woman who claims addiction to social media as a youngster, the impact of digital wording matters. What safeguards are present for tender minds in developing healthy perceptions about their belonging in a fast-paced society? Who moderates digital mediums for kids?

Ashton had thoughts about storytelling for decades before writing his book, The Story of Stories: The Million-Year History of a Uniquely Human Art. He suggests that it is emotional storytelling that readers seek. Yes, emotions are complex parts of us and stories help us gain perspectives about emotional territory. Along with diverse book-reading, I believe we need more in-person communication in sharing emotions in homes and schools.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

484. What is the last book you read?

485. Were there any emotional insights from reading that book?  

Everyone Needs SEL

Francesco Carta fotografo/Getty Images

March 2nd is SEL (Social Emotional Learning) Day 2026. This annual celebration highlights the many positive benefits of SEL immersion in all aspects of life. SEL Day is an international event that takes place during the first week of March each year with 88 countries onboard. The U.S. Senate introduced SEL Week in 2023 with a bipartisan resolution by Senators Susan Collins and Dick Durbin. The 2026 theme posts as “Skills for Community, Skills for Career.”

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a proactive set of skills for children (and adults) to focus on mental health and well-being. The skills incorporate developing self-awareness, coping with emotions, setting and achieving positive goals, understanding and practicing empathy for others, building relationship competence, and making responsible decisions. An increasing need is for families, educators, business leaders, and whole communities to work together to promote SEL among students, our future leaders. A boost in academic learning is only one of the winners with such a systemic effort. SEL encompasses restorative justice, workforce readiness, and cultivating a lifelong growth mindset.

Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) set the stage for understanding one’s historical-cultural influence in their learning. He stressed the importance of one’s social environment – the attitudes and interactions – that each child is exposed to from their earliest years. His zone of proximal development espoused guiding children through a task rather than expecting them to work in isolation. He was a proponent of social negotiation as an essential step in a student’s mastery of concepts. Rather than traditional memorization methods, Vygotsky advocated a model of teacher-student questioning, clarifying, and predicting in a collaborative process.

The theory of scaffolding was applied to psychological arenas by cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner in the late 1950’s. He used the construction term to outline young children’s oral language acquisition. Bruner’s principles also spotlighted social interactional support for students in learning new concepts; he believed that the temporary scaffolding could be removed, similar to construction scaffolding, when the support is no longer needed.

Building upon Vygotsky’s and Bruner’s thinking, school scaffolding in social and emotional learning (SEL) incorporates modeling, prompting and coaching by school staff. Emotional and social skills are introduced in a stepwise progression with the goal of gradually removing support as students exhibit competence and independence. This approach also applies to academics and athletics. 

It is a good idea to focus on scaffolding of children’s development of SEL. How might such scaffolding apply to adults who missed out on SEL in their schooling? This seems like our biggest challenge. In President Barack Obama’s words, “Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.”

SEL peer modeling, prompting and coaching for adults needs to be part of National SEL Week.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

476. When do you use empathy?

477. What will you do to incorporate SEL for yourself this week?