Janelle Stear

A dear friend and colleague, Connie B., recently told me about her five steps to positive mindfulness. Connie is a school counselor and a private psychologist. I have known her three years, but have just started visiting with her to understand the wide range of insight and wisdom she has to offer others. I have been practicing, or attempting to practice, the steps as a way to change my mindset from negative to positive. Here is my analysis based on Connie's five steps. Step One: What is my feather? Emily Dickinson - “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tune without the words - and never stops at all.” What elements are required for you to put your hope above all? I need to find what I put my hope into that is bigger than myself. I have been neglectful of my own faith. I must repent and transform myself to be more like God’s intention/image. Integrate this language into my actions, words, and thoughts to own it. This creates the i...

In January 2018, I set a goal to lose thirty pounds. Now I have set this goal before and met it before. That was 2013 before starting my teaching certification program and Master's in Education. Since 2013, all of the weight that I had lost with pride came back on through my own dependence for food and alcohol to deal with stress. Food and alcohol became my crutch, my go to solution for getting through assignments, tests, lesson plans, and yes, especially my research thesis that ended up being eighty-eight pages with fourteen pages of APA source information. August 2013 to August 2015, I gained probably fifteen pounds. Wait, then I started my first year teaching English 9 and English 10. Of course after all of that work to prepare for this experience, nothing prepared me for how to deal with the immense stress I would put on myself. Now, let me figuratively put this first year in mind for you. Imagine you were in my place. You have to climb a mountain with an ice pack of col...