Savor
The other day was cold, with a biting wind. But it was sunny, too.
Despite the cold, the sun
beckoned.
I couldn’t resist it.
So I took our dog for a walk and savored the sun.
Savoring the sun: Standing with my face turned to the warmth and staying there. Feeling gratitude. Feeling the miracle of being a living, thinking organism on this improbable earth.
I mention this because I recently finished a book, called Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning. At the end of this book, the author, Susan Hrach, writes this:
Attending closely to objects, landscapes, words, and images offers our embodied brains the opportunity to notice distinctive features. Savoring builds on noticing by adding self-awareness to the process; the Chinese notion of savoring called p’in wei includes attending, grasping context, letting one’s imagination go, and being aware of one’s feelings….I know it’s hard to savor something unless I slow down and permit myself to indulge in paying attention to my surroundings. Noticing and savoring require that we carefully arrange our learning environment and that we make use of students’ sensory perceptions while allowing them to move. Savoring also requires building in moments for reflection.
This notion, savoring, captures my attitude towards teaching and learning. What a joy to have the time and space to bask in ideas, to feel their warmth and benefit, to notice and wonder and just stand there contemplating, connecting, being a living, thinking organism on this improbable earth.
I wish schools were places where this happened often, in every subject matter, for everyone.
Even just for a few seconds. Every day.
Teachers: What do you savor? When? What and when do your students get to savor?