Mindful Alignment

Book excerpt: Mindful Alignment: Foundations of Educator Flourishing develops a foundation for educators to flourish by promoting self-awareness as a mindful approach to ongoing professional inquiry. It presents three mindful arts—the art of well-being; the art of positive relationships; and the art of living from strengths, passions, and purposes—detailing several practices that, when executed over time, can provide a focus for developing mindful alignment. The authors present an approach to personal, professional learning that encourages educators to slow down, create space to notice, and then nurture their intentions and actions toward fulfilling their purposes and passions, in order to grow a sense of flourishing at work and overcome the challenges presented by teaching in ever increasingly fast-paced, rapidly-changing, accountability-driven professional environments.