This is a lesson plan for teaching children aged 8 to 14 about mindfulness.
Note: This plan is untested and could potentially be unsafe. It's merely a concept.
Homework given at the end of the previous lesson:
"Imagine you have a time machine and can travel to any place in any time. Where would you go, when would you go there, and whom would you want to meet? Let your imagination run wild and write it down in 500 words or fewer."
Review of homework: Ask several students to read their work aloud.
Points to emphasise:
• No two pieces are the same. We are all different. There is great diversity in thinking and experience, and what people imagine is as varied as how we all talk, walk, and appear. Even identical twins have different imaginations, and no one in the class produced the same piece of work.
The puzzle
Materials:
A metal or string puzzle presented on a table in front of the students, with a covered tray. The puzzle should be suitable for visualising a solution but neither too easy nor too difficult.
• Tell the students to uncover the tray and think of a solution to the problem without touching it.
• Ask the students to cover the puzzle again.
• Ask how many think they have solved the problem in their imaginations and inquire how they thought about it before attempting the puzzle (whether they solved it or not):
- Was it like a video in their head?
- Or was it like still photographs?
- Or was it a spoken dialogue in their heads?
- Was it in clear stages?
- Or was it something else? If so, what was it?
- Or did they see or hear nothing at all in their mind's eye?
• Then have them solve the puzzle and ask if their mental planning worked or if they had to try something else. If so, what? Was it just trial and error? Explore how planning in the mind's eye works together with 'trial and error' to enhance the results.
Repeat the process with another puzzle, with students now more likely to be aware of their thinking.
How we plan things in the mind's eye
• Point out that planning involves two parts we alternate between: imagination and mental testing.
• Imagination includes such thoughts as:
- What if this happens?
- Maybe if...?
- Just some random ideas
- Linking different things together creatively
- Seeing how things might work in the future
- Could it be that...?
• Testing it out involves:
- What does that mean?
- Does it make sense?
- Would that work?
- Is this useful?
• So we imagine something and then test to see if it's possible in the real world. Or perhaps we create a fantasy world in our minds to write a book, where such testing is less necessary than in day-to-day life. Did they find this when they planned to solve the puzzle? Did they think in another way?
• If we just imagine with no testing, ideas can become extremely wild. If we test our thoughts too much to see if they work, things can become boring or less creative. It's about finding a balance.
• Encourage students to play with their imagination when working on school projects because imagination is the source of most human creativity: from scientists to story writers to artists.
Philosophy Behind It
Materials:
• Show a picture of the Oracle at Delphi
• On the side of the Oracle at Delphi are the words 'Know Thyself'. We know ourselves better if we understand how we think and are aware of the thoughts passing through our minds. Do the students think this is true? Have a discussion about it.
• We can think as we did when solving the puzzle, but we can also be aware of our thoughts the rest of the time in our lives. This is called 'mindfulness', which science shows is beneficial to our mental health.
• Our imagination can make us hope for things to happen, but also fear things. This usually gives us goals (in the case of hope) and keeps us safe (in the case of fear). Hope is expecting something good to happen in the future, and fear is expecting something bad. Both usually occur mostly in our imaginations. The ancient philosopher Seneca wrote, 'We suffer more in imagination than in reality'. Can we reduce mental suffering by making our imaginations work creatively instead of dwelling on too many hopes and fears? Discuss this with the students. The philosopher Epictetus said, 'It's not things that upset us but our judgements about things', and we make judgements in our thoughts and by modelling scenarios in our mind's eye.
• Have a discussion with the class about what they think of all this. Ask them, 'Did you plan what you were going to say to the class in your head before you said it, and were you really aware you were doing this?'
Meditation
• Meditation is part of most religions and involves sitting quietly with our thoughts.
• The main goal is to observe thoughts as they appear in our mind's eye, see them as just thoughts, and let them pass. This is a good way to learn mindfulness and become more aware of our thinking.
• It's not about stopping thoughts! That's nearly impossible.
• We're going to sit quietly and still for five minutes. Sit upright and you can close your eyes or keep them open.
• Thoughts will likely pop into your head about things going on in your life. They could be hopes or fears or attempts to solve some problem, or just your imagination running wild with ideas. As well as planning for the future, you might go over something from the past to clarify what happened. But whatever the thoughts are, just see them as thoughts and let them pass. It sounds easy, but it really isn't. This can take years of meditation to achieve, but it's just a taste of looking into your own mind and what a fantastic universe exists in our own heads. Elon Musk wants to go to Mars, but has he even looked into his own thought processes? Maybe you would like to learn more about how to meditate, as it can be a very interesting hobby and a useful skill to acquire. It's also related to yoga and tai chi, which are fun and healthy activities.
• This class today has covered some significant ideas! Your degree of understanding will differ among each of you. It is not a measure of your intelligence, nor does it mean you are a better or worse person. It's just to give you a taste of these very deep philosophical and psychological ideas which have perplexed humans for millennia.
• Discuss what they experienced. Reinforce the idea of diversity in thinking so that nobody feels excluded or disappointed. This diversity leads to the amazing achievements of humanity working together. There are no real rules here, and science is just scratching the surface.
• Ask the students how they plan to use their imaginations in the coming term. How will they be creative, and what projects are they looking forward to that will exercise their imagination?