On what seems to be essential, and how seeing the face of a student can change your day
It has been a long couple of weeks, since I last published a post on the portal.
It has been a confusing couple of weeks.
I had the feeling that so much had been said, I felt the need to press pause in terms of producing material. Also, I experienced a storm of mixed feelings related to the observation of Italy moving to phase 2, 2 quickly, maybe.
I took some time to listen and to talk to people, to connect, with no aim but connecting, and being close.
An activity I would recommend.
Listening to colleagues, to friends, to clients, to parents, to students, to teachers, to experts: I was looking for something to make meaning of this particular time, once again, and it wasn't as immediate as in other moments of this pandemic. It's not as clearcut to take a position, this time, so I listened.
Today I know what makes more sense to me, what I should talk about today, and it is not a solution, it's a practice and it has to do with #connection.
During this time of listening and silence, I had the chance to meet with groups of students, online, also today. These meetings made me even more aware than I already was about one thing: the transformative power of a #smile.
Interacting with people wearing #masks, talking to a black #screen during online lessons, these can be very disorienting experiences. Communication is a two-way, co-constructed process and it requires verbal and #nonverbal feedback for the messages to be clear and effective, and for the conversation to proceed. So, when someone is there showing their face at the other side of the screen, being brave and open, it is a wonderful and warm experience. It feels less tiring and more effective.
I want to remind everyone who is experiencing connection at distance (and in presence) that offering and receiving a smile, even briefly, is a healing experience; smiling is a basic human ability with ancient scopes, it has to do with emotional co-regulation and may trigger the parasympathetic nervous system to release relaxing stress-inhibitors: "When we see another person smile and then mentally simulate that smile or respond with one of our own, we feel happier. A simple view of another person smiling triggers a whole series of changes in our brain and autonomic nervous system. We can never really know what it feels like to be someone else, but our mirror neuron system and ability to mentally simulate another's actions may bring us closer to understanding each other" (Susan R Barry, 2011).
To conclude with the words of the amazing person and musician Ezio #Bosso, who recently passed away leaving words of wisdom and wonderful music (see video above):
"Smiles bring you closer than steps and open more doors than keys"
"I sorrisi avvicinano più dei passi e aprono più porte delle chiavi"
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