After devoting the vast majority of my writing and thinking to education-related issues and other publishing platforms in the past year or two, I’ve decided to revive the ‘Stew! Out… Read more Busyness Is Not A Badge Of Honor →
It has taken me nearly 32 years of living, but I’m finally coming to fully appreciate the importance of stillness. Just being. Doing nothing. When I start class, students are invited to participate in a mindful breathing meditation. When I drive home from work now, the radio is turned off. I’ve even begun practicing a simple breathing exercise for 15 minutes a day. So far, count me in as someone who believes in the power of mindfulness, which is covered in depth in this story from The Atlantic. For fifteen… Read more Creating Time and Space for Just Being. →
I’ll be the first one to admit it: I value financial security and material comfort, I save for retirement, and I sometimes worry about finances. But after reading Ben Hewitt’s book Saved: How I Quit Worry About Money and Became the Richest Guy in the World, I’ve been inspired to blog. Like Bill McKibben’s Deep Economy, the text challenged me to ponder just how unsustainable the modern paradigm of constant corporate and economic growth is, urging us to examine what it means to be wealthy. Let’s consider community, time,… Read more Wealth As Community, Time, and Freedom →
I’m not sure when I realized a determination to continue to learn and do things that do not actively require a digital screen. This desire to be present and… Read more What Do You Do Without A Screen? →
While strolling around a village about 45 minutes outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand, my wife Rebecca and I got inevitably lost amongst the dry rice fields, the occasional passing motorbike,… Read more Thailand: Idealism and Reestablishing the Travel Bug →
The following post first appeared on my Bluegrass Dispatches blog for Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ) on September 25th, 2013. The blog focuses on questions, issues, and solutions surrounding the… Read more “I like knowledge, but I don’t like school,” says a student. →
Americans are known throughout the world for being competitive people. We like to win Olympic medals, build the biggest houses, and maintain a superior military force. We have the most… Read more Can You Imagine Schools Without Sports? →
Like most teachers, I’m a few weeks into the school year. I’ve dealt with shifting rosters, a classroom change, opening-school paperwork, and trying to establish a positive, productive classroom… Read more Emphasizing the Gift of Attention →
Congratulations! If you have recently subscribed to Mindful Stew, you might be the site’s 1,500th follower! Except that you’re probably not, as I know a large percentage of this blog’s… Read more Fake Followers and Follows: Scram! →
Paul Barnwell 