Eco-Friendly Living: Tips and Tricks for Reducing Your Carbon Footprint at Home
These days, environmental issues are a big part of international discussion, so more and more people are looking for ways to live healthier lives and contribute less of a carbon footprint. One of the most important places to start making a difference is at home. Adding environmentally friendly habits into our daily lives can foster […]
Ways to Implement Self-Care in Young Children
In today’s fast-paced world, instilling the value of self-care in children is more important than ever. Self-care means taking care of the whole self. It is the foundation on which we build our care and love for the world (We R Native, 2021). The Medicine Wheel is an ancient symbol used by some of the […]
Understanding Compassionate Empathy: Connecting with Others on a Deeper Level
Empathy is a basis of human interaction, allowing us to understand and share the emotions of those around us. Among its various forms, compassionate empathy stands out as particularly impactful. While emotional and cognitive empathy focus on understanding, compassionate empathy goes further, driving us to take action to aid in relieving the heavy emotions another […]
Fostering Peace Skills in Youth Through Representation
In today’s diverse and media-heavy world, the power of representation is greater than ever, particularly for youth. Representation extends beyond visibility and helps teach youth valuable life skills. Media representation refers to how the media portrays groups or individuals with different characteristics. It refers to how some aspects such as gender, age, ethnicity, physical ability, […]
Using the Enneagram as a Tool for Empathy
I’ve never had much interest in personality tests, until I was introduced to the Enneagram of Personality by a close friend (and former TREE facilitator!) around five years ago. Since then, it’s something that I reflect on often as a way to have a deeper understanding of myself and to have a stronger understanding of […]
Why We Should Actively Listen to Others
Actively listening to others is an essential skill that can benefit both the listener and the speaker. Active listening involves not only hearing what someone is saying but also paying attention to their body language, tone of voice, and overall message. Let’s explore some reasons why active listening is so important. Firstly, active listening builds […]
Three Approaches for Helping Children with their Emotions
Learning different ways to help children understand and deal with their emotions is very important. It is crucial to help children manage their emotions, as they are a regular aspect of the human experience, and learning to understand and regulate them is critical for their overall well-being. It sets the foundation for lifelong emotional well-being. […]
Mindful Eating
Mindfulness is a large part of our TREE curriculum, where students are encouraged to practice various mindfulness techniques to manage their emotions. In my experience, the toughest part about introducing the concept of mindfulness is the idea that it requires a lot of time or perfect stillness to reap the benefits. On the contrary, mindfulness […]
Connecting with Nature Mindfully
I took up gardening a couple of years ago in an attempt to eat healthier and circumvent the rising cost of fresh produce at the grocery store. What I gained through that experience has been a reconnection, not only with the natural environment, but with myself. The routine of watering, weeding, and harvesting the vegetables […]
The Rewards of Celebrating Differences
One of the TREE workshops that I facilitated in the last session was with a Grade 1/2 split class, using the TREE Grade 2 curriculum. I really enjoyed working with the students and their teacher, since they were nice students who listened quite well and had high participation in group activities. But of course, some […]
