Blog

More than 2,500 years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus observed, “The only constant in life is change.” This year continues to present the unexpected and unusual, changing our lives and presenting circumstances beyond anything we might have imagined a year ago.

We expect some change: The familiar milestones of birth, early childhood through later grades, church life, graduation, college, employment, marriage, family life, anniversaries, illnesses and recoveries, aging, and departing life. The circle redraws with every generation, and yet we can only put our own picture together piece by piece. The entire tapestry of life remains outside our purview.

The coronavirus further confounds our perspectives and experiences. The myriad ways COVID-19 disrupts life are widely familiar and well documented, and they need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say that change has accelerated and the stakes of daily decisions have become higher. Conditions on the ground remain fluid, with yesterday’s best-practice response now made obsolete by new information.

We are uncomfortably beset by unknowns and uncertainties related to the virus. Even in the best of times, we need calm reflection and self-care. It is still more strongly true during moments of massive change such as the present pandemic.

The Centered On Success (COS) project, supported by a grant from the Montgomery County Education Foundation, uses evidence-based methods to teach a simple form of self-awareness and focus.

It is not religious or spiritual. It is just a set of tools that have a good effect on the brain. Anybody can do it, and with practice, anybody can do it for longer and longer stretches. For more details about the program, we invite you to explore this website.

The COS toolkit has proven effective in sports performance enhancement, pain management, business performance, trauma treatment, and behavior management, to name a few. The American Pediatric Society, the U.S. Department of Mental Health and Human Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and juvenile justice agencies use and recommend these techniques.

The COS program supports include:

• A website with content for students, their families, and teachers

• An original poster hung in every classroom and throughout the school building

• Student- and teacher-training with opportunities to practice the skills with ongoing support

• Pre- and post-surveys for students and teachers collecting measurable data on the program’s effectiveness

• Fidgets for every teacher and counselor’s use with students, currently in storage awaiting a sanitizing protocol before distribution

Despite our best efforts to master the clock and fit events to a preferred schedule, change remains constant and prime. Perhaps there is some comfort in the fact that philosophers such as Heraclitus have noted that only mutability itself is immutable. As we cope with the reality of our current condition, let us be encouraged by C.S. Lewis’s thought, “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind."

-- Juliet Rice, MEd.

Centered On Success Grant Recipient and Program Manager, Special Education Teacher at AMS