126 • PART II: MINDFULNESS IN EDUCATING FOR SELF-REGULATION AND ENGAGEMENT
They saw that Rocky seemed to be looking for something. Stepping forward, one of the raccoons asked,
“What are you looking for? Can we help?”
“I am looking for my snack. I have lost it,” Rocky explained to them.
The other raccoons began to help. They looked on the pathway. They looked in the plants that
lined the walkway. Some of the raccoons searched the street, while the other night animals shuffled by.
They looked for quite a while with no success. Tired from work, full from dinner, still quite a ways to
walk, they were becoming very weary.
Looking for a better strategy, one of the raccoons asked, “Hey Rocky, where do you think you first
lost your snack? We can focus our search there.”
“I lost it in my house,” Rocky said. “Over there,” and he pointed down the street to his raccoon den.
Confused, one of the raccoons asked, “Then why, for goodness sake, are you searching here, under
the lamppost?”
“Because the light is better here,” Rocky replied.
Source: Inspired by Epstein (2001).
Epstein (2001) explains that this story is not quite as dismaying as it may seem. In the
same way, neither is Jennifer’s behavior (Cook-Cottone, 2015). The seekers’ activity may
not have been completely in vain after all. You see, “Looking is the key” (p. 20). Jennifer and
Rocky most certainly are not going to find satisfaction cutting for emotional regulation and
stress reduction (i.e., self-harming) or looking for a snack far from where it was lost. Still,
their efforts to heal and make things right are there. They are just off course. For Jennifer and
Rocky, looking in the “right” place does not seem accessible.
Jennifer has a sense that she needs tools to negotiate her stressors and her own sensitivity
(Cook-Cottone, 2015). She is seeking. I honor this seeking in students. I validate their aware-
ness of the painful experiences in their lives and their efforts to address them. Things that have
happened to and challenged us and our challenges are important (Cook-Cottone, 2015). Yet, it
is also critical to learn how to be with these memories and challenges and secure empowering,
effective skills that can be utilized as needed (Cook-Cottone, 2015; McCown, Reibel, & Micozzi,
2010). Jennifer was referred to a psychologist who specialized in mindfulness interventions.
Research corresponds to this logic: Mindfulness may help Jennifer. In 2013, Wupperman
et al. offered that mindfulness can reduce reported acts of self-injury and overall harmful
dysregulated behaviors. Difficulties in the ability to be aware, manifest attention, and accept
ongoing experiences appear to play a role in relation to harmful dysregulated behaviors (Cook-
Cottone, 2015). Wupperman et al. (2013) hypothesize that mindfulness may disrupt and pre-
vent the cycles of trauma, distress, and self-harm. Mindfulness helps create a space between
triggers (e.g., emotional and interpersonal) and the behavioral response (Cook-Cottone, 2015).
That is, mindfulness may help develop decentering, or the ability to step back from automatic
reactions and judgments, to create a space for a better and safer choice (Wupperman et al.,
2013). With this space, Jennifer can become aware of her urges to engage in dysregulated
behaviors (Cook-Cottone, 2015). She can choose a healthier response rather than injuring her-
self. With these tools, Jennifer may also learn to prevent these cycles from occurring in the first
place (Cook-Cottone, 2015). As she becomes increasingly aware of the processes in her mind
and her body, she can be more effective at noticing when negative affect is arising and address