CHaPtEr 14: MINDFUL SELF-CarE • 337each with a set of questions to facilitate self-assessment. As with the long form, you can use
the short form to assess, and re-assess your own self-care or that of your students. The pur-
pose of the MSCS–S is to give you an embodied, actionable way to connect and attune your
mind, body, and actions in a manner that shows an appreciation for your body and mind
as it is right now and the circumstances and people in your world. Rechtschaffen (2014)
recommends turning to organizations that take a self-care and personal renewal approach
to teacher development: Inner Resilience Program (www.innerresilience- tidescenter.org),
CARE for Teachers (www.garrisoninstitute.org/signature-programs/care-for- teachers),
SMART in Education (passageworks.org/courses/smart-in-education), and Parker Palmer ’s
Courage and Renewal Programs (www.couragerenewal.org/parker). See also Jennings’s
(2015) Chapter 5, “The Heart of Teaching.” Jennings reviews her perspective on self-care
and provides step-by-step guidance for developing a nurturing self-care practice.
It is in the turning inward with curiosity, care, respect and loving-kindness that we are
empowered as we endeavor outward. As I close the book, I add one of my mother’s quotes.
Recall that as an English teacher, she began each class with a quote and journal writing.
As I commenced writing this book, my father sent me all of the quotes he could find. Some
are from magazines, pages pulled from the binding. Others are written in her handwrit-
ing on scraps of paper, or a dog-eared page (mom would never write in a book). Today, I
found this one, on a scrap of paper in mom’s writing. I looked for the source and no one is
sure who wrote it. It has been attributed to many authors such as Thoreau, Emerson, and
Morrow. What we do know, is that it is a gift from those who have come and gone and per-
haps know best how to guide us.
What lies behind us and what lies before us
is nothing compared to what lies within us.
Notes from my Mom,
Elizabeth G. Cook
(1940–2015)rEFErENCES
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