Chapter 13: Evolving Practices For Dealing With Superintendent Stress: Compassion, Self-Compassion, and Mindfulness

Jon Kabat-Zinn, the molecular biologist who brought the practice of mindfulness to the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979, and is credited with helping to make mindfulness mainstream in the Western world, offers a perspective in this quote to slow down and take notice of all that is happening. He is referring to practicing mindfulness while reminding us that things are always changing, much like the rushing stream of our own thoughts and our overcrowded agendas. Such is the life for the busy and often overwhelmed agendas of school superintendents. This chapter is written for them, and the people who offer training and professional development targeted for their needs. The hope is for learning resilience and ways to follow the advice given on airplanes, to simply put on the oxygen mask first, before trying to do the same for others. The messages in this writing invite busy superintendents to slow down their world to: face the storm—it is there anyway; and embrace the quiet—it is there within.Kabat-Zinn (1994) reminded us, “You can’t stop the waves but you can learn to surf” (p. 30). This chapter is about learning to surf . . .