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* EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE *
Is your daughter struggling to keep her balance midst school stress and social tensions?
I'm thrilled to announce that we officially launched the first session of our new coaching group: The Happiness Circle: Social & Emotional Support for 'Tween Girls. This eight-week program is focused on guiding middle school girls between the ages 9-13 on Mondays, April 16th-June 18th, from 4:45-5:45pm!
Circle Sessions are based on the tenets of positive psychology to encourage student resilience and school engagement, inspired by Project Happiness & the Dalai Lama! Watch the inspiring film that provides more info: here.
Hear what Representative Tim Ryan from my birth state of Ohio has to say about mindfulness in schools and health.
Please contact me for more information and/or to start a Circle at your school or neighborhood!
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* SPEAK UP FOR KIDS * "Teen Anxiety vs Depression"
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"Building Your Family's Educational Team"  Thursday, May 10th
7:00-8:30PM Free
In partnership with The Child Mind Institute and to promote National Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, I am presenting a talk on teen anxiety and how to best build a team of educational support for your child.
Please join us at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture for this informative evening of helpful tips.
And for more information, visit this link online! _______________________________
* POEM IN YOUR POCKET * Every year, talented young writers from schools throughout the city gather in Bryant Park to share original poems:
Thursday, April 26th
Reading Room at Bryant Park
11AM
 For cool techies: Add "Poem Flow" to your iPhone!
And see monthly recommendations via text for poetry~
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* SUMMER SEMINARS 2012*
at the Corner
Session One: June 18th-28th
Middle School Program:
"Reinforcing Reading & Writing"
Students will strengthen analytical skills for close reading of both fiction and non-fictional texts through a technique called "Fireworks," and practice developing "The Essential Ingredients of a Successful Essay."
High School Program:
"Sports Stories: Film Analysis for the Reluctant Writer"
Student athletes will review movies and documentary films dedicated to the world of sports, and then compose critiques that develop critical thinking skills and effective writing techniques.
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* THE CORNERSTONE * April 20th, 2012 ~ Happy National Poetry Month ~ 
"You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state.
What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state."
~ Sharon Gannon
CLIFTON CONNECTIONS 
The Long & Winding Road...
I have to admit that my mother just about birthed a bobcat when I informed her that I'd be spending Easter weekend this year not in any house of worship--but doing Adho Mukha Svanasana or "downward facing dog" on a yoga mat instead! Taking the mystic ferry away from the city, just 45-minutes to the Atlantic Highlands of New Jersey, was the perfect mini-escape for my brief spring break at an old colonial home called Seven Arrows. And as usual, I learned a lot....
While doing the "Karma Duty" of washing dishes with another couple from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, I engaged in a conversation with a young man named Garrett who majored in Painting and attended MICA, or the Maryland School of Art, to earn a BFA. Fascinated by his journey, I asked what happened next (I love a good story) and discovered that Garrett worked as a bartender in Baltimore after graduation and was then hired by Urban Outfitters to be a display artist, designing fashion for storefront windows. During this time, believe it or not, Garrett was doing a lot of woodworking, building fixtures, and light construction. This artistic entrepreneur then worked in a start-up called "Geeks on Call" providing IT support, before deciding to move to Philly, where he served as an office manager for an art gallery (through an advantageous alliance with a savvy girlfriend). Connecting with old college buddies then led to falling in love with another fine arts major from MICA, who he joined in NYC. What happened next professionally is fascinating: after a brief stint as a manager for American Apparel, Garrett landed in a firm called Ogilvy & Mather and ultimately became their Assistant Producer, creating video content for TV, the internet, and one-off videos. By following a long and winding road, Garrett is now (happily) making quite a nice living.
Any of you breathing a sigh of relief? Yeah, I know. There's a little chorus of "What the heck do you DO with a BFA?!" that rises in each of us, I think....And yet my message this month is to quiet those little gremlins. Learning--and living--is just not linear, and Garrett's journey illustrates that lesson once again. As I talked with him about my own path, we exchanged views of creating a life of design (rather than pre-determination) and "shushing" the nay-sayers on the sidelines. Garrett shared how part of his job is to keep the cynics away and even clients at bay so that his crew has the freedom to create a vision and bring it to completion. In fact, his boss's byline on her email signature reads "Creative Midwife."
Who knew where Garrett would go after art school, and who could guess what he would do? Certainly not me--or you. This painting major is now coordinating a major financial endeavor at a big-scale firm in a very competitive city--but I would be just as impressed with his journey if he had majored in math, served in the military, and then created a green "farm-to-table youth hostel" in Vermont for troubled teens. In many ways, our 'success' is not directly linked to attending the 'right' college or completing the 'best' program or getting the most 'desired' internship on a linear ladder of achievement. There is more mystery to the journey--and magic. Especially now. Gone are the days when people are hired by one or two firms and stay for more than a decade in each position. (Before landing at Ogilvy, Garrett shifted direction after as little as 2-8 months to seize the next opportunity on his professional path.) Our global world economy is so dynamic and diverse that the individuals who see the next creative window and risk non-linear leaps are the ones who reap unseen rewards, both professionally and personally. Like Garrett, that's often how we create a meaningful life, one that makes us truly happy--regardless of what others think. And isn't that what we all want--for ourselves, and for our children?
I've been saying it for years now, and I'm going to repeat it again: allow your kid to focus on the process of discovering his and her personal passion and "natural state"--instead of trying to construct a perfect product. In an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal, "Rethinking the Value of a Business Major," Melissa Korn reports that the biggest complaint of companies is that, "The undergraduate degrees focus too much on the nuts and bolts of finance and accounting and don't develop enough critical thinking and problem-solving skills through long essays, in-class debates and other hallmarks of liberal-arts courses." Yes, that means painting and poetry and philosophy. And in some ways, what business schools are also saying is that they want students to develop an eclectic awareness and analytical skills through increasing their Social & Emotional Intelligence. What a lovely reminder this April, the month of poetry...To others, the journey may look like we're doing a downward facing dog, but the 'crazy detours' and off-beat adventures are what ultimately lead us to a road of real authenticity--when we have the courage to pursue a path of passion and hold a pose that we can claim as our own...
So I leave you with this thought, midst new green leaves and flowers blooming in spring--a time of rebirth and reconsidering--
“If you can give your son or daughter only one gift,
let it be enthusiasm.”
—Bruce Barton
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