Professional development presentation given as part of Perrysburg Schools (Ohio) Diverse Learners Conference

1. your higher intelligenceAccessing, understanding & integrating
the wisdom of your emotions
MAYRA PORRATA, M.ED.
Perrysburg Schools
4th Annual
Meeting the Needs of
Diverse Learners
Conference
February 15, 2019

2. Goals of This Session
Understand the importance of EI/EQ for
yourselves and your students;
Learn some of the constructs related to EQ;
Learn a couple practical self-regulation and
awareness skills;
Gain access to free resources to support your
work and the families you serve.
Practice BEING....less DOING (intellectually).

3. “Good teaching cannot be reduced to
technique; good teaching comes from the
identity and integrity of the teacher.”
Parker J. Palmer

4. Who are you? (we)?
What are we about? Here to do?

5. Defining emotional intelligence (eq)
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability
to identify and manage your own
emotions and understand those of
others. It is generally said to include
three skills: emotional awareness; the
ability to harness emotions and apply
them to tasks like thinking and problem
solving; and the ability to manage
emotions, which includes consciously
regulating them.

6. By elevating your EQ, you deepen your
ability to see yourself, situations, and
others clearly and compassionately.
Having strong EQ skills enables greater
creativity, productivity, and
effectiveness, because we begin to see
possibilities that were inaccessible to
us.
Why EQ Matters

7. Why EQ Matters
Learning how to access and leverage
this intelligence will change many
things; your own mindset, how you feel,
how others feel around you, and how you
lead your life and work.
Language reveals us to ourselves. When
we 'speak from the heart', we elevate
the conversation.

8. “People don't care how much you know,
until they know how much you care.”
Theodore Roosevelt

9. Accessing our higher intelligence
"There is compelling evidence to suggest the physical heart is
coupled to a field of information not bound by the classical
limits of time and space. This evidence comes from a rigorous
experimental study that demonstrated the heart receives and
processes information about a future event before the event
actually happens."
HeartMath Institute
From "Science of the Heart: Exploring the Role of the Heart in
Human Performance"

10. "A Field of Information..."
-Non-local intelligence - information/"intelligence" that
exists (is available) outside of our body and brain.
Other commonly used terms:
Consciousness
Quantum Field
God
Holy Spirit
Universal intelligence
Heart-based consciousness
IMAGE: Heartmath.org

11. A different way of "knowing"
Intuition
"Gut-feeling"
Clairvoyance
ESP
Telepathy
Precognition

12. Processing this information
Our guts (aka our second brain) is a processor
of "emotions" and where 90% our body's
*neurotransmitters are manufactured.
*A neurotransmitter is a
chemical messenger that
carries, boosts, and balances
signals between neurons, or
nerve cells, and other cells in
the body.

13. Emotions and feelings
EMOTIONS - arise from stimuli and are sensed by the body
FEELINGS - arise from the mind (our perception of
emotional stimuli)
"Feelings are mental experiences of body states, which arise as
the brain interprets emotions, themselves physical states arising
from the body’s responses to external stimuli." -Dr.Sarah Mckay

14. Land of Emotions
THE CHALLENGERS THE STABILIZERS
Our Emotional Landscape, Porrata & Pirri, 2012

15. EMOTION, FEELING, THOUGHT Activity
EMOTIONS - received via the heart and sensed throughout the body
FEELINGS - arise from the mind (our perception of emotional
stimuli)
THOUGHTS - come from what we already know/what is already
known.
GROUP & INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY:
3-5 breaths
Self-awareness activity:
Assess: what are you thinking, feeling, sensing?
Write it down. Optional sharing

16. emotional intelligence (eq) constructs
Self-Awareness
Self-Regulation
Situational
Awareness
Social Awareness
Spirituality
The practice of noticing and being in touch with,
our internal state (mental, emotional, spiritual).
Ability to adapt and manage change.
Ability to understand and or relate to the needs
of others.
Ability to read environments and situations.
Integration and application of these skills for
promoting positive change by connecting and
collaborating.

17. Evaluating Your EQ - Individual Assessment
EMAIL ME:
mayraporrata@gmail.com
Put EQ ASSESSMENT on the
SUBJECT LINE.

18. coherence- Putting it all together
Although science tells us, and we generally "know", we are
multi-dimensional, most of us operate from our minds (and
our system encourages that our students do the same).
This leads to dis-embodied "learning", "doing", and "being"
Neglecting our inherent wisdom
Ignoring the important pathways that lead to learning (and
health)

19. In Support of FLOURISHING
I lead a purposeful and meaningful life.
My social relationships are supportive and rewarding.
I am engaged and interested in my daily activities
I actively contribute to the happiness and well-being of
others.
I am competent and capable in the activities that are
important to me.
I am a good person and live a good life
I am optimistic about my future
People respect me
The Flourishing Scale (*Diener, et al.) is a brief 8-item summary measure of self-
perceived success in important areas such as relationships, self-esteem, purpose, and
optimism. The scale provides a single psychological well-being score.

20. "Joy and enthusiasm are absolutely essential
for learning to happen - literally, scientifically,
as a matter of fact and research. Shouldn't it
be our challenge and opportunity to design
learning that embraces these ingredients?"
Judy Willis M.D., M.Ed.
The neuroscience behind stress and learning

21. implications for our students
Work towards co-creating the conditions that lead to joy and
flourishing in the the classroom
Teaching to the whole child/person, not just to the mind.
Strategies that engage the student's body & heart
Understanding and leveraging the fact that "emotions are
contagious" (Fowler & Christakis)
Modeling behaviors and leading by example
Take a few minutes to help students "center" themselves
Changing the culture by changing ourselves

22. Application:
Self-Regulation Practices
Benefits for health and learning:
1. Helps the student practice self-awareness
2. Helps the student become aware of "dis-
regulated" states in the (body, mind, emotions,
nervous system, energy system)*
3. Helps the student come back into a state of
coherence and open to learning.

23. Place hand on heart and say to yourself
(quietly or out-loud), "I am here for you"
Breathwork
Heart-coherence technique
(by Heartmath institute)
What are some of your favorite self-
regulation, self-awareness, or contemplative
practices?
Application:
Self-Regulation Practices

24. Final "thoughts" on Emotional Intelligence
"Emotions are a higher way of thinking."
Marvin MInsky, AI pioneer/Cognitive scientist
"The highest we can attain to is not knowledge, but sympathy with
intelligence"Henry David Thoreau
"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at
all." Commonly attributed to Socrates
GROUP ACTIVITY/DISCUSSION:
CLASSROOM CHALLENGES- how do we
approach them from the intelligence of our
hearts?

25. Emotional Intelligence DIGITAL resources (free!)

26. THANK YOU
Where to find me:
soulpublishinggroup.com
essenceglossary.com
Request resources, connect,
and stay in touch!
mayraporrata@gmail.com

27. REFERENCES & SUGGESTED READING
A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life, Parker J Palmer
Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton
Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have, Mark Nepo
Coming Closer to Ourselves: Making Everything the Path of Awakening, Pema Chodron
Connected, Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler
www.heartmath.org
The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life, Parker J Palmer
The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain, Brock L. Eide
The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience, Francisco J. Varela
The Emotional Life of your Brain, Richard Davidson
The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism, Naoki Higashida
You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter, Joe Dispenza
Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, Christiane Northrup