Today's Secondary Pastoral Assembly on Sharpen the Saw (by Louise Favaro, Head of Student Services)

Today's Secondary Pastoral Assembly on Sharpen the Saw

by Louise Favaro, Head of Student Services

This morning we had a Secondary assembly during our Pastoral Lesson on one of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits: Sharpen the Saw. The metaphor for Sharpen the Saw is that the woodcutter has so many trees to cut down, he feels he does't have time to sharpen his saw. However if he would just take the time to sharpen his saw, he would be much more productive.

Heading into our break, we felt this was a good message for our students: use this time for renewal and to take care of yourself so that you come back refreshed and more productive. 

We had different examples of Sharpen the Saw including a quick look at dietary habits with a shocking demonstration of the effects of soda/fizzy drinks (ask your kids!). We also had a look at the importance of sleep. Research now suggests that even if we eat well and exercise regularly, if we don't sleep well, our health could be compromised.

If sleep is in fact even more important than diet and exercise, there is something that is even more essential to our well-being: the ability to quiet the mind. For our students we used the term 'press pause' and gave them lots of examples of ways to do this, including breathing, relaxation, mindfulness, meditation, yoga, practicing gratitude, and practicing acceptance (not wanting things in this moment to be different than what they are). To illustrate the importance of practicing acceptance, we showed this short video to illustrate what happens when you are in resistance to what is.

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