Lesson on Mindfulness and Optimism

How are mindfulness practices expected to impact students?

• Decrease their overall well-being and academic performance

• Have no impact on their well-being or academic performance

• Positively impact their overall well-being and academic performance

• Only improve their physical health

What is the relationship that students will explore in today's lesson?

• The relationship between history, culture, and society

• The relationship between technology, innovation, and ethics

• The relationship between mindfulness, choosing optimism, and brain research

• The relationship between physical exercise, diet, and health

What is optimism?

• A feeling of uncertainty about the future

• A way of seeing life hopefully and having an expectation of success and well-being

• A tendency to focus on the negative aspects of life

• A strategy to prepare for potential failure

What does optimism have a strong connection to?

• Risk-taking behavior

• Good health and effective coping strategies

• Pessimistic thinking

• Social withdrawal

Can optimism be learned?

• No, it is a fixed trait

• Yes, but only at a young age

• Yes, it can become a default way of thinking with practice

• No, it is determined by external circumstances

What can increase when we choose to see life optimistically?

• Our stress levels

• Our brain capacity

• Our pessimism

• Our confusion

What does being optimistic do to our amygdala?

• It confuses it

• It enlarges it

• It relaxes it

• It activates it

Which part of the brain is said to be more accessible when we are optimistic?

• Cerebellum

• Prefrontal cortex

• Hippocampus

• Amygdala

Why does practicing optimism make it easier to learn?

• It primes our brains to be ready to focus.

• It reduces the capacity for new information.

• It limits our thinking to what we already know.

• It makes us less likely to remember information.

Why does being optimistic help us socially?

• It allows us to ignore other people's opinions.

• It helps us strengthen our perspective-taking skills and accept different viewpoints.

• It encourages us to argue with others.

• It makes us focus only on our own opinions.