Abstract
While technology leads to innovative teaching strategies, technology also leads to disconnection as people seek coping strategies to deal with stress and the constant flood of information. This narrative addresses the health consequences of stress and the need for authentic connections instead of focusing on images portrayed in social media. Methods such as RICE (reflection, innovation, collaboration, evaluation) and MICE (motivation, importance, confidence, expression) illustrate techniques for managing stress, managing technology, setting goals, and creating change.
TopMice
When people align their goals with their vision and values, they become more likely to enact change in their lives. Change begins with four components: motivation, importance, confidence, and expression. I use the acronym MICE to refer to these components. By using both conversational methods such as motivational interviewing and writing strategies such as expressive writing, health coaches can help patients identify the stories they are telling themselves. Rankin (2015a) argues, “it’s not life’s stressors per se that make us sick and miserable. It’s the stories we make up about these events, which translate into negative beliefs that activate chronic repetitive stress responses, shorten our life expectancy, and lead us into despair” (pp. 37-38). Conversely, Rankin (2015b) believes, “when the mind heals from loneliness, anxiety, fear, depression, resentment, anger, and negative beliefs about health and life, at least a percentage of the time, the health of the body follows suit” (p. 204). As far as implications for your life, you do not have to be a patient to practice the components of MICE which will help you the next time you set a goal that requires sustained behavior change.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Motivational Interviewing: A method of using reflective statements and open-ended questions to enhance intrinsic motivation for change.
Urgent vs. Important: Mary Pipher, Don Graves, and Stephen Covey all discuss the type of choices people make of how they spend their time and the resulting increased or decreased energy experienced.
Journal Writing: The process of a person responding to prompts and writing about his or her thoughts and feelings. While journal writing is typically associated with writing classrooms, writing teachers including Julia Cameron and Natalie Goldberg advocate that journal writing can be done by anyone, anywhere.
Writing Voice: Voice in writing describes how a writer uses word choice and tone to reflect the unique personality of the writer. Just like each person has a unique speaking voice, each writer has a unique writing voice.
Multi-Genre Writing: Introduced to the field of education by Tom Romano, multigenre writing consists of creative writing in multiple genres and the writer’s analysis of the genres.
Story Sharing: By sharing a story with a supportive audience, either in conversation or in writing, it frees the storyteller of unneeded physical and emotional stress caused by holding the story inside and worrying about it. Brene Brown explains that it helps people to share stories instead of numbing pain with unhealthy choices.
Writing as Healing: James Pennebaker is a leader in the field which explores the health benefits of writing. Numerous studies have been conducted by researchers investigating the influence of writing on physical and emotional health.
Heart Maps: Writing teacher Georgia Heard believes in the value of heart maps, which ask writers to draw a heart and inside the heart write things that the writer loves.
Self-Compassion: The act of demonstrating the same kindness toward oneself that one would demonstrate for others.