Hello Gardeners! For some of us, the hours before bedtime or the hours that start the day are tough. Maybe our stomach starts to hurt, our hearts start to race, either while we are winding down or just starting our day. #GardenerShanna likes to take this time to "pick flowers". She asks #GardenerAnna & #GardenerAidan to carve out a little bit of time before bed to walk through their day and recognize all of the good moments and positive experiences. These moments could be as small as finding a penny on the sidewalk, to having an amazing playdate with a friend! This simple exercise of focusing on the positive can actually have the power to completely transform your outlook on the day-to-day. When we focus on the positive, we take power away from the negative and sometimes attract more friendliness, laughter, fun, and happiness.. Think of it like this, flowers have a really hard time growing in neglected soil. When we take the time to keep our soil moist, keep it aerated, and looking healthy, our flowers have a much easier time growing and thriving. Similarly, when we neglect the good & positive things that happen in our lives, our soil becomes dull & dry - not the best place for flowers to grow. When we recognize the good and balance that with the bad - our soil becomes a much better environment for flowers. REMEMBER, life is a balance of good and bad. We ride that roller coaster throughout our lives. Something we tend to do is focus on & question the bad things, rather than focus on & appreciate the good things! Give it a try! Take 10 minutes to sort & pick out your flowers, by the end of that time you will have a beautiful bouquet. Did you try this in your classroom? Let us know how it went - we would love to know how your students responded to making their 💐 bouquets 💐 and you can ALWAYS let us know how you #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! We have recently launched Season 2 of our web series, Hello Gardeners. To catch up and see what we’ve been doing in the greenhouse, click the image below! With school starting up again, we are introduced to new teachers, new classmates, new schedules, and sometimes new schools! When new people are put into new places, that can lead to new conflicts. Because we are all unique people with differing goals and opinions, conflict is bound to arise in any situation involving more than one person. Managing conflicts in a healthy way not only provides us with the opportunity to learn and grow, but strengthens the bond between the people involved. ---------------------- Here are some tips to resolving conflict in the classroom, on the playground, at home, or at practice! ---------------------- Keep calm It’s best to approach resolving conflict with a calm demeanor. When we approach a conflict feeling annoyed, impatient, or angry, we can actually do more harm than good! ---------------------- Ignore the bad behavior and walk away If someone is just trying to get a rise out of you, sometimes the strongest response is to stay calm and walk away! It shows them that you are not interested in engaging with that behavior and you aren’t going to give them the satisfaction of seeing you get upset. Read our post about walking away to learn more! ---------------------- Ask for help Sometimes you need a 3rd party to help mediate the conversation - ask a friend, teacher, babysitter, coach, or parent to help! ---------------------- Use a game of chance to decide Using games like Rock, Paper, Scissors, a coin toss, or picking a piece of paper out of a bowl eliminates indecisiveness and arguing over what to do! Do this when struggling to pick a movie, a board game, what to eat for dinner, etc. ---------------------- Share and take turns Sharing teaches us patience, manners, and respect! By sharing or taking turns with others, you also have the opportunity to make new friends. Read our post on the value of sharing to learn more! ---------------------- Compromise Brainstorm all the different ways to resolve the problem and agree on the one that makes everyone feel included! ---------------------- Say “no” and stand firm If you see something or experience something that makes you feel uncomfortable, attacked, or teased, it is 100% okay to say “no” or “stop”. A huge part of maintaining relationships is learning the other person’s boundaries. We all have different limits! Be firm, stay calm, and ask for a help if the bad behavior continues. ---------------------- Apologize Sometimes all someone needs to hear is an apology to feel respected and move on. Recognize when you need to apologize or ask your friend for an apology. If you need help forming your apology, read our post here! ---------------------- Use an “I” message Instead of saying “you keep on bothering me” or “you are so annoying”, form a statement that explains how you wanted to be treated. Something like, “I don’t like it when people get in my personal space, because it makes me feel ____” or “I feel really disrespected when you shout over me in class”. ---------------------- Listen & be open It’s important to hear the other person out - you don’t know how they experienced the situation and if you hear them out, they will hear you out. Be sure to not interrupt them and try to see the situation from their point of view. ---------------------- Conflicts arise out of lots of different situations. Whether it’s two people who want to do different activities, classmates picking on one another, or fights between siblings, there is always a way to solve the problem! We can all learn to be a little more open, patient, and understanding by working through conflict rather than running from it or responding with an attack! Remember, if you have a weed you can always reach out to #GardenerAnna & #GardenerAidan to help you pull it! Email us at flowers@youareagardener.com or tag us @youareagardener. We have renamed Wednesdays, #PullYourWeedWednesdays - so if you are ever looking for a little help with you conflict, tune in and we’ll help you #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! Recently, we've been talking a lot about social & emotional literacy and why it's important to teach in the classroom. We found a #WeedsToSeeds story that perfectly demonstrates the power that understanding empathy can have over young students. Karen Loewe is a 7th & 8th grade teacher in Oklahoma and she decided the perfect way to kick off the 2019 school year was with a lesson in emotional literacy. She asked her students to write the "baggage", or the painful, difficult things they carry with them, on a sheet of paper and leave that baggage at the door. These pieces of baggage were really personal - they ranged from family members with cancer to parents going through divorce to depression. The post above shows the bag completely filled with slips of paper. She asked her students to read through the slips of paper - and if anyone wanted to claim their "piece of baggage" they could or they could remain anonymous. The impact this had on her students and herself was incredible. Students broke down reading and listening to their fellow classmates' baggage. It was the first time they really understood that each and every one of their peers was going through their own experience. Loewe wrote, "it was an emotionally draining day, but I firmly believe my kids will judge a little less, love a little more, and forgive a little faster." She explained that the idea to "leave the baggage at the door" is not an invitation to deny one's experience, but rather it is a way of saying this is something I carry, but I won't let it define me - it's a way to move forward. It's lessons like this that give kids, and people in general, that "ah-ha" moment. They experience something that changes how they see things - they become a little more patient and a little more understanding. Do you have a #WeedsToSeeds story for us? Send it our way @youareagardener or flowers@youareagardener.com. Thanks for reading gardeners & #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Educators!! You Are A Gardener® started as a small seed in 2017. Since then, we have taken root and grown faster than we could have ever imagined! What started out as a children’s book and a way to encourage open communication between parent, teacher, and child, has now grown into an entire social-emotional learning (SEL) platform dedicated to empowering kids with a vocabulary, mindset and tools to help them grow forward feeling confident and calm! Check out our fun web video series, our #PullYourWeeds Blog, and innovative Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) assemblies, workshops and teacher programs all rooted in planting SEL seeds at home and in school. Keeping that line of communication open is key! As SEL advocates we have all sorts of programs for children, families, teachers and groups. Click the link below to learn more. Have your students start earning their gardening tool badges today! Click the arrow to download your free printable collector sheet, pick an SEL activity that you want your class to explore & dig in! *Don't forget to download the Free Gardening Tool Badge Collectors Sheet! Whether you are in school or homeschooling this year, we would like to treat all our gardener friends to a FREE You Are a Gardener® Back to School SEL Activity Pack to help you plant some positive seeds for the upcoming school year! CLICK THE IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE SEL ACTIVITY PACK TODAY! Why is SEL so important to teach in school? Successful SEL programs help develop and nurture skills in these 5 areas: Research indicates that students receiving quality SEL instruction demonstrated better academic performance, improved attitudes and behaviors, fewer discipline issues, and reduced emotional distress. When young gardeners can manage their feelings and emotions, they are better equipped to handle the day-to-day! Start planting SEL seeds in your class...Get a signed copy of our book for your classroom today! Free gardener giveaways with every purchase! << Click Here >> Over the last few years, we have spread our seeds at so many great schools, new networks of educators, and eager students. Take a look below to see photos from past assemblies, workshops and seed-spreading experiences! Our workshops are not just for students, but also for educators and parents. Learning doesn’t have to stop when we leave the classroom. When parents & teachers embrace the You Are a Gardener® vocabulary, mindset and gardening tools on a consistent basis it helps nurture the program and lets it take root in each and every 'gardener'! So who's ready to dig in? Let's Grow! Click Here For Information About our SEL Services & Programs

Hello Gardeners! This past week, we came across a beautiful Chinese proverb that we would like to share with you. It reads: Weeds happen, that’s just a fact - but we can prevent them from taking over our gardens. After taking the appropriate steps to pull a weed, sometimes we're left with extra feelings about that weed. For example, it could be that we are holding a grudge against our friend even after they've apologized, or we feel some shame or embarrassment about our weed, or maybe we just can’t stop thinking about it! A lesson in the power of letting go might help give us the tools we need to say goodbye to that weed for good. Letting go of your weeds can be as simple as imagining them as a bird passing over you or as a handful of weeds being yanked from the ground. Proverbs like the one we mentioned above are great because they provide us with imagery and symbols that help us practice mindfulness and visualize our ability to physically let go of the complicated emotions we experience. Below are a few mindfulness techniques to help you let go of any lingering weeds. Be sure to let us know which one is your favorite! We love to see photos of all you gardeners with our book and we love getting emails from you too! Tag us @youareagardener or email flowers@youareagardener with all of your photos, your weeds, your seeds, anything! And as always, don't forget to #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! A favorite phrase among #TheGardeningTeam is: “if you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hand” Setting intentions for our days, weeks, months, and years, not only helps us determine what we actually want, but it helps remind us to put work towards achieving our goals. Remembering to take time to set those intentions can be the one thing that prevents us from actually doing it. We have a few tips to form healthy, intention-setting habits for kids. 1. Follow a schedule. Whether you take time on the first day of the month, the start of a new moon, or every morning during breakfast, repetition is key to forming a habit. 2. Get an intention journal. Having a journal with one specific purpose helps keep you on track, rather than keeping your intentions in the same journal as poems, doodles, and notes. We have a craft for one below! 3. Date your intentions. Whether you are doing a daily intention or a monthly intention, dating your entries can motivate you to keep going! 4. Make it fun! If setting intentions seems daunting, link it with something enjoyable. Maybe every month, you set intentions over ice cream, or maybe you offer a few extra minutes of recess after setting intentions. Below we have a quick and easy craft to make an intention journal. This is the perfect craft for the first day of school or even for each new moon! What you’ll need: Paper (however many sheets you'd like!) 1 piece of construction paper 1 popsicle stick 1 rubberband First, fold your paper in half horizontally. Then do the same to your piece of construction paper. Place your popsicle stick next to the folded side of your paper, and poke your holes about a half inch from where the top and bottom of the popsicle stick hit the paper. Feed your rubberband through the top hole and place your popsicle stick through the loop. The pull the rubberband down and through the bottom hole, and place the bottom of the popsicle stick through that loop. Adjust and decorate how you'd like! With these new tips and a quick, easy journal to help keep you on track, you are sure to make and keep your intentions!

Hello Gardeners! Recently, author, Shanna Truffini and illustrator, Kelsey Jordan, had the amazing opportunity of getting in the studio with Richard & Elizabeth Gearhart of the Passage to Profit Podcast. Passage to Profit features interviews with entrepreneurs and helpful advice from accomplished speakers, business coaches, and entrepreneurs. Last week WE had the pleasure of speaking with Dave Anderson (The Business Bully) and fellow entrepreneur, Angie Myers, of the My "Buddy" Towel. If you missed us on air, feel free to listen to the podcast below. This interview hits on everything - how the book was born, how our products and programs help spread our seeds, who this book helps, and how we intend to grow! Our interview starts around minute 30, but if you have some extra time, we highly encourage you to listen to the full show. Thank you so much to Richard, Elizabeth, Dave, and Angie - please show them some love by following @passagetoprofitshow, @businessthebully, @mybuddytowel. Last but not least, to 710 WOR and iHeartRadio for airing this show - it was a truly inspiring and motivating experience! For all you new gardeners, purchase our book here, check out our web series here, and continue to #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! It's been a minute since we've shared a #WeedsToSeeds story. We came across this movement based in Newberg, Oregon called the Don't Give Up Movement. Amy Wolff and her family did one simple thing - they placed 20 yard signs with supportive messages around their community. The response was overwhelming and soon people across the country and across the globe were buying her signs to spread the word. You never know what someone might need to hear - and a simple sign that says "Don't Give Up" might be the one thing that person hasn't heard all week, all month, all their life. This movement reminds us that there are supporters and allies all around us. We may not know they exist all of the time, but a movement like this shows us they do! Thank you so much to Amy & her family for planting this seed. We are in awe of how that small seed has spread so far and so wide - we can't wait to see how much farther it spreads! All it takes is one small seed. If you have a way to pay it forward and spread kindness and love to others, know that there are people just waiting to help you spread the message. If you get a chance, so the Don't Give Up Movement a little love by following their Instagram @dontgiveupsigns. We'll leave you with one final thought, borrowed from the Don't Give Up website (because we love it so much!): "Whatever you do or don't do, honor people. Focus more on common ground than differences. Have hard conversations by flexing your empathy muscle. Listen to understand, not debate. Look people in the eye. Be present. Be generous with love (including with yourself). Life is messy but we're in this together!" -Amy Wolff

Hello Gardeners! We talk so much about positives and negatives - 'flowers' being are our positive feelings and 'weeds' are our negative feelings, - but it is so important to remember that it's natural for both to exist. Life is a balancing act of good things, difficult things, happy times, and times of distress. Learning and growing from these experiences is what makes us all stronger gardeners! Our hope is that we can help provide you with some tools to manage the challenging moments and celebrate & cherish the good and keep turning those weeds into seeds! #GardenerShanna likes to remind us of something #FredRogers used to say, "look for the helpers". In times of 'weeds' and worries, looks for the 'flowers'. When we take a minute to think about the family & friends we have supporting us, the people and pets who show us love, the strengths we see in ourselves, the accomplishments we've made, and all the good fortune we experience in our lives, that alone can make us take pause to appreciate the good and choose joy. If you need a little help looking for the flowers, try making a Gratitude Garden with our signature origami tulip craft! Watch the gifs below to learn how to make your tulips: Then, write your 'flowers' on your tulips: And make your #GratitudeGarden! Next time you are in a moment of weeds and worry, take a look at your gratitude garden and focus on your flowers! We would love to see YOUR gratitude gardens - send pictures to flowers@youareagardener.com or tag us @youareagardener. Remember you can always send us your weeds too! #GardenerAnna & #GardenerAidan would be happy to help you out. Be sure to keep up with Season 2 of #HelloGardeners. We just launched our 2nd episode of the second season!! And as always, #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners - welcome back to #PullYourWeeds! Today we are going to talk about apologies. All of us have been in the position where we've needed to apologize to someone for something we did or said. But just saying those two words: isn't enough. Most of the time we understand that those two words are connected to an event and we understand that the person apologizing feels bad for what they did or said. By only saying "I'm sorry", we do our friends and ourselves a disservice. We don't put ourselves in our friend's shoes, feel the impact of our actions or words, and then ask to be forgiven - we instead assume saying "I'm sorry" are the magic words to solve our problems. That's why we've come up with this 4-step apology - think of it as a guideline to a genuine, well-rounded apology. If we use this tool to improve our apologies, we not only make the person who deserves our apology feel heard and respected, but we exercise our ability to feel empathy - something we need more of in today's world! Remember, we all make mistakes - we do or say things that can negatively impact other people. The best way to fix it is to own up to what we've done, and offer a sincere apology that tells our friend that we recognize why what we've said or done is harmful and commit to not doing it again. Recently we found this passage that describes empathy and understanding using gardener friendly language. Written by Vietnamese, Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, it reads: 🌱 🌱 🌱 When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason or argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change. 🌱 🌱 🌱

Hello Gardeners! If you've read our book or watched our web series you know that flowers are the things that make us feel happy and weeds are the things that make us feel sad, scared, or mad. Sometimes "sad, scared, and mad" are too vague to accurately describe our weeds and if we can't pinpoint the emotion(s) at the root of our weed, we can't pull it out. For example, one of our #PullYourWeeds writers noticed she starts to feel irritable, tired, and cranky during certain hours of the day - especially on days when she hasn't eaten full meals or nourishing food. By examining how she reacts to hunger and how she feels when she is hungry, she determined how to pull that weed and how to prevent that weed from growing (eating full meals or keeping snacks on hand). #GardenerDevin's hangry snack! All you'll need is a banana, peanut butter (allergies substitute sunflower butter or tahini), and chia seeds. Makes a great mid-morning or afternoon snack. It just takes a little investigation to get a clearer view of what you're feeling. To make this process a little easier, we compiled a list of possible emotions that your weeds make you feel. Take a look at this list when you feel a weed popping up and try to identify with some of these words. Once you have an idea of what you are feeling, you might have a better method for pulling the weed. Feel free to screenshot this list to carry on your phone or tablet. We've also compiled definitions for these words in case you need some clarification: Thanks for reading along gardeners! Keep sending us your flowers 🌻 and your weeds 🌱 - we love hearing from gardeners all across the country, #TheFutureIsBright!

Hello Gardeners! We’ve talked about fear before - how many of our weeds are rooted in fear and how those fears can make us feel isolated - but what about excitement? Excitement and fear are actually quite similar. Both emotions elevate heart rate, increase awareness, create the “butterflies in the stomach” effect - the difference is that fear can immobilize us while excitement pushes us forward. If you think back to all of your firsts or big changes in your life, excitement and fear exist simultaneously. Let’s take the first and last day of school, for example. The last day of school is met with so much excitement for summer - no more homework, spending days by the pool and at the beach, maybe a summer camp or a family vacation. It can also be met with some anxiety - when will you see all of the friends you made throughout the year, maybe you are nervous to make new friends at camp, or you’re just not sure what to do this summer. To prepare for this we've gathered some tips to help turn that fear into excitement for the summer! #1 Get some events on the calendar Schedule a couple playdates, a day trip to the beach, a family picnic, a birthday party, a camp - something that gives your gardener something to look forward to! #2 Write your teachers a nice note If your gardener is feeling particularly sad about leaving his or her teacher this year, sit down with them and have him or her write a nice note to their teacher. It may give them some closure transitioning out of their classroom, while also providing the teacher with a truly genuine gesture of gratitude. #3 Come up with a summer project Give your gardener a task to complete over the summer - this could be teaching your dog a couple of new tricks, or doing some home improvement, maybe it’s cleaning up litter in the neighborhood. Think of how proud they will be looking at what they’ve achieved at the end of the summer! #4 Get outside After being stuck in a classroom for most of the year, summer is the time to be free and run wild! Schedule some family hikes, pull out the sprinkler, or do a craft outside - just go out and get some fresh air. #5 Continue to #PullYourWeeds This is a big one - just because school is over and the schedule is a little looser, doesn’t mean we stop pulling weeds! Keep that routine strong because weeds certainly do not stop growing just because it’s summer. Moreover, when both excitement and fear are present - sometimes just trying to reframe your outlook from “I just want to get this over with” to “this is exciting!” is the small step that can bring positivity and excitement forward, while putting fear a few steps back. You Are A Gardener is the perfect end of year gift for your teacher!! Who knows, you may even spread our seeds to future students. Enter code 'SUMMER' for 10% off of the book until the end of June! Thanks for tuning in gardeners, and remember to #PullYourWeeds!