By Christine Mason
Visions and Inspiration
“Transformational leaders do not think in one place and time, rather, they construct mental models that bridge the present to the future.”
(Thoms & Greenberger, 1995)
Consider our world today. In
Mindfulness Practices: Cultivating Heart Centered Communities where Students Focus and Flourish, with co-authors Michele Rivers Murphy and Yvette Jackson, I explored the potential for transforming our world through reducing violence and increasing compassion. Our bridge to the future is mindfulness. We began that book by stating, “What if we pay less attention to what isn’t working, feel less pressure from the many mandates and demands that teaching and learning present, and develop a more caring lens. . . envision a balance of academics and conversations about life, a balance between doing well and feeling great…” (p.1). Admittedly, we are interested in transforming schools and have a distinct vision for the future of education. As James MacGregor Burns (1978) and others have suggested, we believe in the power of long-term visioning and are interested in followers becoming leaders and moral agents for change.
