Donna Wolf, an expressive arts educator in Los Gatos, works with parents and children to challenge these labels and encourage true learning to occur from the inside out.

Wolf fosters inner growth by teaching kids to pay attention to their thoughts, feelings, imagination, choices, creativity, dreams and intuition.

When learning something new, our relationship with our self and our teacher needs to be part of the equation. If we feel intimidated, humiliated or self-conscious, it’s almost impossible to focus on the subject we’re attempting to master.

Wolf recognizes that we learn with all of our being. She says that the power of our thoughts and imagination rules our emotions, which in turn rules our actions.

The pictures we hold in our mind of another person influences the experience we have with the person.

If a parent says, “My child is driving me crazy!” or “My kid is just lazy!” and focuses only on perceptions of the child’s faults, little will be done to enhance the relationship.

However, if the parent says, “My child’s behavior is telling me that he is in need of support — I’m going to pay attention to what he is saying and doing, so I can become more present to the problem and be open to the best and highest solution.”

In the process, both parent and child begin to tune in to a deeper part of themselves.

When we become self-aware, things begins to change. Our perception opens. We begin to use all our senses to learn, including: