ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the importance of experience in the 'here and now' in learning. It starts with a personal attempt to describe a 'timeless' moment when body, mind and spirit were wholly engrossed in an experience that kept me fully in the present. The chapter examines these mindful occasions and discusses their importance by outlines of psychological and neuroscientific research. It suggests that education should re-establish a focus on the values-driven, meaningful, present-tense, personal and creative aspects of living. The chapter considers how far an educational diet rich in awesome, exciting, emotional and age-appropriate experiences would help develop more resilience, motivation, engagement and achievement in children. It reviews in the light of current research and scholarship by these approaches to creative and cross-curricular learning. Positive psychologists argue for a research and practice focus on the healthy mind, looking at the positive aspects of selfhood and brain and not just its illness.
