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Soft Eyes was created by Susan Hopkins and illustrated by Kristin Wiens, grounded in Stuart Shanker’s Self-Reg framework. It is a 122-day journal of daily reflections on stress, energy, and resilience, and it is the newest book from The MEHRIT Centre. You can purchase your copy here!
Soft Eyes holds 122 daily reflections, one for each weekday from September through December. Each page carries a quotation, a short reflection, a mull question, and original artwork from Kristin. The whole book is built to be read in just a few minutes a day, whether you’re on your own with a coffee, working through it with your team, or bringing it into a professional learning group.
The book moves through four months, each with its own shape. September looks at the stress backpack we all carry. October turns to the energy tank and what fills or drains it. November is about lightening the load. December closes the year with reflections on restoring resilience. Together, the 122 days offer a steady, accessible way to sit with the science of stress and bring it into daily life.
Whether you are new to Self-Reg or have been learning alongside Stuart for years, Soft Eyes meets you where you are.
At its heart, Soft Eyes is about energy, restoration, and wellbeing. Some people will read it first thing in the morning, some as part of a nighttime routine, some in one sitting from cover to cover. However you take it in, it’s built to feel good: a few minutes that are genuinely yours. You’ll pick up real science along the way, and it works well as professional learning too, but the spirit of the book is strength-based and uplifting, first and always.
Part of a bigger body of work
Soft Eyes is a companion to the Restoring Resilience offerings from The MEHRIT Centre. People kept asking for a way to unpack the book a little at a time, one idea a day, and that is how Soft Eyes came to be.
Restoring Resilience lives across four pieces:
- The book, Restoring Resilience (2025), with Stuart Shanker as lead author and the heart of the science, and Anne Showalter and Susan Hopkins as supporting authors.
- The Enhancing Resilience in Children and Youth, a full applied Self-Reg course taught by Stuart and Susan.
- The Restoring Resilience Masterclass, a self-paced, three-hour class with Stuart.
- Soft Eyes, the daily journal that carries the ideas into your everyday, with a focus on your own wellbeing, energy, and restoration.
However you enter, you are drawing from the same well of research and thinking.
A peek inside
Want to see a page before you buy? Here’s a sample spread, showing a quotation, reflection, and mull question.
Sample interior page from Soft Eyes, September 21, with a Stuart Shanker quotation on capacity versus self-control, a short reflection, and a mull question
What comes with the book
When you get your copy of Soft Eyes, you also get access to a full set of downloadable graphics that pair with the reflections inside. Print them, share them with your team, or use them to bring the book’s ideas into your own spaces.
Downloadable graphic from Soft Eyes by Kristin Wiens, showing three flowers labeled Rest, Refresh, and Restore
Join the September to December journal club
We’ll meet once a week through a live session, starting in September 2026 and running through the end of December 2026, moving through Soft Eyes together as the months unfold. Join us live, catch the recordings when it suits you, or journey through the book on your own. However you take part, you’ll be reading alongside a community doing the same pages, the same week. Details on how to join will be shared soon.
Soft Eyes is available now in paperback on Amazon, wherever you are in the world. Get your copy and join us in September as we open the book together for our journal club. We can’t wait to spend the fall with you, one reflection at a time.
If you’d rather buy directly through The MEHRIT Centre, or you’re looking to place a group order, email us at info@self-reg.ca.
Common questions
What is Soft Eyes?
Soft Eyes is a 122-day journal of daily reflections on stress, energy, and resilience, created by Susan Hopkins and illustrated by Kristin Wiens, grounded in Stuart Shanker’s Self-Reg framework. It was imagined as a morning ritual, though it fits wherever you want to put it in your day. Each page is a bite-sized moment of learning, reflection, and connection: a quote to spark your thinking, a bit of science, and a mull question to sit with, all held together with a sense of hope, awe, and wonder.
Who is Soft Eyes for?
Anyone who wants a few minutes of good, quiet time each day. It works just as well as a personal ritual as it does for team conversations, book clubs, or professional learning.
Do I need to know Self-Reg to enjoy it?
Soft Eyes stands on its own as a daily read, ready to enjoy exactly as it is. If you want to go deeper into the science behind it, that’s there too, whenever you’re ready.
How do I join the journal club?
The journal club runs weekly from September through December 2026. You can join the live session, watch the recording, or read the book on your own timeline. Details on how to join will be shared soon.
Where can I buy Soft Eyes?
Soft Eyes is available in paperback on Amazon worldwide. For direct or group orders, email info@self-reg.ca.