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Emotional Baggage is Toxic

October 17, 2024

Emotional baggage is heavy – How much are you carrying around? It’s the end of the year, and what better time to clear out the old to make room for the new. One of the heaviest bags we carry around is our emotional baggage, our past frustrations, resentments, guilt, anger or regrets. They are heavy, weigh us down, prevent us from moving forward and damage our health and happiness. The source of emotional baggage often comes from conversations we have had; what has been said and what hasn’t been said; the meanings we attribute to the conversations; the clashes with our sense of right and wrong, blame, shame and polar beliefs and values. Communication sits at the base of this,…

Struggling to Disconnect – Try Box Breathing

In today’s fast-paced world, the concept of “busy” has taken on new dimensions. With the constant influx of emails, notifications and social media updates, many people find themselves perpetually engaged, unable to switch off even when they need to. The line between work and personal life has blurred and many people find it difficult to switch off. As a result, the modern mind is in a near-constant state of activity, under load and struggling to find moments of peace. The Challenge of Disconnecting The digital age, while offering unparalleled connectivity and convenience, has also brought about a significant challenge: the inability to disconnect. Whether it’s the pressure to respond to work emails after hours or the allure of endless scrolling…

60 000 Thoughts per Day

September 26, 2024

Scientists say that we have over 60 000 thoughts each day. That is a scary, huge number! However, what is even scarier is thinking about which thoughts we listen to without even realising it and which ones we let fade off, out of our minds just as quickly as they arrived. I like using the analogy of our minds being like a busy train station. Our brain is the station and our thoughts are the trains coming in and out. Thousands of trains pass through the station on a daily basis and most of the time we jump on board the first train that goes past without even being aware of where it is going. We don’t think too much…

Feeling Overwhelmed – Simplify Things

September 5, 2024

At times we can try to be all things, to all people. However, this can be to the detriment of our own well-being. The following strategies, inspired by author Kelly Exeter, are intended to help you slow down and bring some calmness to your life whenever you are feeling at risk of becoming over-whelmed. Reduce the Number of Decisions You Need to Make Decision making is incredibly tiring. Staff in schools make hundreds, if not thousands of decisions each day. The pure volume of decisions that we make leads to cognitive fatigue. Establishing routines and pre-planning are great strategies for reducing the number of decisions we have to make each day (or at least reducing the number of decisions that…

Why Would You Want to Work in Schools?

During my career, the status of the teaching profession has declined. A generation or two ago parents generally were more supportive of teachers. In times gone by, when issues arose parents were more likely to back and support teachers than immediately jump to the defense of their children and ‘attack’ or question the teacher’s judgement. The cartoon depicting an angry parent questioning a teacher about a student’s grades, that is found in many staffrooms, is an illustration of this shift. There are many factors contributing to this change in status. These include increased stress levels of parents, the competitive nature of an aspirational society and how busy and time poor most people feel. People under stress are quick to blame…

Worry Less – Smile More

August 15, 2024

In the fast-paced school environment, we can often find ourselves overwhelmed with concerns. From staff and resource shortages; curriculum changes; unrealistic expectations of some parents; leadership issues; struggling students; to poor behaviour, it’s easy to fall into a cycle of worry. Will Billy have a meltdown today? Will that cranky parent complain about me? Will this lesson work? Will my students engage and behave? Will my hours get cut? Will the wifi crash? Our days can be filled with worrying. However, most of the things we worry about, never actually happen. Worrying is a natural human response to uncertainty and potential threats. However, research shows that a significant portion of our worries are unfounded. A study by the University of…

7 Ways to End Your Day Feeling Happy and Satisfied

August 8, 2024

1.Reflect on what you achieved One of the challenges of working in schools is we can’t necessarily see what we have achieved each day. Take a few moments to review how you used your time today. Clean up for a fresh start tomorrow Clutter, physical and virtual, takes a surprising toll on your energy. Tidy your desk at the end of each day — after saving your open work — close all of your computer’s unneeded windows and browser tabs. Cleaning up today, gives you a fresh start tomorrow. Prepare tomorrow’s to-do list in order of priority Doing this has two benefits. First of all, it gives you a sense of completion when you hand off tasks to another day.…

Serotonin Seeker

August 1, 2024

What you eat and when you eat it, the amount of exercise you take and the amount of sleep you get are among the key factors that affect the production of neurotransmitters. This means that by controlling these factors you can control your internal ecology to maintain abundant supplies of your feel- good chemical, serotonin. Humans appear to have a survival instinct to eat fat. Fat is OK – you need some fat on your body to function. But if you’re carrying excess weight you’ll feel low because you’re placing extra load on all your physical systems. Losing unwanted fat is a crucial step in achieving and maintaining a natural high but the worst message you can send an overweight…

We’ve Got This!

June 13, 2024

In the heart of every community, there exists a group of individuals whose dedication and impact are immeasurable. These individuals, often uncelebrated but always vital, are staff who work in schools. We stand together on the front line of shaping the future. In the face of unprecedented challenges, it is crucial to recognise the profound importance of our work and to find renewed inspiration to persevere. Working in schools has a profound impact. Every word of encouragement we offer and every challenge we help a student overcome, contributes to the larger society. It is through our efforts that students learn to think critically, to explore their creativity and to understand the complexities of the world around them. The seeds we…

Cut YOURSELF Some Slack

May 30, 2024

That little voice inside your head is powerful! It can be harsher than your toughest critic. What we say to ourselves has a significant affect on our stress levels. In last week’s Happy School article we highlighted the importance of cutting OTHER people some slack. We recommended taking care not to be too judgemental of others and giving them the benefit of the doubt, where possible. We don’t always know what is going on in other people’s lives and we should try to be forgiving. It is just as important that we have reasonable expectations of ourselves. We need to monitor our self-talk and ensure that we are being fair to ourselves, particularly when we are running low on reserves.…

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