Resilience

Many of us have done it. After losing patience, we’ve become a bit snappy with a room full of students or raised our voices a level or two higher than we should have. It happens. The longer you teach, the more probable an incidence (or two) becomes. Responsive, Not Reactive Once a teacher loses it with a class or student, it takes some time to rebuild that feeling of safety and trust within those four walls, so it’s wise to avoid heading in that direction. If you are a new teacher, it’s important to develop good habits around routinely using a calm and appropriate voice level with your students. (We’ve all heard the explosive teacher down the hall in another…

Modern life is exhausting, stressful and the pursuit of happiness plagues our thoughts, making us exhausted and unhappy.  How can we rise above all the obstacles and create a pathway to happiness? Make them Laugh!! Be an inspiration to others to feel good in the present moment. I have found the answer to my pursuit of happiness. Laughter Yoga. Don’t dismiss  it until you have tried it. You’ve heard laughter is the best medicine, right? Yes! How can we sustain laughter in our lives to get the benefit when humour is subjective or not the same for everyone? Laughter Yoga makes a sensational difference in the world by turning laughter into therapy with positivity. There are three simple aspects to…

Resetting Your Brain’s Default Neural Network from Retreat to IGNITE! In part 1 we examined how neuroplasticity rewires your brain to survival mode. Since a repeated pattern of effort-failure set up the brain’s survival response to withhold effort, you’ll need to strengthen the pattern of effort toward goals can result in success. Your reconstruction comes from your brain’s very powerful drive for its own neurochemistry – dopamine and the pleasure it brings. The fuel that motivates the brain to persevere through increasing challenge, even through failed attempts, is dopamine. This neurochemical produces the pleasure of intrinsic satisfaction and increases motivation, curiosity, perseverance and memory. Dopamine is released when the brain makes a prediction or achieves a challenge and gets the…

The end of the school year provides an opportunity to implement strategies to prevent or reduce burnout. It is not until we are away from a high-stress situation for a while that the brain can move out of reactive survival mode and into a relaxed state where it can ponder the big picture. The intervention suggestions are likely to be ones that you already know. The problem is, when it comes to adding another activity to your schedule, past experiences may have left you with the expectation that there is not enough time – or you’ve tried things like this before and didn’t notice any change. So you stopped. My belief is that when you understand what happened in your…

For staff in schools it can be difficult to switch off. We often think about our work, our students, our frustrating colleagues and unrealistic parents. This can keep us awake at night or hijack our thoughts during the weekend or even the holidays. This happens for many reasons. Technology allows us to be more connected than ever. The work we do is important and generally we are passionate about making a difference. The work is never ending and there is always more that can be done. However, being able to switch off is important to our well-being. Jay Shetty in his book, “Think Like A Monk”, suggests that if you want to become a master at basketball, you should learn…

Positive thinking doesn’t mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life’s less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst. Positive thinking often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of a lack of information. If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive,…

Inspired by Maya Angelou One of the key factors in achieving a high level of job satisfaction is to do work that is important. The work of all staff in schools is important. We have the opportunity to change lives, every single day.  In recognition of the vital work that staff in schools undertake, I have chosen a series of famous quotes from legendary American author, poet and activist,   Maya Angelou that I believe reflect the importance of our work.  I hope you find one that resonates with you. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. We delight in the beauty of the butterfly…

Adapted from a blog post by Nicholas Provenzano The final weeks can be the hardest days of the school year. End-of-year events start to pile up and stress levels are at an all-time high and our energy reserves are at an all-time low. Whilst this time of the year can be tough and exhausting, it doesn’t have to feel that way. Here are a few things that you can do to make it through the homestretch. Get Outside One of the things many people STOP doing when they get busy is exercising, yet it is one of the most beneficial actions you can take to manage stress. Walk around the block at lunch time, walk your dog in the evening,…