It's that time of year again.
For all who are getting ready to go back to school, (or are already back) I created a "very special" Back to School Meditation for Teachers.
Teacher Self-Care: Saying Yes to Saying No
Self-care is what keeps us feeling good, both mentally and physically. When you feel both physically healthy and mentally strong, you are able function at a level that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. I’ve written before about why self-care and self-advocacy are not selfish. It allows you to effectively and resiliently support all the people in your life who are counting on you.
How, then, do we introduce more self-advocacy and self-care into our busy everyday lives when we’re so often focused on everyone else?
Self-Care is NOT Selfish
Letting Go of Your Upper Limit Problem
How Self-Awareness Can Help You Overcome the One Thing that is Holding You Back
You know how it is when you’re so excited about something you can’t stop talking about it? That’s how it’s been for me these past few weeks after reading The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks.
If someone mentions a worry, BOOM – I bring up how worrying is a strategy employed by our upper limit problem. If I notice someone deflecting a compliment, ZIP – I swoop in and explain how our inability to maintain positive emotions is tied to our perceived self-worth.
It feels particularly serendipitous that I stumbled across this book and its description of the upper limit problem this month, because it perfectly aligns with our current theme of letting things go.
Teachers: Why Letting Go is Essential to Moving Forward
Learn to Stop Beating Yourself Up
“It’s time to stop beating yourself up.”
When I speak to groups of students or educators, I make sure to touch on self-compassion as an important part of mindfulness practice. Typically, I begin with the statement above, shortly followed by, “…it’s not working, nor is it doing what you think it is.”
I start my overview of self-compassion with this because the experience of mentally beating oneself up is rather universal in our culture. Just about everyone does it, and I would guess that you do, too.
Negative self-talk and the inner critic are so pervasive because many people see it as useful. Some people even resist being gentler with themselves because they think self-flagellation is how they “hold themselves accountable” or “stay in line” or “teach themselves a lesson” when they mess up.
How Are You?
You might feel that you are too busy to stop and consider this question. I understand. You might not actually want to know the truth of your experience right now. I get that, and I realize it can be uncomfortable and perhaps even scary to find out what the answer to the question might be.
In spite of all this, I'm inviting you to check in with yourself and see what comes up when you ask, "how are you?" in earnest.
How to Cultivate Self-Awareness for the Big Game of Everyday Life
Just yesterday I was sitting on a metal stool, eating my lunch at a counter. Everything was fine, and then I got a sharp pain in my left leg that felt like a bug bite. That was manageable, but the pain caused my leg to jerk to the side, thereby whacking it on the stool leg and creating way more pain than the original sensation.
I swore like a sailor (because profanity is one of my guilty pleasures), rubbing my leg until the pain lessened adequately, and continued eating my lunch. Then, as I was finishing up, I took a swig of my seltzer and some of it went down the wrong tube, resulting in that kind of coughing that is more reminiscent of eye-watering and gagging noises than anything else.
Then the burst of rage came.
How Can Teachers Reduce Stress From the Back to School Transition
Since it’s late August, it’s time for us to get back into the swing of things at school. As I mentioned in my post earlier this month, transitions are hard, and we as educators need to be intentional about doing (or not doing) whatever is necessary to ease this transition. Here are two important areas of focus to consider.
Transitions Are Hard - Be Gentle With Yourself
This week is teacher work week.
As I write this, I am now at home after an all-day, off site professional development training with all the certified staff at my school. The details of the training itself aren’t particularly important. What is important is how I felt by the end of the day: really, really tired.
