In my previous blog I covered five introductory elements of positive psychology and how teachers could apply them to their classrooms and lives. Today I'm going to cover the last five and hopefully leave you with some easy strategies and resources to use! To review, the first five were being grateful, being mindful, taking care of your relationships, being passionate, and setting goals. These next five build off of and complement the first five very well! I go back to school in four days, and I'm trying my best to practice these now, when I'm not stressed, in order to make those pathways in my brain stronger for when I am stressed! 6. Practice Self-Compassion. We are so often more harsh with ourselves than we would ever be with our family, coworkers, or students. Under stress, my default self-talk is highly critical and negative. I would NEVER speak to my loved ones or students the way I do to myself. But I've found that awareness of your inner monologue is the first step in changing it. My suggestion for this one is two-fold. First, be curious. Listen to your thoughts and try to objectively describe how you talk to yourself. What kind of language do you use? What tone do your thoughts take? When does your logic trump your initial emotional response? What do your loved ones tell you when you inevitably mess up? Look for patterns. Then, find a positive mantra or two to override the negative talk. Mantras take up the thought space so the negativity has less room to run wild. And the repetition of them help rewire your brain to think and speak to yourself differently. I have loved mantras for years (thanks, yoga!) and have some resources here to surround yourself with positivity. Right now, my mantra is this: -->"I am a strong and capable (wo)man." (from Ted Lasso) Check out these Mantras for Mental Health for teachers on my TpT store. 7. Acts of Kindness. Altruism is defined as "the belief in or practice of selfless concern for the well-being of others." Simply put, do nice things for other people without expecting anything in return. I know when I'm in a bad place mentally, I am usually exhausted and depleted from helping others. Teachers are helpers. We help our families, our colleagues, and our students. The last thing I want to do is more help. But sometimes, going out of our comfort zone of normal helping to do something different to make someone else's day better- that gets us out of our head and back into the healthier place of gratitude and relationships. You don't have to organize a missions trip to a needy country- you can do so many small things that are often taken for granted today. Holding the door. Giving a compliment. Picking up a dropped object. Texting someone you know is having a tough time to let them know you're thinking of them. Bringing an unexpected treat home to your family. Being kind to others makes our own world brighter too. 8. Cultivate Optimism. Feel your feelings, but don't be controlled by them. There is power in feeling your feelings, but there is also power in looking for another perspective. Cognitive Behavior Therapy will often ask patients to reframe their thoughts. Automatic negative thoughts can be countered with awareness and practice. Optimism does not have to be blind or foolish. We can simply be curious about our experiences and look to at least acknowledge the other side of negative situations. One way that teachers can apply this is asking themselves the question- "But what am I missing?" So your room got moved. That stinks. But now you get new neighbors to bring in different perspectives. So you have lunch duty this year. Opportunity to meet new students and get visibility and thus credibility with them. Your district is implementing a new assessment program. Maybe it will give you data you could never access before to inform your instruction. Yes, all these things are annoying and frustrating. But rarely is any thing or any one all bad or all good. Be curious. What are you missing? This minilesson on accepting things as "Perfectly Imperfect" helps overcome the negativity bias and open up optimism in your life. A newly added 90 minute lesson plan on Positive Psychology: Optimism is in my store now. This station rotation will help students compare and contrast optimism and pessimism, and gives real strategies for improving optimism in life. Check it out! 9. Prioritize Self Care. One of the most important quotes that changed my life was this: "True self care is creating a life that you don't need to escape from." It's not bubble baths and massages (Although I do love them both and they do help my mental and physical health.) But if you're not able to make the right choices to create the life you love, chocolate bars and a pedicure ain't gonna fix that. Now. You ABSOLUTELY cannot pour from an empty cup. So you need to get good sleep. Eat vegetables. Move your body. Take your vitamins. Find a therapist. Go to the doctor for checkups. AND you can also do the uncomfortable work of setting up boundaries to shelter yourself from toxic people. You don't have to work on nights and weekends if you don't want to. You don't have to let people treat you like junk. Taking care of yourself means making tiny, seemingly insignificant choices again and again and again that will eventually lead up to a life you love. What's a small boundary or choice that you can make to take care of yourself today? 10. Think Positively. Lastly, mindset matters. And honestly, all the other 9 elements combine to allow you to think more positively about yourself, your choices, and your life. You cannot bully yourself into thinking more positively. But you can try the little tricks and tips in these two blog posts to add up to more positive than negative in your life. It's foolish and harmful to engage in toxic, forced positivity. No "good vibes only" here... that's honestly unrealistic and makes the very natural feelings of disappointment and frustration be compounded by guilt. There will be crappy parts of life. But people can practice the tools to make themselves more resilient and overcome setbacks along the way. The ebb and flow of life is inevitable. Coping with the tips from positive psychology helps us become happier and healthier throughout the tides of life.
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AuthorA midwest teacher in love with creating awesome opportunities for students to think, communicate, and produce. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Comfortable-Classroom
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