Inspired Together Teachers

You are here: Home / Archives for Podcast

Avoid These 5 Dreaded ” D’s” Ep 95.

by Leave a Comment

Season 6 Episode 95
Avoid these 5 dreaded "D's", man looking horrified

Check out this episode if you want to learn what NOT to do!

 Show notes:

Episode Summary:

We’re flipping the script today. Instead of talking about the things we want, or things we should do, we’re talking about what we DON’T want. These are things to avoid- things that will rob you of joy and happiness and life satisfaction.

Stay tuned and listen up so you don’t fall into the trap of any of this 5 dreaded “D’s”.

In this episode:

This is an outline of the show. For the full experience, listen to the episode where we often tell stories and give examples of the content.

Introduction:

We often think and talk about what we want in our lives. It is easy and hopeful to look for the positive things.We tend to be positive people, so we like to look at the positive side of things.

Perhaps, occasionally, it is useful to think about what we don’t want. That is not something we do often on the podcast, so today we are flipping the script. It might be useful to think about what we don’t want, so we can appropriate steps to make sure that we don’t get those things.

The 5 Dreaded D’s

As we look at what we want in our lives, it is easy to eliminate the things we don’t want. Let’s talk about what we are going to call  “the five dreaded D’s”.

1.Disconnected

To be disconnected means that we are disconnected from people, places, or things or activities we love, or things that are important to us.

It often means that there is a lack of communication or misunderstandings between people. It can mean you are separated from people you used to have a good connection with but no longer have any connection.

If you are disconnected, you might experience FOMO, fear of missing out. No one likes to left out.

If you’re disconnected, you might miss something important. That could be an event, or a learning opportunity or even a party. You want to be a part of things.

Being disconnected to lead to loneliness or isolation. In a severe detachment, you could become separated from reality.

In episode #93 we discussed the importance of connection to our happiness and life satisfaction. Disconnection can have the opposite effect. If you are feeling disconnected, listen to episode 93. You might need to find more connections in your life.

Paula: An example of being disconnected is when you move to another place or a different job. You feel disconnected from that place or group of friends or coworkers and they continue on without you. You know they are going out to dinner without you, you wish you were there with them. You are disconnected, and it can hurt.

Michele: In my family there was a long disconnection. My husband’s grandfather had a falling out with his siblings and they did not see each other or communicate for fifty years. A few of them came to his funeral. I thought that was sad. It was such a missed opportunity to have lost all those years together.

Social media can really make people feel disconnected. Not only do you feel disconnected, but because pictures are posted on line you can actually see what other people are experiencing that you are not experiencing.

Notice when you are feeling disconnected. How can you reconnect or find new people to connect with?

2.Discontented

If you have a vague feeling that there is something more or something better, that you are missing out on something you want to have or to be, you are discontented. You have a longing for something better than the present situation.

If you are feeling unhappy because you want better treatment or an improved situation, you are discontented.

You’ll usually recognize when someone is discontent because they will complain. They can also be agitated, irritable, or angry.

People who are not satisfied with their lives are often miserable. They can also be miserable to be around.

We’ve probably all know someone like that.

Michele: I think of the stereotype of the gruff, old person who complains about everything. Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street is an example, he lives in misery and lets everyone know about it.

Paula: One of the things you can do when you feel discontented is to recognize it and then use it for change. I always feel it just before I consider a job change. I listen to my body, and my heart and I feel it. Then I listen and consider the possibilities of what I might want to change. This is how you can use that feeling of being discontented in a positive way to get what you need so you don’t become Oscar the Grouch.

If you are constantly feeling discontented, it is a sign that you might need to change something in your life.

3.Disillusioned

Something in your life isn’t what you expected it to be. You work hard, why isn’t life better or easier? Or you had a dream, why isn’t it turning out the way you hoped? To be disillusioned is to be disappointed in how something turned out.

Disillusionment means you have a plan or dream, but it didn’t  go your way. Or perhaps once you get to know a person, they aren’t what you expected them to be. It is a form of disappointment, but disillusionment is more permanent.

Michele: I would use the word disillusioned to explain how I felt about my first trip to Disney World. I never went as a child, so I was an adult, which might be part of the problem. I’d heard so many things for so many years about the magic and the fun and the happiness. I thought it was entirely overhyped and overpriced. The lines were long, the rides weren’t that great and everything seems so incredible fake to me. Don’t send me negative comments for saying this- if you love Disney that’s great. I’m not trying to steal your joy. I’m glad it made you happy. I even went back a couple of times, thinking that I must have missed something the first time. Nope, I had the same feeling. Disney was disillusionment for me.

Paula: For me Disney is magic. There is nothing like seeing the magic through the eyes of you your five year old who wants to be a princess. That just shows how different people can feel disillusioned by different things. Where I have found disillusionment is in things I have volunteered for. For example, sometimes I get on a committee and the people are nitpicky or stuck in details and we’re not doing when I thought we were going to do. Sometimes I set really high goals for all the wonderful things we can do, and then I get disillusioned when I get stuck in the details. Then it is worse when I realize I am on that committee for three years.

Disillusionment is something to watch for in your life. Disillusionment will often bring you to make a decision- do I stay with what I am doing and keep having this feeling, or do I try to change something? It is not always an easy decision, but it is worth weighing your options.

4.Disenchanted

Disenchantment is a similar to feeling disillusioned, but we mean it as the opposite of enchanted. There is no magic or mystery or element of surprise or fun or playfulness. When something is enchanting, it is special and kind of unworldly. You might literally say it is magical.

Michele: I think it is easy to feel enchanted as a child. There are so many things that are big and special and almost larger than life. I think of fireworks and holiday decorations. When I was a kid, I would marvel at the houses that had big blow-up Santas in the front. I loved them. Or cotton candy at the fair, it was super sweet and sticky and not like any other food I had ever had. Those things were very enchanting to me then, but now leave me feeling disenchanted.

On the other hand, there is a room at The Art Institute in Chicago that is full of doll houses that are very detailed, even created to scale and with historical details that are accurate to the time. They are full of tiny little furniture and have tiny dishes on the table and tiny art on the walls. I loved those houses as a child and I still do. They still enchant me, so I’m not disenchanted by those.

Paula: There are things we are going to be disenchanted about. For me, it is Twinkies.  I loved those as a child, now they don’t taste so good. What is that white stuff inside of them?

Once you know how the sausage is made you can’t ever look at it the same way. When you see behind the details, how something works or is made, it is no longer enchanting.

When you do find something enchanting, try to experience it again. What do you find enchanting? How can you make something enchanting happen or experience something that enchants you again?

5.Disempowered

If you are disempowered, you aren’t living into your best self. Things have gotten away from you. You aren’t empowered to give or be your best. Perhaps you have no control or no power to create something or do something.

Of all the things on this list, disempowered is possibly the most serious. To have no power is limiting to you as a person. Without power you are weak and ineffectual, and possible unimportant or unvalued.

Disempowered also means that you’re have been deprived of or barred or excluded from activities or don’t have certain privileges that others have. It can mean that something has been taken from you or that something has been stolen from you. Maybe it is that you didn’t have it in the first place, but you should have had it.

Paula: Think of kids. They often don’t have any power at school. As adults we have so much more power in school and at home. Adults can make decisions. If they want a bowl of ice cream at 5:00 they can have it.  Kids don’t always have the choice to just go get a bowl of ice cream, an adult will tell them no, not before supper. If a teacher at school sees that it is a nice day, they can decide to go out and take a nature walk. Students don’t get to decide to go outside on a nice day.

When we think of motivation, we often talk about giving students choices. When you choices, you are likely to be more engaged. We don’t have to give choices in everything, but even just a few choices will increase motivation. Choices help you to feel empowered.

People talk about kids having a power struggle. Why is it always such a problem when kids want power?  It is not always such a bad thing. Kids just want to be empowered too. They need some power to understand what it means to be empowered. Think about how you can give them some power in a positive way. We don’t want to raise children who never feel what it is to be empowered.

Being disempowered is the cause of many of the struggles people have against each other.  When one group has the power and prevents others from having power, that disequilibrium can be devastating. There are not many circumstance in which being disempowered is a positive thing. If an individual has no control over their own life, they are not able to do what they want to do and make the choices that are best for them. That is the opposite of living an intentional life.

Conclusion:

There they are, five things you don’t want in your life. After thinking about these things, we hope you recognize them when they creep into your life and proactivity try to prevent them from becoming a part of the way you choose to live everyday.

Recap: 

When you think about the things you want to have in your life, and we hope you do, it might also be helpful to think about what you don’t want. You don’t want to be disconnected, discontented, disillusioned, disenchanted, and disempowered. You may feel these feelings from time to time, but you don’t have to live there.

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Inspired Together Teachers Network  Facebook Group

Linked In:  Inspired Together Learning

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to live inspired lives.

Create Your Best Life: Do What Matters Ep. 94

by Leave a Comment

Season 6 Episode 94

Do What matters, sign with message, are you doing what you want to do?

Listen to this episode to find out how you can get more meaning and higher satisfaction out of life by filling your contribution bucket and doing what matters. 

Show Notes:  

Episode Summary:

Do you ever feel like you’re going through the motions and it all seems purposeless?  You work hard, but does it even matter?

You might be missing an important aspect of happiness and life satisfaction- you’re not filling your contribution bucket. You might be missing out on the feeling that your life makes sense and that your contributions matter both to yourself and to others. It’s also knowing that you are pursuing and fulfilling your goals.

In order to create your best life, you need to do what matters. In this episode we’re going to explore purpose and meaning and we’ll share one simple strategy to help incorporate what matters most into your life.

In this episode:

These show notes are an outline, not a word-by-word script. We often talk back and forth and give examples. For the best experience, we suggest listening to the podcast. It’s more fun!

Introduction:

This episode is the fourth episode in our series Create Your Best Life based on the work of Jonathan Fields in his book How to Live a Good Life. Of course, we’ve added our own spin and our own strategies.

In the episode 91, Create Your Best Life we talked about living on autopilot, putting your dreams and goals on the back burner just so you can survive the everyday expectations that are put on you. We talked about three buckets the we need to fill in order to live a good life: the vitality bucket, the connections bucket, and the contributions bucket.

In episode 92 we talked about vitality and ways you can bring more energy into your world and we started the Daily Joy Project.

In the last episode, #93 we discussed the importance of connections and how the right connections can make you feel more alive.

Today, we are tackling the last of the three buckets- the contribution bucket.

The Contribution Bucket

Every day we are bombarded with things to do, people to respond to, people to help, and daily tasks that need to be done. We are constantly faced with choices about how we spend our time.

How do we make choices about how we spend our time?

Sometimes it is by default- we just do whatever is in front of us at the moment. We are running on autopilot. Sometimes others tell us what to do. And sometimes we get to choose.

There is an old saying that how we spend our days is how we spend our lives. It is fine to have goals and plans and dreams, but what if we never get to them?

What if we never get to do the things that light us up? The things that make us feel electric and alive? The things that we get so immersed in that we lose track of time? The things that allow us to feel like we are using the best of ourselves- our interests, talents, skills and wisdom?

These are the things that make us feel that we are making a difference and that we matter. We’re making a contribution to something that is fulfilling and contributing to our sense of self- satisfaction and is equally contributing to something bigger than ourselves.

We’ve all felt those moments where we feel like we are lit up. It is, not to be too cheesy, it’s electrifying.

Who doesn’t want more of that feeling in their lives? This is the power of contributions.

How does this connect to teaching?

Many teachers feel boredom, apathy, exhaustion, lost joy, overall sense of disillusionment, burn-out, and stress. You might not be connecting to your connections bucket.

One solution is to reconnect with what matters.

We often reference this quote, and it fits in well here. It is from author and speaker Alexander den Heijer:

“You often feel tired, not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sparks a light in you.”

We’ve often skipped the things we love, the things that make us joyful and the things we get immersed in. When we do that day after day, for weeks, and months, and years, we’re losing part of ourselves- the part that is connected to something that matters to us.

Daniel Pink, in his book Drive talks about the importance of autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Autonomy is being able to  make our own decisions. Mastery is the desire to get better and better at something we intrinsically enjoy. Purpose is something that we find deeply important.

All of these things are connected to our contribution bucket.

Pink says that “ the most deeply motivated people- not to mention those who are most productive and satisfied- hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves.”

Passion and Purpose

People are often told to find their passion or purpose. That’s intimidating. You might not have one lifetime passion. You might not know your purpose. You might be passionate about many things or find purpose in many different things.

You may not have to find your passion or purpose. Finding the meaning in your life might just mean that you have to look for meaning that is already there.

In his book How to Live a Good Life, Jonathan Fields suggests asking yourself questions.

What are you interested in or curious about?

What fascinates You?

What do you love to do just because?

What do you want to achieve for no other reason that you just want it?

If you don’t know what you are passionately interested in, ask this. What do you love to immerse yourself in? What would you love to master? What service do you want to bring to the world or what do you have to offer the world?

We all have gifts and contributions to share.

How do you fill your contribution bucket?

If you aren’t loving your work or life, you need to find a spark. That means finding a way to shake things up.

Author and high-performance coach Brendon Burchard says, “If you’re going through the motions, you’re going through someone else’s agenda.” That hurts! We don’t want our lives to be controlled by someone else’s agenda.

How do you shake things up? Here’s the activity:

Ask yourself this one question:

What brings you joy, excitement, energy and enthusiasm?

  1. Take three minutes and do some speed writing. Set a timer on your phone. Just write whatever comes to your mind without filtering it. Just keep going until the timer stops. Write everything. Don’t censor or edit anything. Just keep writing.
  2. Which things on your list are you doing regularly?
  3. How could you do more of what brings you joy at work? At home? In your community?

Now that you know what brings you joy, excitement, energy and enthusiasm, what can you do to get more of that?

Examples of Filling Your Contribution Bucket

You love music, but don’t have time to join a band or choir or musical theater group. You could play your piano at home for five or ten minutes every day, even if you just play one piece. You could sing with your students or help them write funny songs that connect to the curriculum. You could turn off the news and listen to your favorite artists on your drive to school. Something is better than nothing.

Michele:  I have been in community bands and choirs and used to be very involved in community theater. I don’t have time for any of those things right now. What I do prioritize is to attend musical performances as often as I can, sometimes it is a local theater group, sometimes a national Broadway touring group, and sometimes it is even attending shows on Broadway. That helps me fill my bucket, and it fills a need in the community for people who attend and support the arts. The arts are often hurting financially. I can help by attending shows. Win/win!

We know a teacher who is passionate about growing organic food to feed her family. It was an easy decision for her to get involved with the school’s garden. She also taught a plants and gardening unit with her students. Eventually she started a community garden. It hardly feels like work to her, because she is knowledgeable and loves what she is doing.

Paula: One way I like to contribute is to be on boards. I like the leadership aspect and have good strategic thinking skills. I am on the board of a group I am passionate about and I love their mission so I’m a volunteer on their board. I can’t always do all the volunteer opportunities they offer, but I  can serve on the board.

The same with my kids school. I can’t volunteer as much as I’d like, but I can be on the School Improvement Council. I know a lot about education, so I can contribute. I can’t volunteer at events as much as I’d like, but I can still have a contribution. It feels good.

Our podcast is also an example of a contribution. We do this work because we believe it matters. We get to use our knowledge, experience and wisdom to support teachers. Teachers are also our people, which brings us deep connection. We also get energy and excitement from this work- which builds our vitality. We can contribute to this field that we love.

You might want to think about how you could contribute. Maybe you start a book club after school, or an after school exercise group, or do yoga in your classroom. Find a way to connect to and use your passions.

Real happiness comes not just from choosing to live a happy or meaningful life, but from finding things that make you happy and feel meaningful to you and then doing them.

Conclusion:

We are on a journey to live our best lives- what we call an intentional life. We hope this series has been useful to you and that you continue to join us on the journey to live an inspired life.

Recap:

We can’t make good decisions about our lives or how we spend our time until we know what matters to us. This means we need to be aware of our values, but also what sparks a light in us. We need to be aware of the importance of the contributions we are making in this world. Our lives will be meaningful if we spend time doing what matters.

Quote:

“You often feel tired, not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sparks a light in you.”

Alexander den Heijer

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Inspired Together Teachers Network  Facebook Group

Linked In:  Inspired Together Learning

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to live inspired lives.

This post may use affiliate links. If you purchase an item through our link, we will receive a small portion of the profit with no extra cost to you. This helps us to pay for the costs of bringing this free podcast to our community.

Create Your Best Life With Meaningful Connections Ep. 93

by Leave a Comment

Season 6 Episode 93

group of friends, meaningful connections

To create your best life, build meaningful connections. Listen to this episode to find out what types of people you need and who you might be missing.  

Show Notes:  

Episode Summary:

Do you want to feel more alive? If so, you need to find your people. Having the right kinds of relationships can not only make us feel more alive, they can expand us and help us to grow.

In today’s episode we are talking about meaningful connections. If we want to create our best life, we need to be intentional about the types of relationships we have. Join us as we discuss the kinds of people you need in your life. Do you have the right people in your orbit? Let’s find out!

In this episode:

These show notes are not a word-by-word script fo the episode. We often give examples and tell stories to illustrate our points. For the best experience, please listen to the episode.

Introduction:

This is the third part in our series Create Your Best Life. If you haven’t listened to the earlier episodes, you might want to go back and listen to episodes 91 and 92.

In episode 91 we introduced the Create Your Best life challenge and talked about Jonathan Fields 3 buckets we all need to keep filled in order to life our best lives from his book How to Live a Good Life.

In episode 92, we talked about the vitality bucket. Today we are talking about the connections bucket.

The power of our connections

The power of having strong connections is no secret.

You all know Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. Maslow knew that belongingness and love are core needs, and they are part of the trio of essential needs which also include vital biological systems such as breathing and eating and personal safety. Without connection we have a failure to thrive.

Happiness research also validates the importance of having strong connections.

In the longest in-depth longitudinal study on human life ever done, over 85 years and counting, there was a simple and profound conclusion: good relationships lead to health and happiness.

According to Harvard research and author of The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness,

“Contrary to what many people might think, it’s not career achievement, or exercise, or a healthy diet. Don’t get us wrong; these things matter (a lot). But one thing continuously demonstrates its broad and enduring importance: Good relationships. In fact, good relationships are significant enough that if we had to take all eighty-four years of the Harvard Study and boil it down to a single principle for living, one life investment that is supported by similar findings across a wide variety of other studies, it would be this: Good relationships keep us healthier and happier. Period.”

Social Connections are also connected to our health.

  • Help us fight disease
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Lower stress
  • Antidote for depression
  • Increases high performance
  • Socially isolated adults have a 2.5 times higher risk of coronary disease and early death

Clearly our connections matter.

The Connections Bucket

Jonathan Fields talks about three buckets we need to keep filled. One of these is the connections bucket. This includes family, friends, colleagues, students, community and even our spiritual connections.

Our connections give us a sense of belonging. We find laughter, unconditional love, a sense of being understood through our connections. We feel emotional safety.

The right people help us feel alive. They validate us and make us better. They help us to flourish. When we are with the right people, we are seen, heard, understood and accepted. We can access our real selves and our full potential.

What if you are missing positive connections in your life?

Without connections, we can shrink, hold back or be diminished. We are fearful of letting our true selves be known.

Problems with relationships:

  • Relationships can make you feel vulnerable.
  • Teacher isolation- it’s real and it’s hard.
  • Lack of community or a non-supportive environment- Be careful who you share your dreams with.
  • Some people in your life can’t or won’t support you.
  • You don’t have to cut people out of your life, but you control how much you let them in.
  • Don’t let toxic people or emotional vampires suck you dry! Set boundaries with these people.

The world may not automatically give you the environment that you need, but you can create it.

We all have the power to create the environment and the connections we need in our lives.

You don’t need an entourage, just a handful of people who understand and support you in the ways you need to be supported.

We love this quote, from a teacher friend, Dani Way Lawlor. We shared in in our book, The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

“Find your teacher people and love them hard.

Teaching is hard and wonderful all at the same time.

 No one can do it alone.

Find those people who will cry with you, let you vent,

 laugh with you, help turn crazy ideas into a reality,

support you, build you up, and celebrate victories with you and hold them tight.

They are the ones who will tell you that you can do it, even when you don’t think you can!”

Dani Way-Lawler

High School Special Education Teacher

Find your people.

We need different types of support. Who can support you in the following ways? Listen to the following as think about who in your life fills this role.

Someone who cheers you on

Someone who you can confide in

Someone who can mentor you

Someone who motivates you

Someone who stretches you

Someone who brings fun

Someone who believes in your dreams

Someone who loves you unconditionally

Analyze your people with this lens:

Are these people who support me in living my best life?  How?

Do I often feel energized and engaged with these people?

What kind of energy, actions, ideas, talents etc. do these people bring to my life?

Is something or someone missing? Who or what?

Recap:

At the end of the day, your people matter. Find those you can love, laugh with, cry with and those who fill you up and remind you that life is good.

Our mission at Inspired Together Teachers is to support you- we’d love to connect with you and have you join us on this journey.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Episode 19 You Have the Power to Design Your Life

Episode 5 The Power of Community

Episode 20  Build Your Star System

Blog post: Use Your TEAM to Help You Thrive

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Inspired Together Teachers Network  Facebook Group

Linked In:  Inspired Together Learning

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.

Create Your Best Life: Build Vitality with Purpose and Joy Ep. 92

by Leave a Comment

Season 6 Episode 92

apple with napkin filled with words about vitality, Create Your Best Life: Build Vitality with Purpose and Joy

Listen to part 2 of our Create Your Best Life series and learn a simple way to increase your energy and enthusiasm and build your sense of vitality. 

Show Notes:

Episode Summary:

Do you have a zest for life? Are you energetic in body, mind and spirit? Are you enthusiastic? Do you want to be?

Today we are talking about how to create your best life by paying attention to one of three important buckets, the buckets you need in order to create your best life, today it’s your vitality bucket. What exactly is vitality and how do you get it?

Vitality is key to living a purposeful life. Listen to this episode because we are going to wake you and shake up everything you think you know about vitality!

In this episode:

This is the second episode in our series on Creating Your Best Life. In episode 91, we discussed Jonathan Fields three buckets metaphor for creating a good life from his book How to Live a Good Life. Those buckets are vitality, connection, and contribution.

The idea is that in order to create your best life, you need to have a balance of all the things in those three buckets. When one bucket empties too much, everything is out of balance. Your life satisfaction is lower and your happiness declines. The goal is to make sure you are refilling each of those buckets regularly.

Introduction:

Our topic today is vitality.

Michele: Paula, I’m pretty sure we have never used that word on this podcast before!

Paula: I am 100% convinced that we have not used that word ever on this podcast.

Michele: When I think of the word vitality, I think of the old classic TV show I Love Lucy. In one episode, Lucy is hired to star in a TV commercial for a tonic that will increase your vitality. It’s called Vitameatavegimin. Its slogan is “Spoon your way to health.”

Unbeknownst to Lucy, the main ingredient is alcohol. As she goes through the numerous takes, taking a spoonful of the tonic each time, she slowly becomes drunk. She starts out reading the script which says, “Are you tired, run down and listless?  Do you poop out at parties? Are you unpopular?  This tonic will solve all your problems.”

It later takes it comes out, “Are you tired, rundown and listless? Do you pop out at parties? Are you unpoopular?” By the end she can’t even talk straight!  Vitameatavegimin comes out as Vitaveatyvee meeny, miny, moe!  If you have never seen this episode, head over to You Tube and check it out. It is a good laugh!

Well today, we’re not trying to sell you a tonic. Nor are we recommending alcohol to solve all your problems! But we are going to talk about vitality. Not vitality you can buy in a tonic, but vitality you can find in your life.

What is vitality?

When we talk about vitality we mean being strong in body, mind, and soul. We mean the ability to be energetic and to grow. Think of a related term- your vital organs. Those are the organs most essential to life.

Here are some concepts that are connected to vitality:  Sleep. Exercise. Nutrition. Hydration. Movement. Strength. Mindfulness. Gratitude. Nature. Peace. Calm. Optimism. Breathing.

There are also words connected to vitality that are the opposite: stress. Anxiety. Burnout. Pain. Depression. Anxiety. Those are the things that affect vitality in negative ways.

Here are some lesser known or unexpected aspects of vitality:

It’s slowing down and paying attention. It’s having a growth mindset. It is about having purpose in your life because having purpose gives you energy.

Think about something that you love to do, something that is fun and that has meaning. How do you feel when you are doing it?

Michele: I find vitality when I am sailing-I definitely feel a zest for life, like I am alive and running on all cylinders. That’s a great feeling.

Paula: For me it is travel. When I am in a new place and learning new things, I feel alive. All of my sense come alive and I am full of energy. I know there are people who don’t love to travel, they don’t like to get on a plane or a train in a place they don’t know, but that energizes me. That brings vitality to me.

Michele:  I  agree with that. I also love to travel. Vitality is in the little challenges. I remember when we were invited to speak in Germany. We took trains around. Neither one of us speaks German, but we were able to figure out how to get the tickets and how to get around in Germany without a car. We conquered that challenge and at the end of the day, that feels good and gives you a lot of energy, it really does make you feel alive.

The things we love to do bring us that life force- that vitality, and definitely help to fill the vitality bucket.

Here is another example that came as a surprise. Being super conscious of all the negativity in the world, or all the problems, has a strong negative affect on your vitality. Negative things drain you. It’s negativity bias. What you focus on grows. The more negativity you see, the more you look for. It is a vicious cycle. It affects your vitality.

The opposite is also true. You can fill your vitality bucket by focusing on the positive. That’s what we want to focus on in this episode.

How to gain vitality by filling your vitality bucket:

You have likely heard all the advice about the importance of exercise, nutrition, hydration, sleep etc. Those things are certainly important and we both personally work on those areas in our own lives a lot. We aren’t health coaches, or medical professionals and so we will leave that discussion to experts in that area. Nor are we counselors who are trained to deal with trauma, depression or anxiety.

As educators, we have discussed stress and burn-out, both at presentations and workshops. We’ve also created podcast episodes for those topics. They are Episodes 7, Prevent, Eliminate and Reduce Stress, Episode 13. Mindset Shifts to Change Your Life,  Episode 16 Real-Self-care and Episode 39. Self-Care and Empathy with Books that Transform.  You can follow the links to those episodes to learn more about decreasing stress and burn-out.

Today we want to focus on the good stuff.

Filling your vitality bucket with positivity.

We have an activity for you today… but first let’s talk about why.

We want you to focus on the fun stuff, the positive things, the joyful things. Focus on things you love and things that make you happy. Choose the things that are meaningful to you. Choose things that light up your life!

When you choose you- and the things that you love, you value yourself. You value what you put in your head. When you look for all the good things, you feel more positive.

When you choose yourself, you will do what’s best for you. That includes things like healthy eating or exercising. You will become more mindful and make better choices. You stop ignoring your own wants and needs. So often we take care of others and ignore our own needs. Focusing on the positivity brings us back to ourselves and our needs.

The weariness lessens, and the lightness begins to grow.

You reconnect with yourself and become more concerned with what you think than what others think of you.

You become more vital as you examine who and what matter every single day. You remind yourself to do what is important, and what is special.

The Daily Joy Project:

Here is the activity!

Every day for the next thirty days, notice and comment on one positive or special thing you see or hear or experience. Maybe it is something that made you smile- or laugh. Choose something that made you happy or something playful. Choose something that allows you to express your real self. Make special note of it.

For 30 days, every day, focus on something positive that day.

Keep a photo on your phone.

You can post a picture on Facebook or Instagram.

You can write a note in your planner or calendar under each day.

You can write in a journal.

You can text a friend who is also doing the activity.

Here are some hints to help you accomplish this challenge to build joy and vitality:

We’ll be doing it with you. Watch our Inspired Together Teachers Instagram and Facebook pages. Like the post or send us hearts!

Try doing this with your students. Challenge them to bring in and share joyful moments or something special or happy things.

If you are not comfort doing in publicly, do it in private, but just do it.

Share with one friend and do the challenge together.

If you haven’t noticed anything,  your negativity bias might be kicking in. In that case, spend 2 minutes doing something you love. Paint. Read. Walk outside. Dance in the living room. Make a smoothie. Engage in a hobby that you love and do it for no other reason that you love it.

We’re not going for perfection. No judgement. If it speaks to you of joy, it’s yours.

Michele’s friend Teresa started a similar project in order to deal with the death of her son. She needed to focus on living during a very difficult time. She called her project “Extraordinary Moments”, and she posts something every day-it’s is now on day #2273 and counting. Her motto is, “Every day has extraordinary moments, you just have to look for them.”  She has talked about how this project has brought her joy and given her purpose and helped her to focus on the positive things in her life. We love the sentiment and the purpose of this project, and how such a simple thing can be very powerful.

We also encourage you to join us by finding your own joyful things or moments and share with us or share in our Facebook group. The links are below.

Conclusion:

We end this discussion of vitality with this quote from Jonathan Fields.

“Real happiness comes not when you choose to be happy, but when you discover the things that make you happy and then do them.”

Go out and look for what makes you happy, what fills you with joy and then find more of that in your life!

Recap:

If you want to create your best life, you need to be healthy in body, mind and spirit. If you want to be energetic, enthusiastic, and have a zest for life, you need to engage in things that light you up. You can fill your vitality bucket in hundreds of ways. Consider everything you know about physical and mental health and do those things, but don’t forget to look for the joy in every day.

Challenges are more fun when you do them with a friend or two. Share this podcast and this episode with a friend, and do The Daily Joy Project together!

Quote:

“Real happiness comes not when you choose to be happy, but when you discover the things that make you happy and then do them.”

Jonathan Fields

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Inspired Together Teachers Network  Facebook Group

Linked In:  Inspired Together Learning

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.

This post may use affiliate links. If you purchase an item through our link, we will receive a small portion of the profit with no extra cost to you. This helps us to pay for the costs of bringing this free podcast to our community.

Create Your Best Life Ep. 91

by 2 Comments

Create Your Best Life Season 6 Episode 91

string with sticky notes: create your future, title Create Your Best Life

Listen to this episode if you want to stop living on autopilot and step into the life you want to live. Join us in our 4 week challenge and create your best life!

Show Notes:

Episode Summary:

Have you ever felt like you’re living on autopilot? You get the essentials done and have good intentions for doing some things you’d love to do, but somehow you never get around to it? Has the day-to-day routine taken over the person you used to be, and sometimes you wonder whatever happened to the person you once were?

Maybe you have goals and dreams and plans and you’re yearning for a life you know is possible but somehow can’t seem to create. You want to close the gap between the life you are living now and the life you know you are capable of having.

If any of those things resonate with you, join us as we begin a brand new four-week challenge designed to help you create your best life.

In this episode:

These show notes are not a word-for-word script of the podcast. As always, we often talk back and forth and share comments and examples. Please listen to the podcast for the best experience.

Introduction:

You’ve probably heard us talk about our quest to live an inspired life. If not, you can go back to listen to episode 1 of this podcast, The Inspired Life. We created this podcast to create a community of like-minded people who also want to be inspired.

So, how do you create your best life? How do we do it? Today we are going to dig into that topic a little more and reframe it. It’s not enough to dream of the life you want or wait for someday when you have more time. It is a process, and it requires attention and action.

We’ve been on this journey to create our best life for quite a while, and we are not here with all the answers and we’re certainly not proclaiming that we have the perfect life, we have been deep into the research and we’ve used lots of strategies taken lots of steps.

We’re inviting you into the process as we continue on this path.

Who are you to want more?

Sometimes we feel like we can’t complain. Our life isn’t terrible, and certainly others have it far worse. You might comfortably numb. You know you are in this space when someone asks you how you are and you reply, “ fine”, or “busy”, or “surviving, “ or sarcastically, “ living the dream.”

Who are you to not want more? Are we supposed to settle for ok?

When is a time when you have settled for less that you should? How did you feel?

The question is not,” Who are you to want more?”,  the questions should be, “who are you not to?”.

Laurie Santos, A happiness researcher at Harvard says, “we’re entitled to and capable of much more joy than we have settled for.”

Ouch!

How did we lose ourselves?

For this, we turn to the work of Jonathan Fields, author of the book How to Live a Good Life and creator of The Good Life Project Podcast.

Fields says we all have three buckets that need to be filled in order to live a good life. As teachers, you likely know and use this analogy. Teachers often talk about filling their buckets, or helping kids understand how to fill their buckets or other’s buckets.

Sometimes our buckets get a small leak, and then they empty out bit by bit. It usually isn’t one, big, traumatic event that creates a problem, it is a small leak that over time, causes a big ripple. You don’t notice it, because each tiny bit isn’t much in itself, but together it can be devastating.

What are the three buckets?

We are going to introduce each of these buckets today, but over the next several weeks we will dig into each bucket and share some activities to help you keep your buckets full.

Bucket 1- Vitality

The vitality bucket includes body and mind, both physical and mental health. It is the absence of pain, stress, burnout, depression and anxiety.

It includes traits such as a sense of calm, peace, and optimism.

When the vitality bucket leaks, we deteriorate either physically or mentally or both.

Bucket 2- Connection

This bucket is our relationships bucket. We know from longitudinal happiness studies that strong relationships are the number one key to a happy and fulfilling life.

Our connections bucket is your relationships with family, friends, colleagues, community, students, and even spirituality or belief in a higher power.

This is where we get our sense of belonging and love which is one of Maslow’s core needs. It is also the source of laughter, feeling understood and validated. Our connections can help us to feel alive.

When the connection bucket is leaking, life gets more dull. We know something is missing.

 Bucket 3- Contribution

The contribution bucket is where we hold meaning in our lives. It is where we connect to something greater than ourselves. It is also where we bring our gifts into the world.

It is accessing your full potential- finding flow. You are using your gifts, your strengths, your interests in a way that is fulfilling. You feel good. You feel like you are doing something impactful or useful in the world.

Our contribution bucket is where we do what matters. When we feel like we are not contributing in any positive way, we feel a loss. Something is missing.

Teachers know this. They feel a higher calling- it is not about the money. They know that they are doing things that help students. Yet if you work very hard and don’t believe you are having any kind of impact, it is easy to become unmotivated.

 In order to create our best life, all three of these buckets are important.

Think about what happens if you have good health and good connections, but find your work meaningless. Nothing feels worthwhile. There is no great joy. You feel a loss of potential. You are likely going through the motions.

Or imagine have meaningful work, and you are using your gifts in ways that matter, but you have a lack of connection in your life. This is loneliness.

Or you have great connections and meaningful work, but your body or mind hurts.

In the next few weeks, we are going to dig into ideas to examine and strengthen all of your buckets.

Today, we start by giving you a short activity.

The 60 Second Snapshot  (Jonathan Fields)

This activity is designed to help you assess how full or empty each of your buckets are. It is not meant to shame you or judge you, nor is it meant to be a permanent answer. As you go through life, you will likely have different answers at different times, even from day to day.

Answer the following 3 questions:

  1. Vitality: At this moment in time, how satisfied am I with my current level of physical ability, energy, appearance, well-being, my ability to weather adversity, and my capacity to feel calm, aware, present, in charge, optimistic and joyful?
  2. Connection: At this moment in time, how satisfied am I with the depth and quality of my loving relationships, friendships, and sense of genuine belonging?
  3. Contribution: At this moment in time, how satisfied am I with the level of meaning that I feel from the way I am bring my gifts to the world? Am I doing what matters?

Remember this is just one snapshot, one moment in time.

Can you feel a leak somewhere?  Where do you see room for improvement?  Which question caught you off guard?

What is one small step you could take to fill one of your buckets?

Michele: I sometimes struggle with the contribution bucket. I work really hard at things where I don’t see an impact for a long time. That can be very unmotivating. This week I’m going to create a playlist of 4 or 5 songs that will help keep me inspired to create my best life. This can help me fill my contribution bucket and remind me that what I do matters.

Paula:  This week I’m going to focus on vitality. I am sick from over doing it. I have physical outward signs that my vitality is suffering. This week, I am going to prioritize my sleep. I will listen to my body and sleep when I need to sleep.

What could you do this week to fill one of your three buckets? Let us know, we’d love to hear your ideas.

Conclusion:

We end today with the following quote from Jonathan Fields,

“A good life isn’t a place at which you arrive, it’s a lens through which you see and create your world.”

Recap:

Three keys to help you create your best life include vitality, connections, and meaningful contributions.  We will explore each of these in the coming weeks.

You have a choice. You can live on autopilot, living in a future set by someone else’s agenda, or you can create the life you want to live.

Quote:

“A good life isn’t a place at which you arrive,

it’s a lens through which you see and create your world.”

Jonathan Fields

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Book: How to Live a Good Life by Jonathan Fields

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Inspired Together Teachers Podcast Episode 1 The Inspired Life

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Inspired Together Teachers Network  Facebook Group

Linked In:  Inspired Together Learning

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.

This post may use affiliate links. If you purchase an item through our link, we will receive a small portion of the profit with no extra cost to you. This helps us to pay for the costs of bringing this free podcast to our community.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all written content and photos are created for the Inspired Together Teachers web site. Please feel free to share on social media, but we ask that you link back to this site or give credit to origins and authorship. Copyright 2017 Inspired Together Learning, LLC

Connect with us on Social Media!

Occasionally, posts on this site will contain affiliate links. We only write about or recommend products we truly like or use and would personally recommend to you. If you purchase a product through our link, we may receive a small percentage of the purchase amount. There is no additional cost to you. This allows us to pay for the costs of hosting this blog.

Additionally, we do collect a small amount of personal data so that we may create the best experience possible for our visitors. To learn more about how we collect this data please review our Privacy Policy.

Verified by ExactMetrics