Teaching with Laughter and Tears Ep. 50

February 7, 2024 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Teaching with Laughter and Tears S. 4 E. 50

Check out this episode to learn how both laughter and crying are good for you and how to find more laughter in your life and classroom.

Show notes:

Episode summary:

Have you laughed at school recently? Have you cried? The acts of both laughing and crying have a significant impact on our physical and psychological health. Both laughter and tears help us to regulate our minds and bodies. Laughing and crying are gifts that our body gives to all of us to help us respond to life’s challenges and celebrations. In this episode we will explore why we laugh and cry, how laughing and crying are good for us, and how you can add more laughter to your life and classroom.

In this episode:

The following is an outline of the things we discussed in the show. To hear all of the stories and examples, please listen to the podcast episode.

Introduction:

Laughing and crying are some of our body’s most authentic responses. When you think about it, both laughing and crying are fascinating ways that our subconscious helps us to regulate our bodies and emotions and respond to the negative and positive events of our lives.

Laughter and tears are a universal language, transcending culture and language boundaries. Laughter and tears are a baby’s first language no matter where in the world they are born.

Though laughter and tears may seem like contradictory responses, they both happen subconsciously to help us navigate our world. Even if we often give little thought to the benefits of laughter and tears, we truly need both.

For those of you who teach littles, you know that both laughing and crying are a daily activity. Children and teens often do both, and regularly have the bonus of laughing so hard that they cry.

However, as we get older, and life takes on a more adult and serious tone, we make conscious efforts to control these emotions, attempting to keep more of a middle ground- decreasing the open flow of tears in front of others and controlling the laughter.

As grown-ups, our bursts of laughter are often reserved for especially fun or funny events. We often save our tears until we are alone. We no longer roll on the floor laughing about a knock-knock joke with pure abandon like we did as a second grader, nor do we burst out into tears when we are disappointed with an answer someone gives us like we did as pre-teens. That is all good, as it helps us to stay within the norms that society sets. However, by stifling these responses we can also stifle why our bodies need these reactions to help us cope with life.

On average, people laugh a half million times in their lifetime. Children laugh about 400 times per day. Adults only laugh approximately 20 times per day. Some studies even suggest that adults laugh on average only 8 times per day! How sad is that?

Why do we adults laugh so little compared to children?

Mainly, it’s because we have less opportunities and society is less forgiving of adults with extreme emotions than we are for kids. So, as adults we try and stifle those giggles in a meeting because we don’t want to appear that we don’t have our emotions under control or we avoid crying in the principal’s office because we don’t want to appear emotionally weak.

Natalie Dattilo, an Instructor of Psychology in Harvard Medical School’s Psychology Department gives reasoning as to why adults don’t laugh enough. As she told the Harvard Gazette, “As adults, we don’t laugh nearly as much as we used to. The idea that we would have fun, play, and make time for those things is often seen as a reward or something you have to earn or something you do when the work is done. But the work is never done.”

Today we’re going to explore the bodily reactions that cause us to laugh and cry, the benefits to our bodies of laughing and crying, and ways that we can add more laughter to our lives.

Why we laugh and cry

Laughing and crying are our body’s way of regulating our emotions and processing the events of our lives. Because we are humans, it is natural to have emotions. Joy and sorrow are two of those crucial emotions. Laughter and crying are our bodies’ natural tendencies to express joy and sadness.

Though they look and sound different on the surface, both laughing and crying provide the same kind of psychological and physical stress release. They both help us to end the stress cycle. For more detailed information about the stress cycle, listen to Episode 7, Prevent, Eliminate and Reduce Stress.

There are several parts of your brain that work together to connect your emotions and the physical reactions to them such as laughing and crying. In order to laugh and cry your brain’s limbic system, brainstem, cerebral cortex and hypothalamus must all work together to get those muscles moving to produce the sound of laughter or the falling of tears. How cool that our body and brain know how important laughter and crying are to our well-being!

Laughing and crying are both byproducts of our body’s defense mechanism. So when we are feeling stressed, uncomfortable, overwhelmed in a negative way, overwhelmed in a positive way, full or joy or whatever big emotion we are feeling, the act of laughing or crying helps our body to release the energy building up in our system. This is our body’s unconscious attempt to regulate all that energy.

Sometimes, you don’t even need to feel the strong emotion to start laughing. Sometimes just hearing another person laughing can cause you to laugh too. People laugh about 30 times more when they are with other people than when they are alone. That is what the phrase “laughter is contagious” matters so much.

It is also true that we tend to mirror others so if you spend a lot of time with people who are sad, you are more likely to feel sad yourself. You’ve heard the expression misery loves company. It’s called mood contagion.

Do you remember the old Saturday Night Live character Debbie Downer played by Rachel Dratch? She was so pessimistic that no one wanted to be around her because she would bring the mood down. Today, the label “Debbie Downer” has come to mean anyone who negatively affects the mood of a space.

Keep that in mind, you probably don’t want to become a Debbie Downer!

The benefits of laughing and crying

The benefits of crying

You’ve probably heard someone say, “It’s nothing a good cry wouldn’t help.” When we cry, we release certain chemicals into our body. Of most importance, when we cry we release endorphins that reduce our pain and make us feel better. This doesn’t work for the tears we shed when we cut onions or get dirt in our eyes, but is it true for tears we cry that are associated with our emotions. There are numerous studies that indicate that letting out sad emotions with tears is better for our mental health than suppressing them.

Have you ever been holding in an emotion and then just had a good, long cry? Did you notice how much lighter you felt afterwards? Getting those emotions out through tears feels so much better than suppressing them for long periods of time.

The benefits of laughing.

You have likely heard someone say, “Laughter is the best medicine”. When we laugh, our body decreases stress hormones like adrenaline, epinephrine, and cortisol. Decreasing stress hormones is good for our heart and boosts our immune system. It can reduce the tension in our bodies and can also help to improve our mood. Laughter can decrease our heart rate and blood pressure and can relax tense muscles. And the best part is that laughter improves our mood and lowers stress and anxiety almost immediately!

Laughing, like crying, also releases endorphins into our brain that make us feel good. These endorphins can reduce pain and give us an overall sense of well-being. Some studies even show that laughter increases cells in our bodies that remove bacteria which can then help prevent cancer and inflammatory diseases. Laughter also fills us dopamine and oxytocin which is considered the “empathy hormone.”

Did you know that when you laugh, you move about 30 facial muscles at the same time? And if you have a hearty, cheerful laugh, you move a third of the muscles in your body. All those muscles moving, and the air flow that increases the motion of your diaphragm, supplies oxygen and blood throughout your body which helps your digestive system and metabolism.

There is a doctor, Patch Adams, a real person played by Robin Williams a movie, who believes that our physical wellness is highly connected to our emotional wellness. He uses humor and comedy as part of his treatment. He believes that laughter can actually help physically heal us.

How to add more laughter to your life

You know yourself best and you understand your sense of humor better than anyone. So you need to cater this to yourself but here are just a few suggestion for adding more laughter to your life.

1. Add opportunities for play, silliness and creativity in your life.

Buy your family that new board game you saw advertised. Family game night is sure to bring about some smiles and laughter. Bring your friends together for a movie and snack night. Pick a movie that cracks you up every time you see it. You might even want to add a silly theme. Go with your friends to that cake decorating class, even if you know your cake will be a disaster. In fact, a “cake fail” may bring about more laughter and smiles than a beautifully decorated cake.

Remember the Pinterest fail Easter cake tht was all over social media a few years ago? The original post was by someone who had made a beautiful cake in the shape of lamb. Then when others tried, they failed miserably and posted their pictures of their lambs that were lopsided and had no neck and just looked ridiculous. It was very funny!

2. Smile more and make efforts to laugh.

Faking a smile can cause your body to smile more; faking a laugh, will actually rewire your brain to let you know that it is okay to laugh. Then you will laugh more. Smiling is a great place to start because smiling is the first step of laughter. Smile more, laugh more, even if it doesn’t come naturally. The more you smile and laugh, the more you rewire your brain. Today is a great day to start that new habit.

Can’t think of anything that will make you smile quickly? Do quick internet search for funny cat videos or look at photos of a fun vacation. You can also watch a laughter yoga video on you tube. Laughter yoga is best done in a group but in the absence of a group of people, a YouTube video will suffice.

3. Incorporate humor into your classroom.

When the kids laugh, laugh with them. We have so much to learn about laughing freely from kids. Incorporate jokes, play silly songs, have kids debate humorous topics. Who would be a pickier house guest, Sponge Bob or Minnie Mouse? Why? Incorporate a joke of the day or have a joke book handy for times when you have a free minute.

You could also show a short, funny video. We Are Teachers has a blog post called 25 School-Appropriate Funny Videos for Kids When You Have 5 Free Minutes. This is an excellent resource because they compiled short funny videos that could be shown in any classroom.

We also have a very popular post on our blog called 8 Simple Ways to Create a Joyful Classroom. There are some fun ideas in there as well.

Maya Angelou once said, “Laugh as much as possible, always laugh. It’s the sweetest thing one can do for oneself and one’s fellow human beings.”

There is an old Joni Mitchell song from the 1970s in which she sings, “Laughing and crying, you know it’s the same release.” Joni was on to something before she had neuroscience to back her up. We now know how good both crying and laughing are for us. Welcome the tears when they come. Increase the laughter in your life. Your body and mind will thank you.

Recap:

Laughter and tears are both good for us. They are our way of regulating our minds and our bodies. The next time you need to cry or give a good belly laugh, remember that you are doing your body good. Laughter really is the best medicine so look for ways to add laughter to your life and your classroom. Your body will thank you!

Quote:

“Laugh as much as possible, always laugh. It’s the sweetest thing one can do for oneself and one’s fellow human beings.”

Maya Angelou

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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.

What’s Stopping You from Reaching Your Goals? Ep. 46

January 10, 2024 by Inspired Together Teachers 2 Comments

What’s Stopping You from Reaching Your Goals? S. 4 E. 46

Listen to this episode to find our why you aren’t achieving goals and how to rethink goal setting for the new year.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

What’s stopping YOU from achieving your goals? Goals are good for us. Goals give us something to strive for, they give us purpose and when we achieve them, can be a great source of satisfaction and pride. Goals give us direction and help us realize our dreams are within our reach. If goals are so good for us, why do we struggle so much to achieve them? What can we do to ensure we set goals that we can actually achieve? Today, we discuss common mistakes people make when setting goals and tips to make sure you are setting goals that you can achieve.

In this episode:

The following is a summary of this episode. To hear all of the stories and examples, please listen to the podcast.

Introduction:

At the time of this recording, it is just a few days into the new year. Everywhere we turn, people are making New Year’s Resolutions, setting goals for the new year and hoping to make those dreams a reality.

Goals help us turn our dreams into reality and remind us that our dreams are within our reach. However, no matter how great our intentions, many people will struggle to meet the goals they set this week and this year.

According to the University of Scranton, only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s Resolutions. 75% keep their resolutions for 1 week. After that, the percentage of people keeping their resolutions decreases each week. Within one month, only 64% of people are still trying to achieve their New Year’s resolutions. Within 6 months only 46% are still working at their goals and as we mentioned only 8% of people ultimately achieve those New Years goals.

That means 92% of people are left with unmet New Year’s Goals. With more than 40% of people making New Year’s Resolutions, that equates to a lot of disappointed people.

Let’s reiterate: 92% of people do NOT achieve their New Year’s resolutions! Not achieving our goals leads to feelings of failure, which leads to lower self-confidence. The good news is, that we can do better.

What goals have you set that you haven’t met? What goals would you like to set and achieve in the future?

6 Tips for Creating And Achieving Your Goals in 2024

1. Start with your vision for how you want your life to be, then align all of your goals to that vision.

Before we can really talk about setting goals, we need to talk about your vision for your life. What are your values? What is important to you? Who do you want to be in your life and how do you want to show up? What do you want to feel? What do you want to have?

If you don’t start here, you run the risk of creating goals, and maybe even achieving them, only to find out that you aren’t happy or fulfilled. The world is full of very high achieving, miserable people.

Your goals need to align with the life that you want. That makes them important to you and crucial for your fulfillment.

This is where vision boards come in. This is where life assessments come into play.

Think about the image of climbing a ladder to achieve your goals.

Stephen Covey that says, “If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”

Doing this step also means that you will set YOUR goals, not allow your goals to be set by someone else. You are not here to live someone else’s dream.

Research shows we are less likely to meet goals set by someone else. Why? Because it often is not meaningful to us or does not align with our values and what matters most to us.

When something is more meaningful to you, when it will help you live an inspired life, you are more likely to stick to it and achieve it.

Consider a goal that you want to set in the new year. Does it align with your values and vision?

2. Be Clear and Specific. The more clarity around the goal, the better chance you have of hitting it.

Edwin Locke, a psychologist who has been central to the body of research about goal setting has been studying goals for over 40 years. His research has given us great information on why people do not meet their goals.

Make sure your goals are clear and specific.

Goals where you decide to just “do your best” at something are often not successful. Neither are goals that are convoluted to the point that they aren’t clear.

To give yourself the best chance of meeting the goal, be clear about what the goal is and what specifically you hope to achieve.

Here are a few examples:

A goal to “Do my best to lose some weight” is not as clear, specific, or simple as “I will lose one pound per week for the first 12 weeks of the year”.
A goal to “eat healthier” is not as clear, specific, or simple as “I will not eat chips, candy or ice cream for 4 weeks”.
A goal to “start working out” is not as clear, specific, or simple as “I will work out at the gym on my way home from work 3 days per week.”

Consider a goal you are working toward or would like to set.

Is it clear and specific? If not, what extra details or clarifications do you need to add to your goal to make it more specific?

In order for goals to really work, they need to be specific and they have to sufficiently challenge you.

3. Make goals challenging but not too challenging.

Locke’s research also showed that challenging goals improve performance more than easy ones.

Locke found that 90% of the time, specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than goals that were easy or vague “do your best” type of goals.

As Locke and other researchers have discovered, there is a sweet spot for challenge when setting a goal. People who set goals that are too easy, are actually less likely to achieve them. However, if you set the goal so high that it is nearly impossible to meet, you will quickly lose motivation.

You need to find the “Goldilocks” of challenge level for your specific goal.

We have all used this and understand this when working with students. There is also a sweet spot in instruction. When things are too easy and there is no challenge, students lose motivation. When something is too hard, students may just give up. That attitude is, “ I’m never going to be able to do this, so why should I even try?” It’s the same with goals.

Consider a goal you are working toward or would like to set:

If it is too easy, how can you make it more of a challenge?
Is it too challenging and complex, if so how can you simplify or pick one aspect of it to focus on?
Plan for that challenge- what will you do when it gets difficult- “If this happens, then I will bounce back by….”

4. Break the goal down into smaller, achievable and attainable pieces.

Like many things in our lives, goals are not nearly as overwhelming when they are broken into bite sized chunks.

Compare this idea to IEP goals – daily or weekly actions that are taken and tracked, all working toward an annual goal.

Consider a goal you are working toward or would like to set.

Would it be helpful to break it into smaller chunks?
Determine what you want to achieve by a specific date and write down the dates.
Track your success. Seeing a visual is motivating when you are seeing positive progress.

5. You need to believe you can achieve the goal.

Ultimately, the person who needs to believe in your ability to meet your goals the most is you! This is about your mindset and self-efficacy. If you think you won’t be successful, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you hit an obstacle, if you don’t believe in yourself, then you may be tempted to use that obstacle as confirmation of your inability to do the task. However, the opposite is also true. If you believe you CAN do it, then when you see a minor success, you can use it as confirmation of your ability to meet the goal.

Belief in yourself will get you through bumps in the road, and minor setbacks as they occur, so you don’t just throw up your hands and say, “See, this just wasn’t for me.”

This is confirmation bias, you get when you expect to get, just as you see what you expect to see.

“Henry Ford said it well, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, You’re right.

6. Surround yourself with a star system of support.

We’ve talked about the importance of a star system many times. You may think of it as a dream team, but we like Shawn Achor’s vision of this. He says, “ You can be a superstar; you just can’t be one alone. What you need is a star system; a constellation of positive, authentic influencers who support each other, reinforce each other, and make each other better.”

When setting a goal, it is important to have someone who believes that you can reach your goal. Who can you find who will believe you can achieve your goal and remind you of it regularly? Those are the people will help you by serving as your support system. It doesn’t have to be a huge group, but it is important to have support from at least one person.

Part of a successful support system is accountability. The other part is that we all benefit from others’ beliefs that we can achieve. If you are not comfortable sharing your goals and dreams, you don’t have to tell your support system every detail. Tell them as much as you are comfortable with or tell them when you are comfortable enough to do so. Find people who believe in you.

Consider a goal you are working towards or that you would like to set. Who can you find to share in your dream and help you by supporting you on your path?

A Little More Motivation

We leave you with this quote from motivational speaker Les Brown:

“If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.”

Recap:

Setting goals in life is important because goals give us something to strive for, give us purpose, remind us that our dreams are within reach, and when you achieve them, can be a great source of satisfaction and pride. However, it is important to be intentional in our goal setting, aligning them to our values and vision for our life and then setting goals in a way that is achievable. Our goals should be clear and specific, challenging but not too challenging, and broken down into smaller steps. Then, with support, we can go after whatever our heart desires.

Quote:

“If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.”

Les Brown

Resources mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about Edwin Locke and his goal setting theories go to

https://edwinlocke.com/

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

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Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

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Linked In: Inspired Together Teachers

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

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

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

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

Conquering Criticism Ep. 45

January 3, 2024 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Conquering Criticism S. 3 Ep. 45

Listen to this episode to stop fearing your critics and conquer criticism!

Show notes:

The following is a summary of this episode. To experience the entire show, please listen to the episode.

Episode Summary:

Fear of criticism can be a powerful deterrent in our lives. Do you have a fear of failure? Are you afraid to let your real ideas and preferences known? Do your fears of what people will think ever hold you back from living a life you want to live? If any of these things are true, you might have a fear of criticism. Today, we’re talking about how to cope with and conquer criticism.

In this episode:

Fear of criticism is powerful because the criticism doesn’t even actually have to occur for the fear to set in. Just the memory of past criticism or the potential that people will not like or understand us is enough to shut us down.

Perfectionism is one sign of fear of criticism.

Many of us fear criticism. Nobody likes being criticized, but some people have people have a particularly strong fear around it.

According to thought leader and marketing guru Seth Godin, people aren’t afraid of failure. What we are really afraid of is criticism. We choose not to try new things, launch new initiatives, or say something remarkable or audacious because we worry that we will be called out. We worry that someone will hate our ideas. We don’t want to be laughed at or to feel foolish if someone remarks on something we have done.

You may have had a negative experience like that, and it changed your future behaviors.

That is why we are often afraid to step out of the box, to put new ideas into the world and to express our true feelings.

Fortunately, you can overcome fear of criticism.

Let’s look at some of the issues around fear of criticism and how we can overcome them.

Fear of criticism keeps you from sharing your ideas.

Have you ever been in a class or a workplace situation where a question or idea was shot down? Chances are, you learned not to speak up because you might get knocked down as well.

Holding back is sometimes safer than opening yourself up to possible criticism. We may not give our most genius selves to the world, but neither will we allow the world to crush us.

At work, this often shows up as not speaking up and sharing our ideas. Have you ever been at a faculty meeting and withheld a thought or idea?

We don’t want to be told, “that’s a stupid idea,” or “that will never work,” or “we tried that already and it didn’t work.”

It is a safe choice. It also keeps your unique ideas from getting into the world.

The next time you are hesitating to speak, take a few minutes to answer these questions:

Could my ideas offer something of value?

If you are thinking them, there is something there. Let it out into the world. Not everything will stick, and that is okay.

What is lost if I don’t speak up?

If it matters, it is worth bringing up your idea.

What if they don’t like my ideas?

If people don’t like your ideas, that’s fine. You can’t please everyone. If they question your ideas, you know they heard you. You know you said something worth remarking on.

What is the worse that could happen?

You might find that the worst thing that could happen is that someone will disagree with you or won’t like your idea. If that is the case, could you live with that? Usually, the answer is yes!

You worry about what people think.

This thought likely comes from someone saying this phrase to you as a child. It was meant as a reproach, as a way to stop you from doing or saying something. You may even have used this phrase yourself.

Why are we so afraid of what people think? Do we really care what they think? Sometimes, the answer should be no.

Too often, we worry about what people we don’t even know will think. Have you ever put on a clean shirt to go to the grocery store? Do you really care what the cashier thinks? Will they even notice?

Asking this question can be very liberating.

What other people think about us is none of our business.

That is an audacious and bold statement, and you may disagree. It takes confidence to let go of worrying about what other people think. After all, you can’t control what someone else thinks.

Sometimes you are your own worse critic.

External critics aren’t our only worry. Many of us also have a strong inner critic running rampant in our own head. Our inner critic is responsible for stopping us from doing many of the things we want to do.

It is easy to stop yourself from doing something. What if it doesn’t work out? What if they don’t get it? What if they think I am a narcissistic, raving lunatic?

Ask yourself what benefits you will get from whatever it is you are afraid to do. If the benefits outweigh the risks, it is worth a chance.

Tell that bully in your head to go away.

Then, commit. Believe. Go all in.

Reframe criticism as feedback.

Sometimes what we perceive as criticism is meant to help us, not to reprimand us.

Learn to listen to feedback without becoming angry or defensive. Even if you don’t agree with the feedback and didn’t invite, it might be an opportunity for growth or development. Ask yourself, “what can I learn from this?”

You might want to check out podcast episode 44, Finding Optimism in Silver Linings where we talk about finding the good in negative circumstances.

For example, put yourself into the shoes of a student. We are giving students feedback all day every day which they could easily interpret as criticism even if that is what we didn’t intend. Give ourselves the same expectations that we have for our student.

Don’t take everything so personally.

It is easy to take criticism to heart. It feels like a personal attack. It bruises our ego, which feels threatening.

Sometimes criticism is not about you. You don’t always know what someone else is going through. Maybe they are having a bad day and just need to vent, and you were the person in front of them.

The curt email from the principal might mean that she is super busy, not that she is upset with you.

Your friend didn’t text you back? She’s not mad at you, she just hasn’t seen it or she got interrupted before responding.

Discern if the criticism is worth your time and energy.

First of all, you listen. Then you analyze. It is true? Is it valid? Is it helpful? Is it for your improvement?

If it is worth listening to, act on it, if not, let it go.

Conclusion

We leave you with this quote for today from Aristotle, “There is only one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.”

That’s no way to live. Instead, dare to be above average, original, and unique.

Recap:

Fear of criticism can cause us to hold ourselves back and play small. When you avoid doing things that potentially cause you to be criticized, you are also withholding something value from the world. Use criticism as an opportunity for learning, and recognize that it is not always about you. You can conquer fear of criticism!

Quote:

“There is only one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.”

Aristotle

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Godin, S. (2008). Tribes: We need you to lead us. New York: Penguin Group.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Inspired together Teachers podcast episode 44 Finding Optimism in Silver Linings

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

Facebook Teacher Warriors Group: Teacher Warriors Facebook Group

Linked In: Inspired Together Teachers

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

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

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

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

Finding Optimism in Silver Linings Ep. 44

December 27, 2023 by Inspired Together Teachers 1 Comment

Finding Optimism in Silver Linings S.3. Ep 44

Listen to this episode to discover ways to find optimism in difficult circumstances.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

Have you ever been given the advice to look for the silver lining in a tough situation? Do you give that advice yourself? What does that really mean and what are the steps we should be taking to find the silver lining? Today we are discussing optimism and why looking for the silver lining can improve your work life, home life, health, and well being

In this episode:

The following is an excerpt of key points from the podcast. For the full experience, and to hear the examples and stories that help bring the ideas to life, please listen to the podcast episode.

Introduction

“Look for the silver linings” “What’s the silver lining in this situation?” “Well, at least the silver lining is that…..”

We are guessing you have heard these phrases, or some version of these phrases, many times.

How can you make the idea of silver linings something to live by, not just flippant advice?

Because it not just flippant advice. It is actually advice that can not only lengthen your life, it can improve the quality of your life.

Let’s talk about the phrase “silver lining”.

It is:

A phrase that is hundreds of years old
A metaphor comparing the shining silvery edges of a cloud backlit by the sun or moon to finding something good that comes out of a bad situation
A form of consolation- the outcome was not what you hoped but something good came about because of it.
A beacon of hope- there is a hopeful prospect in the otherwise hopeless situation.

Ultimately, it is a metaphor that sums up optimism.

It’s looking on the bright side and realizing that something good can come out of a bad situation.

We love the visual of the dark cloud with the silver lining around it telling us that there is beauty in that darkness.

When someone looks for the silver lining, it sounds something like this: “The silver lining is that even though I didn’t win the competition, I got a lot more fit in the process.”

Or, “Even though we didn’t get the funding, I met some great new friends in the grant writing process.”

Paula: What actually triggered this podcast is a conversation I was having with a young teacher the other day who was talking about a lesson that didn’t go well in the beginning of the year. She said, “The silver lining is that I learned early on what is NOT going to work with this group of students.”

Why Optimism and Silver Linings Matter

Looking for the silver linings in life can make your days more bearable.

Bad things will happen. We can choose the pessimistic route and decide that bad things happen because the world is just a bad place. We can let the negativity overpower us. There is a lot in the world that is negative and if we look for it we can surely find it. However, no one wants to be around a negative Nancy.

It also doesn’t help to have toxic positivity.

Silver Linings are in that spot in between sulking in negativity and toxic positivity.

We acknowledge that bad situations happen but there is good that can come from them. There are lessons that can be learned if we look for them. There are people we may meet or resources we might gain that we wouldn’t have otherwise had if not for that situation.

Optimism can actually be good for your health.

There are many scientific studies that show that having a positive attitude and approaching life with optimism is good for your health and can make you live longer.

According to Harvard Health, researchers have shown that people who are optimistic and have a positive outlook on life:

Have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol
Lower levels of markers that predict heart attack and stroke
Stay healthier
Enjoy independent living longer than pessimists.

Optimism appears to protect the heart and circulation AND increases our life span.

There was a US study of almost 7,000 college students who took a comprehensive personality test in the mid 1960s. The researchers followed them for 40 years. The most pessimistic individuals had a 42% higher rate of death than the most optimistic. Two Dutch studies followed, showing that the optimists were 55% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than the pessimists, and the optimists enjoyed a 45% lower risk of death when not just narrowing it to heart disease.

To us, that sounds like a convincing reason to look for silver linings. So why doesn’t everyone do that?

Because sometimes it is really hard to find the silver lining. It is much easier, and less work, to just see the dark cloud.

Sometimes you really have to look for the positive.

Sometimes, just by the genetic make up of being a person, we can be risk averse. We are looking for things that challenge our physical or psychological safety. It is a negativity bias that helps us to stay safe and alive. It can be easy to see threatening things and to ONLY see those things.

Also, sometimes when life and work throw a lot of things our way, it is much easier to see things as hopeless instead of looking for things to be hopeful about. The hopeless things are the big dark cloud. They are easy to see without looking too hard.

Looking for the silver lining can be difficult because you are doing two things at once- acknowledging the bad AND looking for the good in it.

For example, think of the students who are the most challenging, the ones that force you to do things you’ve never done and who try your patience. These are the students who make you a better teacher. With time, you will probably recognize that those experiences ended up creating some of your most rewarding moments.

You can take steps to find the silver lining in adverse situations.

Look for the small glimmers of hope. They may not shine too brightly in the dark of the clouds but identify those slivers of light on the edges of the situation. It is likely they are peripheral to the actual situation. Look on the outside of the situation.
Make a pros and cons list. If it is tough situation there will likely be more cons, but any of the pros you find are a part of your silver lining.
Ask others to help you find the silver lining. Friends who are not as engrossed in the situation as you are can sometimes have a more distanced perspective and can see things that may not be as clear to you.
When you find yourself listing all of the negatives of a situation, step back and give yourself time and space to look at it from a different perspective. Take a few deep breaths, change your environment or put it aside until tomorrow. Come back to it later with a fresh set of eyes and you may see that silver lining you did not see the first time.

Recap:

Negative situations will happen in your work and home life. Intentionally taking time to find the silver linings can improve your work life, home life, health ,and well being. Pessimism, and choosing to see only the dark cloud is easier, but choosing optimism and finding the silver lining will benefit you now and well into the future.

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

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More About Inspired Together Teachers:

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

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

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

Finding More Joy Ep. 31

September 27, 2023 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Finding More Joy S.3 E. 31

Listen to this episode to learn ways of finding more joy in your work life and home life.

Show Notes:

Episode Summary:

Call them glimmers, shimmers, or moments of joy- we all want more meaningful experiences in our lives. These small, joy filled experiences make our days better and more better days add up to happier lives. If you are looking for more happiness and life satisfaction, don’t miss this episode.

In this episode:

For the past few years, one of the most downloaded posts on our Inspired Together Teachers website is a post called, 8 Simple Ways to Create a Joyful Classroom.

At first, this surprised us, but in thinking about it, it makes sense. Teaching is hard work. Teachers are often exhausted and overwhelmed with all they have to do. Since the pandemic, students also seem to be more stressed and in need of positive social connections.

The popularity of that blog post was the inspiration for this episode as we look at small ways of finding more joy in your life and work.

Here are some ways of finding more joy in your life by paying attention to what is around you.

One of the ways of finding more joy is to notice what is already existing around us. Sometimes we get so busy and so focused on our work that we don’t take time to stop and notice what is already around us. We often take for granted positive things that are right in front of us.

Sometimes the world hands us moments of joy. Think of rainbows. It is hard not to stop and notice them, and they are always fun and uplifting.
Our pets seem to have a sixth sense that causes them to come and cuddle up just when we need it most. Take the time to pet your dog or let the cat snuggle up on your lap for a few minutes.
Speaking of animals, social media is sometimes a source of small positive moments. Think of funny animal videos. Or maybe you love happy, laughing baby videos, or beautiful home videos. Which videos make you smile?
Children, either your own or your students often do or say funny things. Take a moment to laugh with them. Think about the last time you had a really good belly laugh. Look for opportunities to laugh with your family or friends. It will definitely bring you joy.

Quote:

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

Our brain will naturally scan what we are telling it to scan. If you are constantly scanning the news for negative or dangerous things, you will start to notice more of those things. The good news is that the opposite is also true. If you start noticing positive moments, your brains will start showing you more of them. You can train yourself to focus on the positive moments.

Create more joy in your classroom.

Joy helps students love learning. If students love learning, they will be engaged, reducing the need for complex behavior management systems. Joy encourages creativity, which opens the door for creative problem solving. Joy encourages curiosity and self-motivated learning. When students love learning, they will become life-long learners.

We talked about ways to create joy in your classroom in episodes 23 and 24. This is a good opportunity to remind you of simple things you can do to create more joy in your classroom.

Smile. We learn better from those we like. Smiling makes you approachable and likable. Smiling is contagious, and research shows that the act of smiling can actually help you to feel happier.
Laugh. Laughing reduces stress. Look for opportunities to inject humor into the day’s activities. Show a funny video clip, play a funny song. Invite a student to tell a joke of the day.
Incorporate acting. Act out a story or some content material. Students can act out almost anything. Think about science content, events from history, sections of a novel, high schoolers using foreign language skills or whatever you teach. Reader’s theater fits into this one too. It is a lot of fun, and students love it. It can also fit into all areas of the curriculum.
Add Music. Project music onto your white boards as students enter or exit the room. Students can also take content they have learned and rewrite lyrics to favorite songs.
Use fun reinforcers. You can quickly teach students to give themselves a “round of applause” by clapping while they rotate their hands in a circle. Another way is to stretch your hand up high and then reach back and “pat yourself on the back.” These are quick and simple movements that can add joy and a sense of satisfaction.
Use fun call/response attention getters. You probably have some fun call and response phrases in your classroom. Consider adding a new and novel one to your repertoire.
Use game days as a review or way to learn. You know about Jeopardy or Kahoot, but think about taking an old game board and making new cards for it that relate to the content you are teaching. Some of your best teaching can be when your kids don’t know you’re teaching. Paula used to have game day on Fridays. The students thought they were getting the day off, when in reality, they were reviewing work or previewing work for the next week. They didn’t even realize they were learning because they were so wrapped up in the fun.

Joyful classrooms are less stressful, less anxious places. Neurological studies have shown that students’ comfort levels can influence long-term information storage and transmission. Teachers and students face many challenges in today’s educational climate, but living without joy does not have to be one of them.

Our final suggestion for finding more joy in your own life is to create it.

We have talked about international life coach and motivational speaker, Brendon Burchard many times on this podcast. In one of his episodes of TLC’s Charged Life, he said ….

“Bring the joy. This is my favorite advice to give to people who say, ‘I want to change my life.’

I’m like, ‘Great. Bring the joy.’

You know, people always say, ‘Brendon, what should I bring to your seminars.’

I go, ‘Bring the joy.’

You know what I…’I’m going to come to your house on Friday for the party, what should I bring?’ Bring the joy.

I feel that it might be one of the greatest pieces of advice ever that if you’re going to show up somewhere, bring the joy. Intentionally decide to make that situation or that place you’re going better. And so many people don’t do that. They walk into environments and they say, ‘Oh well, you know; the energy is what the energy is.’

And they just accept the energy that is in the space. And I go, ‘Actually, why not try and challenge yourself to be responsible to bring good energy into that space to charge it up, if you will.’ “

This is a long quote, but we wanted to share it because it is so inspirational. Bring the joy.

Create moments of joy.

As we mentioned in the beginning, sometimes life hands you moments of joy. And the opposite is also true, sometimes life doesn’t. Then, it falls on you to create moments of joy. Here are a few simple ideas:

Smile at someone. It is so unexpected, and takes just a few seconds. Do it deliberately, and watch what happens!
Do something nice for someone else. It helps that person, but it likely helps you even more. You’ll get a hit of dopamine, the feel good chemical.
In a similar vein, send a positive email to someone. Maybe it is a thank you, or checking in with an elderly relative just to say hi. Who doesn’t like to get positive mail?
Give your self a small treat to look forward to. Maybe it is a cup of tea at the end of the day, or going for a walk with a friend. What is your favorite treat? Allow yourself to have it once in a while! Michele’s treat is using her favorite pens because they write smoothly and quickly. Paula loves to treat herself to a coffee from Starbucks or a local coffee shop. It always feels special.

Quote: We would like to close with this quote from life coach Martha Beck:

“ You were born to be open and honest and brave and playful, to laugh often, to love much, to be loved much in return. You were born for joy. Sit. Feast on your life.”

Recap:

Recognizing and creating small positive moments is a way of finding more joy in our days. More joyful days add up to more joyful lives. We’ve talked about how you can choose to live a caged life, a comfortable life or an inspired life. Paying attention to small positive moments is a way of thinking and living that will help us to live inspired lives.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

8 Simple Ways to Create a Joyful Classroom

10 Tips to Get Your School year Off to a Great Start

Increase Student Engagement

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

Facebook Teacher Warriors Group: Teacher Warriors Facebook Group

Linked In: Inspired Together Teachers

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

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

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

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

Teaching with Laughter and Tears S. 4 E. 50

Check out this episode to learn how both laughter and crying are good for you and how to find more laughter in your life and classroom.

Show notes:

Episode summary:

In this episode:

Introduction:

Quote:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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What’s Stopping You from Reaching Your Goals? S. 4 E. 46

Listen to this episode to find our why you aren’t achieving goals and how to rethink goal setting for the new year.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

In this episode:

Introduction:

6 Tips for Creating And Achieving Your Goals in 2024

1. Start with your vision for how you want your life to be, then align all of your goals to that vision.

3. Make goals challenging but not too challenging.

4. Break the goal down into smaller, achievable and attainable pieces.

A Little More Motivation

Recap:

Quote:

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Conquering Criticism S. 3 Ep. 45

Listen to this episode to stop fearing your critics and conquer criticism!

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

Fear of criticism keeps you from sharing your ideas.

You worry about what people think.

Sometimes you are your own worse critic.

Reframe criticism as feedback.

Don’t take everything so personally.

Discern if the criticism is worth your time and energy.

Conclusion

Recap:

Quote:

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Finding Optimism in Silver Linings S.3. Ep 44

Listen to this episode to discover ways to find optimism in difficult circumstances.

Episode Summary:

In this episode:

Recap:

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Finding More Joy S.3 E. 31

Listen to this episode to learn ways of finding more joy in your work life and home life.

Show Notes:

In this episode:

Here are some ways of finding more joy in your life by paying attention to what is around you.

Quote:

Create more joy in your classroom.

Our final suggestion for finding more joy in your own life is to create it.

Create moments of joy.

Recap:

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Share this:

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