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Creating Happiness Ep. 3

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Check out the full episode below to learn how what we have learned from research can guide us in creating happiness.

 

Show Notes:

Episode summary:

Do you want more happiness in your work and home life? Don’t we all? In today’s episode we’re going to talk about research- based ways to up your happiness game. You are in charge of creating your own happiness!

In this episode: 

Topic1:  What do we know about happiness?

Topic 2: Creating Happiness is a mindset shift.

Topic 3: Neuroplasticity

  • Neuroplasticity is how we change our brain by creating new pathways.
  • The science of neuroplasticity tells us that we can adjust our mindset.
  • Our beliefs can change the result of our personal lives and our work.

Topic 4:  Action Steps for Creating Happiness

Quotes:

“What we spend our time and mental energy on can become our reality.”

Shawn Achor

“Happiness is not the belief that we don’t need to change- it is the realization that we can.”

Shawn Achor -The Happiness Advantage

“The data suggests that becoming happier is a lot like learning to play the violin or row crew. They’re not impossible, you just have to commit to practicing.”

Laurie Santos

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

Related episodes and posts: 

8 Simple Ways to Create a Joyful Classroom

Bring Joy and Celebration Back to Teaching

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?

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 an inspired life.

The Inspired Life Ep.1

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Listen to this episode to learn more about

how to live an “Inspired Life”.

 

 

Show Notes:

Episode Summary:

Are you feeling caged in your personal or professional life? Comfortable? Inspired? In this episode we explore each of these ways of living and help set you on the path to the life that you deserve.

An inspired life means that you follow your path and make intentional choices that allow you to live your life in the way you want it to be. See why we’ve chosen to live an inspired life and how it can help you to be your most authentic, joyful, and fulfilled self. Why would you want to settle for anything less?

In this episode:

  • An introduction to your hosts, Paula and Michele
  • What to expect from The Inspired Together Teachers Podcast
  • What is the inspired life?
  • We describe 3 ways of living: The caged life, the comfortable life, and the inspired life.
  • What does it look like if you choose an inspired life?

Quote:

“Never let your path or your current circumstances limit your vision for your future.”

Brendan Burchard

Related episodes and Posts:

Ask These 3 Questions to Live More Intentionally

20 Things You Can Do to Make Your Life Better

 

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?

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 an inspired life.

 

 

 

Don’t Be The Colleague that Others Want to Avoid

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An angry teacher with the title of the post

Are you the type of colleague that others want to avoid?

Have you ever even thought about it?

Unfortunately, we have all had experiences with colleagues we’d like to avoid. You know the ones- when you see them in the hall you find that you suddenly need to duck into the restroom.

Teaching is often a fairly isolated profession. Teachers spend the bulk of their time in the classroom with their students. If you have great relationships with students, does it really matter if you get along with colleagues?

Everyone likes to work in a safe, positive, and supportive environment. Healthy relationships between colleagues help to create positive environments. Positive relationships with co-workers can also increase overall  engagement and productivity. When co-workers get along well, they experience stronger attitudes and higher motivation towards their work.

You likely have colleagues that you enjoy working with. You look forward to seeing them and are comfortable in their presence. Your meetings are productive and sometimes even fun. Close colleagues become friends and supporters. They can lift you up on days when you struggle, help you out in a pinch or surprise you with a coffee on a dreary Monday morning.

But what about the colleague that you find difficult?  This is the person that drains you and leaves you feeling frustrated or even angry.

You don’t want to BE that co-worker.

How can you know if you are a colleague that others want to avoid?

The following are traits of a difficult or even toxic colleague:

They are Energy Vampires

The energy vampire tends to be pessimistic. They’ll always see the glass half full. When there is an opportunity, they will see all the ways that it won’t work.

They Engage in Negative Talk about Students and Other Colleagues

It is true that sometimes we just need to vent to someone we trust about someone else. A Toxic colleague makes this a regular practice. Their negativity bias works on overload, allowing them to see all the ways other people are problems without seeing the  strengths that they bring.

They resist change.

The way we have always done it is fine, thanks. We tried that years ago and it didn’t work. Why reinvent the wheel?  Along with this attitude comes an unwillingness to problem solve. What’s the point?  It won’t work anyway.

They are inflexible.

Inflexible people often see the world in black and white. It is often all or nothing with this kind of person. They tend to have strict rules and never relax them. They are quick to see right or wrong and not willing to look at individual circumstances. They may also struggle with empathy, seeing someone else as wrong or bad.

They are grumpy.

You smile or say good morning and they answer with a grunt. They are irritated by cheerful people. They are not inclined to engage in social niceties. This person can easily take the wind out of your sails and change your attitude if you let them.

How to Deal with a Negative Colleague

When dealing with a negative colleague, don’t take things personally. Their attitude is not about you or caused by you. You may also not be able to change them. Do your best to stay positive and not let their energy affect your own energy. Try to reframe their statements in a productive way or at the very least, try not to perpetuate the negativity.

If you need it, keep a little mantra in your pocket:

I will not let this person drain me, frustrate me or make me angry.

I choose not to let this person change my attitude.

Are you the type of colleague that others want to avoid? Chances are, you are not a negative colleague, because if you were you would have abandoned reading this because you thought it didn’t pertain to you. Still, it never hurts to examine your own attitudes and behaviors. No one is perfect, but we can all try to be positive in our work relationships. As a result, we will be happier and more engaged in our work life.

Our best,

Paula and Michele

 

 

 

 

 

4 Ways to Decrease Stress and Increase Happiness

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smiling snowmen , decrease stress and increase happiness

Would you like to decrease stress and increase happiness and joy in your life? Many teachers feel that stress often overtakes and affects their wellbeing.

According to Laurie Santos, Yale Psychology professor who studies joy and podcasts at The Happiness Lab, “We’re entitled to and capable of much more joy than we have settled for.”

Ouch. That stings! Yet it is probably true of most of us. Have we really settled for less happiness than we could have?

That begs the question, what can we do to decrease our stress and increase our happiness?

Here are 4 ways, backed by scientific studies, that you can decrease stress and increase your happiness.

Plan to reduce stress before it starts.

Psychologist and self-help author Robert Epstein found that 25% of our happiness hinges on how well we’re able to manage stress. Epstein’s study determined that best way to manage stress is planning. Planning allows “fighting stress before it even starts, planning things rather than letting them happen,” says Epstein. “That means planning your day, your year and your life so that stress is minimized.”

Where could you save yourself stress by planning? Could you plan your meals, or what you’re going to wear a week at a time? Could you write lesson plans in terms of units rather than day to day plans?  Could you plan what to say at parent -teacher conferences or plan what you will say to a challenging student?

Planning may eliminate some of the stress in your life. Consider where you are experiencing stress and see if you can reduce stress by planning.

Get more sleep.

Lack of sleep can contribute to mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, mental fog—and stress. Studies show that if you improve your sleep, these problems ease up, too.

What could you give up each day in order to get one more hour of sleep?

How could you change your evening or morning routines to allow more sleep?

Spend more time outdoors.

A growing body of research suggests that spending more time in nature reduces stress, increases cognitive function and leads to better moods and less anxiety. Research shows that being outside 120 minutes a week is most beneficial. If 120 minutes seems daunting, the study also showed that the amount could be spread out across the week. For example, you could spend an hour outside on a weekend, and just ten minutes a day the other days.

You may not have time for lengthy hikes on a work day, but how could you add ten minutes a day outside in the fresh air to your day?  Recess duty counts! Could you plan family outings at a playground or going for walks each day?

Give it a try, and see if it increases your sense of well-being, and as a result, your happiness.

Build and maintain quality relationships.

If may be no surprise that spending time with friends makes you happier. A long term Harvard study  showed that relationships are the number one key to long-term happiness.  According to the director of the study, Robert Waldinger, “The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health. Taking care of your body is important, but tending to your relationships is a form of self-care too. That, I think, is the revelation.”

If you’ve ever needed permission to spend more time with friends, family, colleagues or those in your community, here it is.

Teachers are busy, and spending a few minutes talking with a colleague may seem like wasting time. In reality, it may be providing you with just the pick-me-up that you need.

How could you plan to spend a few minutes each day talking with someone you care about?

Make sure that you are planning time to talk with or physically be present with someone you care about on a regularly basis.

Hopefully, one of these four ways to decrease stress and increase happiness resonates with you.

Wishing you less stress and more happiness,

Paula and Michele

 

 

Ask These 3 Questions to Live More Intentionally

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Ask These 3 Notepad and coffee Questions to Find More and Better in 2023

Do you want to live more intentionally in 2023?

We’re all ready for something more and better. It’s been a rough few years to be a teacher. We’ve felt stressed and overwhelmed. We’ve had our share of frustration and exhaustion. We’re over it.

We say, out with the old and in with the new. It’s time to say goodbye to the bad mojo that has been draining us and open up to new possibilities. This year, we want to live more intentionally.

We’ve been reflecting on the sorrows and joys of the past as well as the possibilities for the new year.

We want more joy, in our lives and in our work. Shouldn’t our days include fun? Happiness adds meaning to our lives.

We want to be more confident and proactive, rather than hold back or be reactive. So much has been out of our control in the past few years, and often that meant that were reacting to circumstances.But there are things that we CAN control and controlling what we can has the potential to improve our lives.

We want less stress. Some stress is due to external circumstances, but other stress, such as excessive worry, or things in our environment that stress us are under our control. We can choose to eliminate stress where we can, and choose how we handle it when we can’t.

2023 offers us an opportunity to change things.

What would it feel like to take more control of your life so that you could have more of the things that matter? Could our lives be better? If so, what can we do to change things for the better?

Here are three questions we are focusing on this year, with the goal of living more intentionally in 2023.

What would I like to start doing this year?

This one sounds suspiciously like a new year’s resolution, but it doesn’t have to be. Yes, like the rest of the world, maybe you want to eat more healthy foods and exercise more. That’s great. But maybe there are other things, even tiny things, that would improve your life even more. Could you practice one act of kindness each day? Could you practice taking deep breaths and count to ten every time you feel stressed? Maybe you want to find time each day to spend a few minutes doing whatever feeds your soul. Drawing, reading, listening to a favorite song, walking in nature- even a few minutes a day has benefits for your mental health.

What is one thing, however small, that you could add to your days to make your life better?

What would I like to let go of this year? 

Is there something, that if you let go of it, it would improve your life?  Guilt is often weighs heavy on teachers who feel that that they must do everything for everyone and there is never enough time to do it all. Think of gremlins such as excessive worry, self-doubt, anger, or jealousy. Or perhaps there are physical things such as an overly cluttered home, not being able to see the top of your desk at work or digging through a closet full of clothes only to find out that you have nothing to wear.

“If you want to fly,

you have to give up the things that weight you down.”

Toni Morrison

What is weighing you down?

What would I like to celebrate this year?

When your life is busy, it is easy to skip celebrating, but if you want more and better in your life, that is a mistake.

Negativity bias is the human trait that encourages our brains to spend more time focusing on the negatives in our lives than the positive things. In our evolution, it is what kept us alive when we were in danger of being eaten by a tiger. Negativity bias keeps us focused on danger, and that can be good. But it can also mean that we spend far more time worrying about the bad stuff than enjoying the good stuff.

What you think about triggers your emotions and your emotions trigger your actions. If you think about how bad the world is, your emotions follow. For example, you may become sad or depressed and your actions might include isolation or lashing out.

Celebrations, whether celebrating major life events like weddings or birthdays or small life events like a successful lesson, remind us that there are good things in the world. Focusing on the positive things in our lives brings us happiness and joy. This is why gratitude practices are often successful in increasing our life satisfaction.

What would you like more of in 2023?  What would you like to let go of? What would you like to celebrate?

Join us as we live more intentionally this year so we can live our best personal and professional lives.

Our Best,

Paula and Michele

 

 

 

 

 

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