Teachers are suffering from burnout at an alarming rate. The question I get most is, but what can we do about it? There are a number of core habits that teachers can develop to help with this and one of them is developing mindfulness techniques.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is simply paying full attention to something. It means taking time to slow down and really notice what you're doing. It is the opposite of rushing or multitasking. When you're mindful, you're taking your time. You're focusing in a relaxed and calm way.
Wait, what?! I'm suppose to be able to slow down? I can't multi-task?! I know.. that's some hard truth to swallow but I'm going to drop another hard truth on you.. If something you're doing isn't currently working? Do you keep doing it? NO! That's the literally Einstein's definition of insanity- Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If you're stressed an overwhelmed, it is time to try some mindfulness techniques! And here's why:
Benefits of Mindfulness
There are so many benefits of practicing mindfulness, including bringing quietness and calm to our chaotic lives. These are both pretty commonly associated with mindfulness but there are even more reasons teachers should be practicing it in and out of the classroom. Here is a full list of benefits:
- add joy to your day
- bring quiet and calm to the chaos of life
- become more present
- develop self awareness
- have better emotional management
- increase self-love
I don't normally get into the science behind all of these positive benefits but I definitely think in this case that it's an important piece of the puzzle to understand exactly why these benefits happen.
Mindfulness appears to reshape neural pathways with then deepens the density and complexity of the connections that are responsible for attention, self-awareness, introspection as well as kindness, compassion and rationality. It also decreases activity and growth in the areas that create anxiety, hostility, worry and impulsivity.
So in common terms- practicing mindfulness makes you brain happy, deepens its connections to make your happiness become a normal part of your life AND it helps lower the amount of “icky” your brains create.
How to Incorporate it Daily
- Wake up mindful- set the intention for your day.
- Practice mindfulness during routine activities.
- Let your mind wander.
- Practice mindfulness while you wait.
- Pick a prompt to remind you to be mindful.
- Learn to meditate.
- Practice mindful eating.
- Do a mindful workout.
- Practice mindful driving.
- Take moments to just pause.
If you are looking for ways to incorporate mindfulness into your classroom, you can find my post all about that here.
If you're wanting to start creating a work life balance but aren't sure where to start, you can sign up for my FREE guide for beating teacher burnout.