Let's see, my quest for Zen started here and then continued on it's journey to here and here among other places.
I think it's fair to say that I struggle with the Zen. Some might even say that Mrs. Mimi can be a wee bit negative.
Shut the front door!
I know, I know, but really? It's true. I can be a complainer.
There were a few years in my teaching career where I was angry more than I was anything else. (Remember those?) I have always loved my students and the challenge of pushing them academically, but I have also always struggled with difficult colleagues, ridiculous administrators and the drama that is today's educational system.
So maybe I've got an issue with anger or a predisposition to throw around the word "douche". Who knows?
For me, this blog was a life saver. Instead of stewing for
I know some of you are struggling with the same thing- you love your job, you love your students, but holy shitballs do you work with some doozies! And, seriously? No one ordered pencils this year?! Wait. You want me to "progress monitor" my friends how often???
What I'm saying is I know I'm not alone in having these feelings.
Enter Angela Watson (from The Cornerstone) and her new book Awakened: Change Your Mindset To Transform Your Teaching. Ta da! In this book, Angela takes on the destructive mental habits that many of us share and puts the power in the hands of teachers to change. What's that you say? Power to the teachers? Yes, please.
Check out some of these heavy hitting destructive habits straight from the old Table of Contents:
Taking things personally
Explaining setbacks in a negative way
Ruminating needlessly
Making presumptive judgements
Sound familiar? Come on, we're all friends here. You can be honest with Mimi.
Or what about these more positive habits, all covered in this book:
Separate practical and emotional problems
Train yourself to be difficult to offend
Accept that you'll never get it ALL right
Decide ahead of time how you're going to act
Sound like a recipe for a bit more Zen. I thought so.
Angela speaks candidly about her own journey, which was very spiritual in nature. However, this book is written from a very practical place and filled with concrete examples that will have you thinking, "I totally sound like that!" While written for educators, I definitely plan on re-reading portions of this book to help me be more positive in general. (But don't worry too much, Mrs. Mimi will still get her rant on when necessary.)
Don't get me wrong- there is a place for our frustration, our demands and our negativity, but we all know that place is NOT in our classrooms. So during this time when so much control of our day to day work lives is being ripped out of our fingers, let's embrace the idea that somethings are still in our control.
Angela has given Mrs. Mimi a signed copy of her book to giveaway to one fabulous reader in need of some more Zen. What a fabulous time to retrain your thinking and rediscover what you love about this truly special job.
To enter, let's take the first step toward releasing ourselves of some stress. In the comments section, share some aspect of your work that you'd like to change your thoughts about. What frown do YOU want to turn upside down? The giveaway starts today and runs through Monday, September 5th. I'll use a rando number generator to choose the winner and will announce the identity of the lucky reader on Tuesday, September 6th. Enter as often as you like and don't forget to enter the Avery school supplies giveaway too! Good luck, duckies!