Zoë Routh is all of clever, relevant and a friend.
When “this whole Covid-19 thingy” arrived, I was having a moment of anxiety and confided this in Zoë. I didn’t exactly enjoy admitting the place I was in. My preference is to be in control, to strategise, to fix things and to act. Suddenly, I found myself unable to access any of those ambitions.
It freaked me out a little bit. But the universe gives us a little hand on occasion, and it put me in front of Zoë – the author of a book called “Composure”. I needed myself some of that.
In that book, Zoë speaks to what she calls Emotional Aikido. Aikido is a martial art practice embedded in the principles of non-aggression and spiritual development. It’s described as the ‘art of harmony’.
Zoë’s first principle of Emotional Aikido is to master our physicality – to get our bodies and minds back into our own influence.
She says “Our key responsibility as centred leaders is to master our physical needs first. We need to take elevated self-care to ensure we are at our best physically, and thus mentally and emotionally as well. This means ensuring adequate rest, optimum nutrition and hydration, and vigorous exercise on most days. This helps us moderate out hormones and thus our moods.”
This is high level wisdom for every teacher and school leader embarking upon Semester Two plans – especially those in Victoria!
Before you write a lesson plan, before you book some PL, before you set a goal – stop and think for a moment. Am I really ok? And what about my physical self needs attention?
Look after you, ok. You’re the person best qualified for that job.
PS. Zoë’s next book “People Stuff” is now in release. You should totally check out her work.
Warm regards,
