EPIPHANIES BY AMY GREEN
Lately, I have taken up yoga of a different kind and am trying out Kundalini Yoga. This is not your normal yoga. As part of one of my classes, our teacher was talking about reacting vs responding, and how you can’t always control your first thought, but how you can control your second.
Your first thought is often your instinctive, primal brain, ego-driven thought, however, it may not always be your best thought. The teaching within this week’s class focused on how although we have our initial thought, our first thought, we must learn to have a second thought. One we can control, choose and which puts us in a direction we want to head in.
This sound nice. But my epiphany came not from this lesson, but in the realisation that we too easily get lost in our first thought. We entrain it, let it build and perhaps let it spiral out of control.
My epiphany this week is to not just control your second thought but to also not get caught in your first thought before your second thought even gets a chance.
I don’t use RP because it’s a guarantee. I just use it because it tilts the odds in the favour of my actions matching my purpose and beliefs.
Then I just hope I’m lucky that day.
THOUGHTS BY CASSIE KITANI
In the day-to-day life of school there are a million and one issues, concerns, incidents or general happenings that can, and often do, occur. Whatever it is, as School Leaders and Teachers we cannot simply walk away and pretend it is someone else’s problem. Reality is, it’s our problem. We certainly didn’t ask for it to be our problem but it is. We need to deal with it.
We really need to stop and ask ourselves “Is this really a big deal? Right now at this moment?” By ‘big deal’ I mean a life altering moment, a life or death situation or being on the brink of a massive scientific breakthrough. The answer is just about always, “No”.
So what do we do here? We take a deep breath. Realise that we are not solving world problems and make a concerted effort to relax and listen. Let this person share whatever it is that they need to share and help them to assign an appropriate amount of weight. Talk them off the ledge. Relax. Breathe.
It’s not that big of a deal.
EPIPHANIES BY SIMON DEWAR
My epiphany this week came after I was listening to a Podcast from John Maxwell. Maxwell talked to the importance of ‘Less Direction and More Connection’.
It got me thinking about schools and my time in the classroom. As teachers, we can spend up to 80% of a lesson talking to our students.
That’s a lot of talking, but when I reflected, I’d have to admit that I’ve done it before in both the classroom and when leading a meeting.
When you are with your students or colleagues tomorrow, don’t fall into the trap of over-talking about what you want to happen.
That’s the direction part. Try to spend more time listening or asking questions. Less talking will increase engagement amongst your class or team and that’s the opportunity for greater connection.