Finding Stillness as an Educator

I'm Brian Martin, a second grade teacher who find so much joy and fulfillment in what I do. Being in the classroom for almost 20 years, I know all about the time, effort and energy that you are continuously pouring into those you serve. That's why each week, I'm going to bring you an inspiring message to give you a little joy, and help fill your cup back up. Thank you for being here. And welcome to the teaching champions podcast. What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. For everybody that's on summer vacation. I hope everything's going awesome. And for everybody like myself, that finishes up this week, let's make it the best week. Now, this past week, was a big week. For me. I've mentioned several times before then I'm 100% remote this year. In my class, we've been that way since the beginning of the school year, so we've never met each other in person. Well, this week for the first time, in over 170 school days, my students and I met at a local park. And it was such a special experience. And I'm not gonna lie, I had those first day of school feelings where you're super excited, but you still have that nervous energy inside of you. And it was also unique, because I've seen my students over 170 times, but you see them at the park. And they come up to you for the first time. And they had their masks on. And it takes a second to recognize them. And that might sound strange. But when all you've done is see these young champions through zoom, and then you meet them in person is definitely a little different. But it was great. We spent some time being around each other as a class, then a local food truck came and they dropped off some desserts for the students. But honestly, the best part of the whole experience was when I had the opportunity to step back. And I allowed the students to play together. And I got to see them interact with one another play tag, to talk to laugh. It was just a beautiful moment. That was so special. And that's my good news for today. Now being that we're all almost on summer break are already there. I'm going to switch things up on the podcast in the next few weeks, what I want to do is I want to focus what we can do to refuel ourselves back up, because burnout is real. And I think a lot of us need this time right now to really step away for a little bit and take that time for ourselves. Now one thing that I've been trying to do is focus on being present. I don't know if you can relate. But there are moments when I feel as if I'm being pulled in a million different directions. And sometimes it feels like you cross one thing off the to do list. And then 10 more things get added. And it can be hard when you have so many things going on to be fully present at times. Because we're always thinking about the next thing, what we have to get done. Now there's a great book by Ryan Holiday called stillness is the key that I've revisited lately. Ryan Holiday, he's big and stoicism. And this book is all about finding stillness and balance in your life. And listen, I know putting balance in the teaching life together in the same sentence doesn't always feel as if they should be going together. But honestly, finding that happy balance, finding that work life balance, finding that stillness, where we can step back from life, and just be in that moment. It's something I think we should all be striving for. This podcast isn't going to give the book its justice. So if you like it and you enjoy this material, check out the book. Once again, it's called stillness as a key by Ryan Holiday. He has a ton of great points, a lot of awesome anecdotes that I think you'd really enjoy. But the book is broken up into three sections. It has the mind, the body and the soul. So let's start with the mind first. Have you ever felt as if your mind is racing where you get stopped fixating on probably bombs, things that you've done things that you need to do. And sometimes our minds can feel like a jumbled mess. So it's important that we work on being present, that we quiet down the mind that we take time to reflect. And one of those ways, is really limiting how much we input into it. Have you ever stopped and looked around in a public place and seeing how many people are on their cell phones, it's crazy. But we all do one second of free time. And we're whipping out our phones. We're bombarding our mind with information. And I'm not sure how important that information that we're looking at truly is. What if we take steps to limit our screen time to embrace those moments, when we don't have a pressing matter at hand, where we can just sit quietly, take in the surroundings, where we can just be in that moment, there's so much noise out there. So paying attention to what we feed our mind what we listen to what we read, what we watch is so important. Another point that Ryan Holiday brings up Is the power of journaling, to clear our mind and write things down. How many times have you heard people say, if they would have written down all the things that have happened to them did, they would be able to fill up a whole book. So much of what happens to us is forgotten, because we're constantly forming new memories. So writing things down, putting it on paper, it saves those memories, those thoughts, and it gives us the opportunity to look back, then we can relive them, we can smile about them. And we can embrace those moments. Also, putting moments down on paper can be therapeutic, it can be that release, when we're harboring negative energy inside of us that we can help let it go. By putting it on paper and getting it out of our system. It can also help us look at problems or questions that we've been asking ourselves in new ways. Now, we may not have a lot of time to sit down and write it night. And Ryan acknowledges this. And he says that he uses a strategy where he captures his day in one sentence. And that's something that's manageable for all of us. And although it may not seem like a lot, we can capture lots of moments in a single sentence. Now we've talked about the mind a little so let's talk about the body. Just as we have to take care of ourselves mentally. It's so important that we look to make our physical health a top priority as well. In the book, Mr. Holiday talks about taking a walk, building routines, seeking solitude, finding hobbies, and sleep. And sleep is one of the most important things we can do. It's also one of the most neglected. For years, we've heard speakers talk about grinding away, and that people made a lack of sleep seem like a badge of honor, almost as if those of us who are getting the recommended amount of sleep were lazy, which is ridiculous. Because now there's so much research coming out about the importance of sleep and how it affects your health, your physical and mental well being your productivity, and so much more. And honestly, very few of us get the amount of sleep that we should, but this needs to be a priority. Mr. Holiday also says hobbies are so important. He says having that release in the book, he talks about Winston Churchill, who was one of the greatest leaders of all time, that one of his hobbies was just to be a bricklayer and he would spend hours laying brick. He also took up painting as an escape to help clear his mind and help him as he tackled the world's problems. So what are your hobbies? What are you doing to escape and clear your mind this summer, find that release something that you can lose yourself in and regain that balance. Now the third component to stillness the Ryan Holiday talks about is the soul. If we look at a duck on the water, it looks nice and calm as it glides across the surface of the water. But if we looked underneath the water, we would see those legs moving all around and more like that. We only let others see what we want them to see on the surface. But below the surface underneath it all. Rarely are things is calm is people think so the says one way to find stillness within our soul is to choose virtue, living with moral and civic excellence. I was listening to a speaker the other day. And he said, if you want to feel good about yourself, if you want to build a good reputation, just focus and doing the next right thing. If we consistently show up and focus on doing the next right thing, we will strengthen our soul. Now, Ryan also talks about the power of enough. In the book, he tells the story of Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut, two of the great writers of the 20th century, and they're just party thrown by a billionaire. And Vonnegut he's joking around with Hitler. And he looks at him and he says, How does it feel to know that this man made more money this year, than your book, catch 22 has in its entire lifetime, and have our stop. And he thought, and he looked at Vonnegut and said, You know what, I have something that this gentleman will never have. And that enough. I know what enough is. Now, Heller was a great writer. He published numerous books. But how they says that he wrote from a place of fullness, not craving. And that's powerful, especially in times like today, where we can jump on social media, and we see everybody's highlight reel. And it's important to remind ourselves, that what we have is enough, that this moment, this moment, right here, this present moment is enough. And that is deeply powerful. So when we have those negative feelings that come over us, remind yourself that you are enough that in this moment, right now, you are enough. And it's important to know that being content doesn't mean that you're complacent. And last, he encourages us to look for the beauty that's all around, there's so many beautiful things for us to see. If we just slow down a little bit. If we just relax, we look around. And we allow ourselves to take it all in. That's what makes times like meeting my class at the park. so special, just being in that moment, enjoying being around the students, really being able to appreciate them as they're interacting with one another. hearing them laugh together. There's beauty all around us. And we just have to choose to see it. Now these are just a few takeaways from the book. And it's a great book for educators. Because we could all use a little more stillness in our lives. Thanks for being part of the teaching champions community, we support we encourage we lift each other up. And this is a podcast for all of us. So if there's a topic or a book that you want me to take a deep dive into, please reach out you can contact me on twitter at be Martin real, or on Instagram at teaching champions podcast, Your feedback is always appreciated. And please always remember, it doesn't matter if we're from rural America, to urban America, to Canada, to Spain to Bahrain. We're all on that same team. We're all on that same mission. And we're always better together. And my challenge for you this week, is to try and make it a point to add stillness to life. Try or practice that was mentioned in this podcast, or one that you know of that you've been meaning to try. Life is busy, life is fast. So slow it down. Appreciate it. Take time to see its beauty. And be in the moment. Keep being amazing, my friends. And as we go out into this week, may step into your strength. May you step into your shine, and let's build these champions up. Have a great weekend.