Seeing the Every Day Gifts, Atomic Interactions, and Relationships with Livia Chan

What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. My name is Ryan Martin. I'm a second grade teacher and host of the teaching champions podcast. And this week, I have a very special guest. I'm joined by Livia check. She is a head teacher, a writer, a presenter, a member of the teach better team. And she's deeply passionate about community leading with heart and positivity, and daily lifelong learning. And in this conversation, listen, as live talks about the power of connections, and building relationships, listening, she talks about atomic interactions, and how we can use these interactions to intentionally uplift others through our love, kindness and gratitude. And these are just a few of them amazing takeaways that lives shares. I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did. I am super excited for this episode, because I have just such a wonderful person who has so much to offer. And I know you're going to absolutely love this conversation. I have Livia chan here today. Livia, welcome to the teaching champions podcast. Thank you so much, Brian, I feel so blessed and honored to speak with you today. And I'm so excited to for our special time together. Yes, I'm looking forward to this is wow. Now you are someone that has a vast array of experience and knowledge, would you be able to let the listeners know a little bit? What's your journey been like? I have in January, it will be 25 years that I've been a teacher. And what an amazing journey. So far. I have I started teaching grade two, three, for a number of years. And then I took a little bit of a break from teaching little ones and worked on our staff development team and learning technologies. So for six years, I worked with principals and teachers and just helping them become more comfortable with using technology and integrating that with curriculum. And then five years ago, I came back to the classroom, teaching grades one to five, two and a half years ago became a head teachers. So I have a little bit of time as admin and supporting staff and families. And it's it's a wonderful blend blended role because I still get to be in the classroom with my little ones who are a great two, three and, and I find that that's it's just a wonderful place to be. So I feel very blessed. Yes, that's phenomenal. Now, one thing that I noticed when I looked through your Twitter, feed your social media accounts, and even we just had the opportunity for our students to connect, which was awesome. You just bring a level of appreciation. And I think that's key, what are ways that you fuel that appreciation within your students? Hmm, actually wrote a blog post on that gets on it Utopia about including gratitude in the classroom. And I think it's really stems from seeing a lot of things that we normally take for granted as gifts. So I see children as gifts or the relationship that we have as gifts, the time that we have as gifts and the more you more I choose to see in that lens with that lens, the more gratitude I have, and I know that the more gratitude that you have, the happier you are right and I think just making that explicit for students, I think goes a really long way and you know, just appreciating them for being in your class appreciating them for all the little things that they do to contribute to our classroom community. You know, every time a child helps some another child without being told to that's something to appreciate and and part of it is to when when you notice it, then I think it's really important to mention something about it so that you can actually nurture that more behavior like that right and so quite often, it's we start our morning with I call it hard time and so it's really just a soft start. I used to call it flex time but when I thought about it some more I thought you know what, it really is hard time because When they get to choose what they want to do some like to read some like to play some like to build and like to draw, you're really filling your heart with joy, right with with the people that you like to spend time with. And I changed the name this year. And it just feels right. And students, year after year, love that morning time for themselves. I tell them, like, do what makes your heart feel joy. And so after that heart time, if they're working or doing something with a friend, I'll always remind them, okay, thank the people that you played with, or think that people that you spent time with. And I think it just really builds a wonderful classroom community when you continuously share and encourage them to feel gratitude to. I love that that's so good. Like being intentional noticing it. Yeah, we noticed that, but we got to take it a step further and verbalize it because as an adult, we can see it. But the students, they might not see it. So if we notice it, and then we verbalize it. And I love how you brought it back to that's all about the nurturing process, right? We call it notice name and nurture. Notice name and nurture. I love it. And you said you start the day with a hard time about how long do you do that for? Usually about 15 minutes, it helps to because sometimes kids are a little bit late. And they you know, you can imagine that it's not usually not their fault that they're late, right? Yes. And so when they're walking in, if you've already started the day, there's that little extra anxiety. But if, if it's a soft start, and you know, quite often too, because I make sure that every morning when I greet my kids, I've got the biggest smile, right and greeting every single child by name. Like sometimes you notice that some kids need a little bit of extra love right before the day get started. So that's my time also to check in with the students. And if if say, Brian, you had you were at at your sports event yesterday, then that's my time to ask you how it went, right. And that all these conversations that you have with students go such a long way to building that relationship and connection with them so that I can be more effective teacher. And for them to feel loved. Right? Seen. valued. Yeah, for them to share their story. It's just incredible. That's beautiful. And what a great way to start the day. Yeah. And then we go into our morning message. And I always purposely make mistakes. So we go through kind of, you know, edit and areas, capitals, spelling and all that. And every single morning on without fail, I'll always add something about me loving them and appreciating them, like without fail. And so you know, right, right in the morning, they they reminded that I love them. And I appreciate them. I absolutely love that. And I do the same thing. Like we have a morning message. And I think it's so important like those, those young ones. And it's not just the young ones, I think you can do it with the older, maybe you change your language a little bit with the older they get and everything, but letting them know, Hey, I care about you. I appreciate you being in this space. Yes, yes. And then we go into community circle. So without fail, every single morning, we sit in a community circle, I have a rock that looks like a heart. So we pass around, pass that around as we go along. And I always start and I always go to my left, because we're in the indigenous teachings we start with your heart is on the left. So you kind of open with that. And then you close on the right. And so as we pass it along, I always say good morning to the next person. And they do that too. So that if it's the next person, then they will say good morning, Brian. And then it'll be your turn to share how you're feeling. And then the question of the day, and then that way, before 930. They've heard their name twice already. First when I pick them up in the morning and two second during community circle. Like I know there are some kids that go through a whole day without hearing their name once. Right. And what's one of the most important things out there are name? Yes. Oh, I love that. And I stole because I heard you talk about I think maybe in your circles, correct me if I'm wrong that you talk about like the heart to heart. Yes. Yeah. And can you elaborate on that a little bit? Just real quick. Yeah. So whenever we sit in a circle, all of our hearts face each other. And it's it's actually interesting, because that's one change that I started to make, because it was one of those epiphanies this year that I thought you know, I'm noticing that I'm speaking a lot more about our hearts. And in the last few years, we'll often hear about mindfulness, right mindfulness, this mindfulness that but it started to switch it and start to see that but it's a lot about our hearts and it's heartfulness. And you know, when you think about sports and all that, when you have the coach that's speaking to their, the team because they're down a game or what have you. And and quite often you hear the coach say something like, let's put our heart into it, right? I think there's something to that. And so even when the kids sit on the carpet, and they're like, say I'm doing I'm reading a story, or or we're doing a lesson, I'll always remind them, like, in the past that used to say, Okay, make sure your eyes are facing me, you know, now I'll just say make sure your heart is facing my heart. Yeah. And then I'll just say to them, like, you know, everything that I'm teaching is from my heart, like, and I want you to put your heart into learning too. And so kind of really recognizing that it's not just our minds, but it's our heart that we put into what we do with each other. And for each other. I think that goes a long way in understanding, you know, how to be kind, caring humans. Absolutely. So I've already stolen Heart to Heart from you, with my students in our circle time. But I love when when you talk about starting from the left, because the hearts on the left, and that Good morning peace, like modeling for our students, and not just modeling but now we're getting them to practice it. Yes. And saying the other person's name and creating creating those habits. Exactly. Oh, I'm big on habits. Yes, 100%? Because I know that I've heard you speak Latin, you speak about atomic interactions. What are atomic interactions? Well, when I thought about so I read the book by James clear, right. And then I started thinking about one of the things I have to teach our atoms and matter and all that, then I thought, okay, so the basic building blocks of all matter are atoms, then like I talk a lot about relationships, because I really believe relationships are key to life really, right, not just the relationships that we have with the we each other, but the relationship that we have with ourselves huge in how we live our every single day. And so I thought, well, what is the basic building block of all relationships. And so I kind of put the two to two in two or three and three together. And I thought, it's every atomic interaction, every single interaction that we have with other people builds on each other, to have that relationship that we want to have with others. And if you break it down to just the every single atomic interaction, if you make each interaction one that is full of intention with the lens, that you're going to try to uplift somebody, or that you want to make it a warm positive interaction, you're never going to go wrong, right? And when you think about and I think a lot of times too, we we go through relationships, and you kind of go through the motions, you know what I mean? Whereas Yes, I think, just like when in our teaching, you want to know what the end goal is? Well, if the end goal is, say, at the end of the year, or end of my life, what kind of relationship do I want to have with all these people that I get to interact with? If I want to have the best relationship with them? Well, it starts with every single piece just like Lego right? If I have a Lego creation that I'm putting together, and it's, you know, every piece has great intention without one piece, it's, you know, it doesn't end up being the final result that you're looking for. But when we break it down and work backwards, well, every single interaction really does make a difference. And especially in our role as educators, you think that one time if you're feeling short on patience, or you're not feeling whole yourself, or whatever it is, and you're short with a student? Well, you think about how many interactions it takes to work your way back, right? Even with our our adult friends. So I try to hold myself to that high standard, okay, every single interaction we do I fail sometimes, yes. Especially when but you know, there's a way to repair relationships too, right? And so if I really aim for that, every single interaction is going to be one where I try to uplift somebody else through my love kindness and gratitude. Then I'm, it's kind of like, you know, when you make an investment in your bank account, that one penny a day kind of thing. That compound interest is going to help me build beautiful relationships in all of my circles, right? Yes, yeah. So well, and I love that like that intentionality piece. And like you said, I try and be really intentional in the classroom. I try and be aware and the other day Is this week my one little guy, he's got a good grade kid just has a ton of energy in that the energy was detracting a little bit from that classroom atmosphere. And, you know, I got on him a little bit and tried to redirect the behaviors and stuff. And I didn't feel good maybe about the redirections or whatever. So I had to step back and recognize that and then I pulled them over and just said, you know, I care about you. And it's because we always don't get it right. And, and even, maybe, maybe they do need those redirections. But letting them know, it's the behavior and it's not you the person and I care about at the end of the day, I care about you so much. That intentionality piece, yeah. And I'm sure that student knows that you care about, cuz of all the atomic interactions that you have with them, right? It's not just a one and done. It's like, everything. And and, you know, I've been following you for a while too. And I love the messages that you share. It's just so inspirational, like, and honestly, Brian, you're one of the highlights. When I go onto Twitter, I'm like, let's just see what Brian's got to share today. Oh, well, I appreciate that. And you put out that same energy. And it's just like what you said, as far as you know, with that student, it's all those little interactions where you're filling up that bank, it's you standing out side your classroom door, and saying, Good morning, are you sitting in that circle your morning circle, and you're passing around that rock that has the heart on it? And you're letting them know, you know, I'm here for you, and you belong in this space? Yes. It's all those interactions. And you know, one thing that I changed this year, it was last year, last year was the first time that I made the small to me a really minut change, but has made the hugest difference in my relationship with the kids and our whole classroom community. And you know what that is? What's that is just saying to them, I love you, like you think three simple words. But that has completely changed how they like how it makes them feel how it makes me feel, like, you know, I was telling you earlier that I teach them sign language. And so I taught them how to say I love you in sign language, you know, as they leave, or just sometimes that those moments where, you know, somebody just needs a little bit extra encouragement, or that kind of extra nudge, like, I believe in you, and I love you. And it sometimes doesn't need words, because we just sign it to each other. And honestly, like, the kids know how much I love them, because I tell them every day, and not just once throughout the day. Yes. But it's also that they tell me that they love me. And like, you know, that is just one way that we both mutually cultivate joy in our classroom? Like who doesn't like to be told that they're loved? Yes. 100%. And honestly, when you think about how do you, it's like, that's Maya Angelou quote, right, they're not gonna remember what you say or what you did, but they're gonna remember how you made them feel. That's our strongest memories are the ones where we feel right, and the emotions attached to it. And so when I think about all of that, if the kids that are, are under my care, know that they are just deeply loved, cared for appreciated, they're seen, they're valued, they're heard, then the curriculum part is like, you know, that that avenue to get to curriculum is so much easier, especially when it comes to like your assessment and feedback, right? They, they know that it's going to be a safe place for them when I'm telling them, okay, well, here's something else that you can work on. And then you know, I always do a lesson on on comfort zone, stretch zones, and not yet zones too, right. And just helping them understand, like, I want you to be in that stretch zone. If this is too easy for you, or in your comfort zone, you are not growing as much as you could, if you're in your stretch zone. So, you know, all of these pieces together go such a long way in in pushing kids forward and in helping them you know, achieve academic success. Right and not just academic but, you know, understanding of themselves and, and we know that when you have happier kids that are you know, feel safe and feel loved. They get along better with their peers too. Right? And then you can do more group work and partner work and it's just such a beautiful place to be when you have that community. It is it is it is all the little things. Yeah, the little things, the small moments and just whether it's the sign language where you're, you know, the I Love You symbol, it's, you know, pulling the kid that's I'm cheering them on, even, you know, when you talk about. And I love how you said this, the comfort zone, the stretch zone or not yet zone, making that visible. And sometimes we forget, you know, we're teachers. So we constantly want to be pushing the students and getting the most out of them. Sometimes we forget what it feels like to be that student, like when we go into when we're implementing a new curriculum, and it's not going when we're in that stretch zone, it can be uncomfortable sometimes. So making that visible for the students and talking about that. That's just another way that you're creating that classroom culture. That's right, that's right. And then you know, you in all of these pieces, it really is to help with equity, right? That when you when you start to see each child as somebody that has different needs, that has different abilities, different passions, and allow them to be themselves in the curriculum to like, I always say to kids, like, I really tried to give them some choice, right? So it's this or that. And I'll remind them, if I forget to give you choice, and you've got an idea, come to me, I'm only one person trying to meet the needs of all these kids. But if you've got an idea, yeah, come to me, we'll make it work, we'll kind of massage it so that it does work. And you know, if you're still trying, if you're still hitting the curriculum goals and whatnot, doesn't really matter which avenue you take. Right? But and then that this way, they get to have a piece of themselves in what they're doing. And they're way more motivated and engaged as well, to do the learning when they've come up with the idea, right? Yes. When they have that by him when their voice has been heard. Yeah, that engagement is going to be so so much more. Exactly. I love it, they're live. Now, do you have any special things that you do? Whether it's throughout the day, or maybe special things that you do throughout the year, like to intentionally create moments of joy in your classroom? Well, every day, I have this you know, when I'm planning for the week, or the next day, or the the next lesson, or what have you, I always have kind of like this filter of of must haves. And so if whatever it is, I'm teaching, I'll sit there and I'll think of an idea. And then I always think, okay, how can I make this more fun. And so that's one thing that I really I never really thought about until the last couple years. But teaching is such a, a. It gives me so much opera, so many opportunities to be creative. And I love that. And so I'm always trying to think, okay, how can I make this more engaging, or more fun, or novel or include opportunities for them to work together and learn together? So like, certain days, I might say, Okay, we're gonna be learning about fill in the blank. And as you know, I'll kind of hype it up a little bit, okay, you don't want to miss school tomorrow. So the next day, I might like, one day, we're doing the water cycle. That's our curriculum. And I wanted the kids to act out the water cycle, and I found this beautiful, it must be 30 feet long of just beautiful blue material, that shiny. And so what I did is I wrapped it all around me in the morning when I went to get the kids. And I go outside and all because you're like, Oh, what are we going to do with Vanesa? You'll see. And so, you know, so many times, you know, I have my the day written on the board the shape of the day. And so the kids will be like, Oh, I can't wait till science because, you know, they know that I'm going to make it fun and engaging. And so, you know, when it comes to math, like I always think, okay, how can I make this a game? Or how do I make this so that they learn it better? And it's hands on and, and so I do little things like that, or? And I always try to think, how do I make this an experience for them? Right? Because, you know, I don't want them coming to school feeling like, okay, oh, it's another day. Like, I love the feedback that I get from kids when they say, like, I look forward to coming to school because they know there's I'm going to do something different. Like they know they're going to learn in some different way. And, you know, I'm not big on worksheets and all that, like you will, you'll rarely find me at the photocopier doing worksheets, because I think there's different ways for them to learn. And you find me a child that's excited to come to school to do a worksheet, right. Very, very few. But you give them the opportunity to do projects or create or do exciting things, and the other engagement piece and that's something it's interesting. like hearing you talk like you're 25 years into it, I hit 20. And I guess more than ever, I'm asking myself the same questions that you are. And I think it's that process of asking ourselves, How can we make this more engaging? How can we make this more exciting? What little twist can we put into it? And the thing is, if I enjoy myself, and I bring my passion and light into what I'm teaching, it's so contagious. Yeah. Like, they just feed off my energy. And you know, I love teaching, writing, and science and math, those are my top three favorite things to teach and almost guaranteed, by the end of the year. My kids love writing, they love science, and they love math. And you know, I always get just, especially math, math is one of those things where you might have some kids that have that kind of negative attitude when they come in, right. And I always get the first math lesson is always new. Tell me what you think. How do you feel about math? And because there's always such the the right and wrong feeling, right? Yes. But you know, it's through the experience of playing with math and just making it fun and learning it in different enhancement hands on ways. They end up loving math, too, and, you know, seeing themselves as mathematicians, because that's what they say to Okay, we are mathematicians, we are authors, we are scientists, we are readers, we are writers, and seeing themselves in those roles makes a huge difference to Right. Absolutely. And I love you know, you talked about bringing that energy, because they feed off of that energy. And also, you know, when you when you talk about math, that's one of my favorite things to teach as well. And like that making mistakes, normalizing. Yes. So and we have like a morning monitor, in the first part of the module that we say every single day is make mistakes. And we talk about, you know, we want to normalize that we want to celebrate that. And we talk about that that's part of the success cycle. We make those mistakes, we reflect upon it, we make the little tweaks, we do it all over again. That reminds me of my friend, she calls them marvelous mistakes. So I like that. Yeah, whenever someone makes a mistake, she'll cut Oh, what a marvelous mistake. Absolutely. You know, the other thing too, too, when you're asking about cultivating joy is I really try to include as much movement as possible. You're like, you know, kids, they sit a lot, right. And so little things like anything that we learn, I always think well, how do I include a little bit more movement, whether it's with their hands, or their bodies, and maybe their you know, like, we acted out the the watercycle, right. And even things like when two vowels go walking, the first one does or talking and says his own name, like we have hand signals to kind of help us remember things like that. And I think it goes a long way to and you know, obviously, movement breaks. Very necessary when Yes, it's the kind of refresh our brains because we like their little right, they can only focus for so long. Yes, that's the that's the absolute truth. Now, I listened to speak live. And like we said, You're 25 years into it, but you're so passionate, and you have so much joy. Do you have any like, tips? How do you hold on to that? Because I think a lot of people, they get burned out, I look at my, my school or people that I've worked with, and they're all amazing. But sometimes, like I see these new teachers that come in, and they just have, you know, they come in with so much energy and excitement. And I think we all started that way. But then sometimes as the years go on, or is even one school year, you can start out feeling great. But then the school year, you hit this point a year where you're kinda in the middle, we come back January, February, March, and it starts, do you get that murky middle piece? How do you stay so full of joy? Oh, you know, it, it's taken some time to figure myself out. I think the I mean, one thing that I recognized and started doing in the last couple of years is just really building a relationship with myself. And I never even thought of that relationship as a relationship with myself before and because you know, you're just with yourself all the time you you have your own thoughts and everything you do, you're with yourself, right. But I think starting to follow some people that really share a lot about personal development and just recognizing that I need to figure out who I am. So I actually spend time thinking about what are my strengths? What am I My core values and beliefs. And that has really helped me because when I've had to deal with adversity, I now have a clearer understanding of who I am. And I can anchor back into all of these pieces because I know who I am now. And it's taken me, you know, 52 years. But I feel like you know, I also know, what brings me joy. And what I and I do a really good job of listening to what I need and what my body needs now, too. So if I need time to rest and just not work for an eight, then I pay attention to that, and I know how to cultivate my own joy. So like, I know that when I show kindness to other people, or when I try to lift other people up, I'm also lifted up. So that's one of my, one of the ways that I take care of my well being. And I feel like when I know that I can bring my whole self to all the roles that I have, then it's it makes it easier to cultivate that joy. And also, when I started, like, in the last couple of years, I started to just recognize that we have so many gifts all around us. You know, like I just heard recently that one of my friends, there's someone in their community that just passed away, tragically. And like, you know, these are reminders that there's so like, when you think about what's important in life, it's our family, it's our friends, it's, you know, the things that are near and dear to our heart, our passions, and I'm just constantly reminded of all the gifts that I have. And one way is I have visual reminders all over the place, like in all of my workspaces. So you know, downstairs here in the in the office, kitchen, in my office, at school, and my classroom, by my, in my bathroom, by my nightstand, lots of visual reminders that remind me of the things that are important to me. So I have a couple of summers ago, I took some rocks, and I painted hearts on them, like 300 hearts. So I have them all over the place, and actually give it to my students to as visual reminder to that I love them, and that I believe in them. And it was really interesting, because last year, I had a couple students come back to me a whole half year later, and they said, do you still have some of those heartbreaks? I said, Yes. They said, We lost ours. And we'd like another one. And I thought, wow, it meant something to them. Right. And I use them, I tell them, like, you know, put it wherever you need to I have this other student who really has a hard time believing in herself. And so I gave her a few different ones. I said you put them anywhere you do your homework. And that's a reminder that I love you. And I believe in you. And you know, it's things like that. And, you know, we talked about atomic interactions, well, I found on Etsy, these atoms that are kind of like maybe an inch big, and I turn them into keychains. And I have, I'd like that is my my keychain that I have. So when I leave the door, I grab my keys, and that that symbol of the atom reminds me of atomic interactions, every interaction that I make is going to make an impact, right? Maybe it's a small impact, but I know it's gonna make an impact if it's going to be an uplifting one or somebody that's, you know, you just never know, like, and I think the thing is, we we support each other as colleagues, right? If I am going to light up when I see you in the morning, I mean, you know, I look at you now like, how do I not light up? Just look at your smile, right? But like, we can help each other? If If I light up and I say, Hey, good morning, Brian, you know, great to see you, then you're lifted up a little bit and you know, then you might do that for somebody else. And maybe it's just the the greeting that you needed that day because you didn't have a great morning that started off that way. Right. So those you know, and sometimes, you know that whatever it is that you choose to say you're you're actually making an imprint on someone's heart, too, right? So like, when I think about it, it's that interaction that you have with them, you literally have your your two hands put together and their heart is in your hand. If you think of it that way, right? Especially are the children that we teach every interaction that you have, like, you know, I'm going to ask you put your hands together as if they're your cupping them, right? Their heart is in your hand. So how do you choose to talk to another person, right? When you're at a store or when you're a little bit frustrated? Because the lines too long or whatever the case is? Just imagine you're there for in your hands, how are you going to take care of their heart? Right? I love that visual right there. You know when my students some we get with second and third graders, so they're still socially trying to figure things out and everything and you're always going to have those little little quarrels sometimes So we talk a lot. And just like you have mentioned about making it visible. So we talk a lot about, you know, we can lift people up, or we can pull people down with our words. But I really love right now, this is another thing I'm stealing from you. They're lift. So I got a whole list right here. But having now heart in your hand, because the truth word words have power, even as adults, yes. Like, we can really raise somebody up, or we can crush that heart was just some words. There's such power in words. And the thing is, you know, when I think about, I've said for many years, there's more than one way to say the same thing. Right? So we really have to choose our words carefully. You know, I don't know if you've read The Four Agreements, but one of my favorite books, yeah. Right. Like, be impeccable with your word, you really have to hold yourself accountable to that. And that means also be impeccable with your words to yourself. Right? We our hardest critic, and, you know, part of taking care of myself is like I was saying earlier, like understanding what brings me joy and understanding what I need. And the other thing I started saying to myself, too, is like, what do I need to do to protect my own heart? Right? So things will happen, you know, you have time to kind of dive into the negative emotions and the, you know, feelings and whatnot. But then after a while, it's like, no, no, okay, I've dealt with those emotions, maybe not even completely fully, but at some point I've got put it on the shelf, because it's not helping my heart or my mind. And then I just gotta move on. Right? I give it enough space and time. But it just got to move on. Because that's what's going to serve me. Right. Absolutely. And I love how if the people that are listening, if you haven't read The Four Agreements, it is a phenomenal book. And be impeccable with your words. I love how you said, it's not just about with others, it's with ourselves. Because you know, that self talk, it can really, it can really wreak havoc on us if we're not careful in the negative steps. And I was reading one of my another book that I really enjoy, that talks about self talk is by Jon Acuff, I don't know if you are familiar with sound traps. Yeah. So I, and he talks about like, to really, when you're listening to that self talk, ask yourself, is that self talk helpful? Is it kind? Is it true? Is it true 100% of the time, and if it's not, I love how you said, you know, sometimes we got to sit with that feelings, but put it on the shelf. And then we have to move on, you know, the feelings don't necessarily go away right away, it takes time, but trading that space within them, and recognize that this, this talk doesn't help me. It's not kind. And it's not 200% of the time. Exactly. It's like my friend, Mark Warner. He's one of his He's got four, four or five questions that he asked himself every day, and one of them is what are you feeding your mind? Yes. I love that. feeding your mind negativity and towards yourself. Like you're not being kind to yourself. And I think that's another thing that I've learned too, is self compassion. And being the biggest cheerleader for myself. Right? Yes. Especially I think the the older we get, yeah, like, we're always gonna hype up the young kids. And they need that, and they deserve that. But the older we get, we don't always have the people that are sitting there cheering us on, as we're grinding out through the day. So we have to celebrate and celebrate and the small things we overlook, the small things that we do that are pretty special every day. And that's where it kind of brings it full circle again, about the gifts right, all the little things are like little gifts to us. And if we see them as gifts, then you have more gratitude. It's kind of you know, when you it's like and gifts are not when I say gifts, it's not anything tangible, right? These are, you know, maybe it's a gift of an interaction, or, you know, one thing that I love to do is just to reach out to friends that I haven't heard from for a while, or like this morning, there's a few people that have been on my mind for the last couple days. And I just sent them a text and you know, just to remind them that I love them. I've been thinking about you just checking in and like that. I know it's going to uplift them to like, you know, and it uplifts me too. At the same time. That is part of my self care when I do that, right. It feels so good. Yeah, and it's incredible how so many people have said to me live you have impeccable timing. I needed this. Right. And, you know, it's it's actually interesting because it's, it's come full, full circle. So there are days were, you know, I might not have the same energy and whatnot. And then out of the blue, somebody would text me. Like, hey, thinking about you. I'm like, wow, this is awesome. It's crazy how the universe works. Yeah. But and that shows like you're putting you're being intentional about establishing those relationships, and you're putting it out and then a time of need. It comes back to you. Yeah. So good live. Thank you so much. Now, as we wrap up here, two questions that I always ask my friends is number one, like, as we start, because this is going to come out on New Year's Day? Um, how about any books or podcasts to start the year off that you would recommend? Well, lately, I listened to so many podcasts, definitely high rated, highly recommend yours. The other one that I love is Simon Synnex. A bit of optimism. Have you ever listened to his? You know, I have not listened to his podcast. I'm a huge time I've read his books. And I've watched a ton of YouTube videos by him that check out his podcast. Yeah, it's just, you know, it is what it's called a bit of optimism. And, you know, I mean, I the list can go on and on. But just lately, that's just one that I've been binging on a little bit. Now, are you big? Have you read Simon Sinek books, I think start with why eating leaders eat last? Yes. So and those are all highly recommended as well? Yes, they are. And he started his own publishing company, too. So I'm excited to get into some of the books that he's published. Oh, that's interesting. I did not know that. Yeah, there's one about oh, I can't remember what it's called. But it's basically about going over the top. And this this person is a restaurant tour. And it's was unreasonable. Sorry, I can't remember no, anyways, it's, it's, it's just about, you know, being in this in the service world, and just being unreasonable incense in the sense that you're going over the top to meet people's needs. And I think there's something to that. And I think, you know, in teaching to like, you, there's so many variations of teaching, right? You can be, you know, you can teach the curriculum, but you can teach the curriculum, if you know what it is passion, and, and excitement. And so that's kind of what I love to do is just like to really put my heart and soul and passion into teaching so that the kids get the most out of their experience. Because when they're with me, that's what I want to offer them as all experience every day and the whole year. I love that. And when you're having fun, oftentimes, they're having fun. Oh, yeah. You know, they get that reward. But we also get that reward as well. Nice, mutual thing. Yes, fantastic. If those that are listening, want to connect with you there live, what will be the best way? Probably on Twitter. Twitter's changing a little bit, my handle at Livia Chan, l. I also have a website, it's live chan.com. So it can always be found there. And they can connect there as well. And for everyone, if they could walk away with one thing, what would you want them to walk away with? I would love for them to see, start seeing other little things that we take for granted as gifts, and use that as our fuel for taking care of ourselves. Because without having that strong sense of self. And really valuing and prioritizing ourselves first, life is really hard. And so when we can do that, then we can really pull together all those little atomic interactions, the words that we say to ourselves and others. It goes such a long way. And I think really when we can make every single interaction one that up this others through our love, kindness and gratitude, we are going to make a difference. We are going to make an impact in people's lives. We're going to make an imprint in their hearts. And we're going to change lives trajectories because of what we do every single day. And it's it's like you were saying earlier, it's the little things. Not always necessarily the big things. It's the little things and you know, one unfortunate thing for teachers is that we don't often hear From Our Past students, what difference we made in their lives? And I kind of wish that we did, because I think that would help us keep going a little bit more like, if you know that you're making the impact, but I think the quote was shared with me. And I've heard it recently, too. It's like, you know, the people that plant? I don't know exactly, but I'm just gonna paraphrase the people, the seeds don't often get to enjoy the shade or something like that. Have you heard that one before? Yes, yeah. I don't know who said I'm gonna have to look it up. But in that same way, we just have to trust that what we're doing is making a difference. And you know, and just keep going. It's, we are in such a beautiful role to make, to make the people that we work with better people. And in so doing, we are better people to right, the relationships that we have with others, and the connections that we get to make those are all gifts, people are gifts, and the more we see them as such, you know, our lives can just be much more enriched because of that. Yes, I absolutely love that. It just made as I listened to you, you're so eloquent and how you talk there live is one I don't know if it was it might have been Simon Sinek actually, that said it as listening right before the the pandemic started, or right as it was getting on. So they were talking about time, and they were talking about money. And they were saying that, you know we treat money is if it's finite, but we treat time as if it's infinite. Hmm, exact opposite is the truth, we can always go out and we can always earn more money. But that time is finite. And we don't know how much time that's the one thing none of us know. Yeah, we're blessed with the gift of today. Blessed with the with our loved ones that are still here with us with today. Every day. No, just. And it's tough, because those are tough, but just trying to appreciate those small, little things. And I love how you said like you have those visual reminders, huge. Looking for those little visual reminders, grabbing our joy appreciating what we have today, I got a quote for you from Simon Sinek. Life is beautiful, not because of the things we see or do. Life is beautiful because of the people we meet. And so with that I am just so grateful for this opportunity to meet with you and chat with you. And I feel like my life has been enriched since meeting you and following you and your inspirational messages that I get to the blessing to read every single day. And so thank you for being a blessing in my life. Brian, I really appreciate you and I love you. Yes. And I appreciate and love you as well. They live in you. I mean, everyone can just hear in your voice in your you're the real deal. You just what you talk about like uplifting and investing in others and holding. You know, you hold so many people's hearts in your hand and you embrace that and you lift them up and you're just such a beautiful soul. So thank thank you so much for today. And with for this time. What a gift you've given me, Brian, thank you. This is great. Thanks, Detlef, this was such a great conversation, you can just hear how authentic and amazing live truly is. Now this is a teaching champion state where I share three of my favorite takeaways from this conversation. And the first gem that I love was when live talked about when we start seeing things as gifts, especially the small things, it can have such a positive effect on our lives. The second gem that I loved was when we talked about how every interaction matters. From the short interactions to the longer ones. We can either strengthen or we can weaken our relationships with every interaction. So we have to be intentional with these interactions. And we also have to be conscious of what we bring to each interaction. And there may be times when for one reason or another, we're not at our best. And it's up to us to recognize it and rectify it. The third gem that I loved is when Liv talked about building a relationship with ourselves, especially with the new year. We need to make it a priority to spend time with ourselves to take time and ask ourselves, about our strikes, about our values, about our beliefs and that relationship with oneself is truly invaluable. And these are just a few of them amazing takeaways that live shared. Let me know on social media, what were some of your favorite takeaways. A big thank you to live for being amazing and sharing such wonderful gems. Also, a big thank you to you for being here for being part of the teaching champions community. We support we encourage we lift each other up. And if you think someone would benefit from this message, please share. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, new episodes a job every Wednesday and Sunday. And always remember, it doesn't matter whether you'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. Keep being amazing, my friends, and as you go out into the week, May step into strength. May you step into shine, and let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody