There is so much darkness right now. We are heading into a cold winter with little hope of being able to gather with our friends and family. School won’t be “normal” any time in the imminent future. There is much uncertainty with the upcoming US election. I know I am struggling and I can see it with my friends, students, and colleagues as well.
In my friend, Mandy Froehlich’s book, Reignite the Flames, Mandy makes the connection between educator re-engagement and gratitude.
Practicing gratitude has a similar effect. In order to properly practice gratitude, it cannot be in the form of competition. For example, “I feel grateful because I have a roof over my head and I know some others don’t.” Instead, true gratitude focuses on being grateful for what you have or who you are independent of others. Gratitude does not need to be shared to be effective, even though telling someone they’re appreciated is still a nice thing to do. Keeping a gratitude journal has been shown to be impactful even in getting better sleep, and a reduction in depression (directly) and anxiety (indirectly; due to better sleep). Practicing gratitude has been found to release dopamine. In The Grateful Brain (Korb, 2012), it says,
“Gratitude can have such a powerful impact on your life because it engages your brain in a virtuous cycle. Your brain only has so much power to focus its attention. It cannot easily focus on both positive and negative stimuli…On top of that your brain loves to fall for the confirmation bias, that is it looks for things that prove what it already believes to be true. And the dopamine reinforces that as well. So once you start seeing things to be grateful for, your brain starts looking for more things to be grateful for. That’s how the virtuous cycle gets created.”
Mandy speaks to how we sometimes move too quickly to gratitude, as if it’s a magical checklist, and how we need to take time to “get all the feels” in order for the true benefits of gratitude to be experienced. I am excited for her mindfulness course and her new workbook, The Educator’s Matchbook where I hope to learn more mindfulness behaviours.
And then, there is my friend Tisha Richmond, who together with Tara Martin launched #GratitudeSnaps starting today. Basically, they are inviting us to post a daily gratitude post on social media (using the fun filters in Instagram, Snapchat) Read more about this initiative here or listen here. There is also a template you can remake to use with your teachers or students:
I miss going to conferences and seeing my friends. I miss having a bustling Library Learning Commons. I miss normal and I am really feeling down. There is nothing I can do to change any of that. What I can do, is focus on the blessings I do have and be intentional about showing gratitude for those things.
I’ll start with this: I am grateful to Tisha & Mandy for jumpstarting my November with an attitude of gratitude.
