Stress is only bad for you if you believe it is!

How you think and how you act can transform your experience of stress
“Your stress response has a built in mechanism for stress resilience, and that mechanism is human connection”

Kelly McGonigal explains how by reaching out to others when stressed oxytocin is released which negates the harmful effect of stress on the body.

“For every major stressful life experience, there was an increased the risk of dying by 30%, people who spent time caring for others showed absolutely no increased risk of dying.

Sleep on the job, it’s good for you

“Jayne Morris, the health sector life coach for NHS Online, said overworked employees should grab 20-minute power naps to recharge their batteries, even in the middle of the day and at work”

 

 

 

How headteacher stays calm

From an article in the Guardian:   How I stay calm, by people with very stressful jobs

 

 

The Teacher:

“When I arrived in 2012, I introduced a policy for both adults and children of always remaining calm and non-confrontational. The minute you shout, people don’t listen to you; they just focus on the noise you’re creating rather than what you’re saying.”

“The other thing that helps me remain calm is being highly visible, so that everyone – parents and those in school – can talk to me as soon as something is niggling them. It’s when things fester that they create most stress. So I’m at the school gate at the start and end of every day”

Jan Shadick, at Lambeth Academy

 

The growing cost of staff absenteeism

A school in Norfolk paid £339,154 in 2012/13 for supply teaching cover. An article in the East Anglian Daily Press today looks at the cost on pupils and schools and finds the local authority spends £9.2 million on supply staff. A 12% rise from the previous year.

EDP article

Counting the cost of supply teaching

The Slow Coach – Slow down – achieve more

Can we slow down….and achieve the same results?

 

3 people are followed as they spend a month slowing down, achieving and receiving unexpected benefits.

“Find some kind of slow ritual or activity, something that you enjoy doing, but that just shifts you into a lower gear.  That helps you connect with your inner tortoise… something that acts as a break, and build that into your day”

 

“We don’t allow enough time between things…..think about adding a few more minutes in that space in between…”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0383k2h 

The Biology of Kindness: How It Makes Us Happier and Healthier

Being a good friend, and being compassionate toward others, may be one of the best ways to improve your own health

Kindness = Enlightened self interest?

Acts of kindness produce chemical ‘highs’, release bonding hormones and lead to a healthier nervous system.

Is there really such a thing as altruism, or is being kind merely ‘enlightened’ self interest?

 

Cool to be kind: The advantages of being altruistic – The Independent

Invest in loss

Eh?

Ok, it may seem like madness, but invest a minute, what have you got to loose?

‘Invest in loss’ was a saying of the great martial artist Chen Man-Ching, he maintained to win one needed to invest in loosing.   The idea comes from Taoist philosophy, yet the heart of the concept is found in cultures around the world.

Chen Man-Ching

Investing in being wrong

Holding on tight to being right without exploring the possibility of being wrong, what a waste!  Scared that you may be wrong?  Loose the fear, you may find out you were right all along, but now you will feel more sure and relaxed.   And if you find you were wrong, you have saved time, money and emotional energy not investing in something that was bound to fail.   Invest in being wrong and loosing face…it’s good for you!

 

Investing in not knowing

Don’t even think you are supposed to know all or even most of the answers.  If you don’t know, admit it to yourself and go find out.  This admission of ‘not knowing’ will lead to learning something new and ultimately ‘knowing’.

However creating the illusion of knowing puts a lot of pressure on you.   You may fool other people and even your self for a moment, but not for long, and the consequences are not good, one ends up looking foolish and wasting a lot of energy.

 

Investing in unknown opportunities

Invest in letting go of what you don’t need.  Spring clean your home, office, head!  And loose the old, unwanted, unused things you have been holding on too.  Invest in a spring clean and enjoy the space for new opportunities it brings.

Invest in loosing what you don’t need

Investing in losing the ego

The unchallenged and unrefined ego can get us in an awful pickle.   It can be very resistant to our human development, and its desires can lead us into trouble.  The benefits the ego seeks are necessary on a very base human level, but once one has a little self confidence one can start the process of weaning our self off its cravings, cravings not unlike the body’s cravings for sugar and caffeine.  Invest in loosing the grip of your ego, and deepen your experience of your inner nature.

 

Invest in non resistance

Create a space and time in which ideas can flow you don’t have to take them up but don’t stop them coming or stop others expressing their ideas to you.  If you resist ideas, emotional tension builds up, performance is hampered and energy is wasted in the conflict.  On the plus side, one or two of those ideas them might be amazing.

 

Invest in loosing your best ideas

 Can your ideas withstand the application of pressure to them?  Or will they buckle.  Are your ideas strong enough to withstand a hammering?  Take your formed idea, apply some pressure, and re form the idea as necessary until it can easily withstand huge pressures without weakening, loosing its structure or folding.  Stress test your idea by investing in loosing it.

 

Investing in letting go of preconceptions

Virtually every moment of are existence is coloured by our preconceptions, and honestly, a lot of it is plain nonsense.  Invest in letting go of these preconceptions and experience things as they are.  How?  Observe your chattering mind right now…..what is it on about?   Practice the letting go exercise below.

Invest in loss – letting go exercise

 Take regular breaks in your day, morning, noon and evening, not too long 5-20mins.  Close your eyes, take three deep breaths, with each breath feel like your awareness is sinking deeper and deeper into your body.  Focus on the centre of your hands, as you breath in imagine you are applying pressure to them with your thumb, as you breath out let go and feel the area expand, do this for 20/50/100 breaths.

 Chris Shaw teaches stress management and wellbeing workshops in the UK, he live in the English lake district.

Under Pressure….Yes?

Good ; as pressure can provide the ideal stimulus for inner growth.

If dealt with effectively, pressure can lead to an increased ability and competence in the task that one is engaged with. However, if dealt with ineffectively, one can often buckle, feel stressed, with a higher likelihood of suffering from illness or injury.

Stress is a part of our modern world, there are many ways to understand and positively grow through the pressure which we experience.

 

Trees in the wind.

Young trees require pressure from the wind to establish them. Trees require the wind to become strong. Trees require flexibility to deal with the wind, an old tree becomes stiff and brittle, and its limbs snap easily, a young tree is flexible and full of sap. The same can be said of humans too!

 

Responsibility as Educators.

It is up to us to take on only the amount of pressure that we can deal with, not too much, not too little. It is also our job to look out for friends, colleagues and family.

The Body and Brain needs pressure.

The pressure from gravity is necessary to maintain a health body, without it we get muscle atrophy, bone density loss and less blood. The brain needs problems that are not easily solved, that require work and patience to keep our minds fit and healthy. Without this pressure our brains weaken, however by dealing with mental pressure we forge new neural pathways.

The Emotions need pressure.

When we experience times of extreme emotional anguish we can become distraught, fall ill, and sometimes look for extreme methods of reliving this pressure. The pressure felt from these ‘very hard’ times, if dealt with effectively can lead to profound positive emotional changes, a re evaluation of our lives and our values. They can ultimately make us more balanced, stronger and emotionally resilient. People who have not experienced moments of extreme emotional anguish can often lack the necessary emotional capital needed in human relations, they can be at a disadvantage.

Oh *@”%!

Profanity as pain relief or “stress-induced analgesia”

Researchers at Keele University, UK found that moderate use of swear words can deliver short term pain relief, however over use of swear words in everyday life lessened their effect when it mattered.

See the article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8925588/Swearing-can-beat-pain-research.html

 

Strong outburst have long been used to focus the mind and body, you may have heard participants at a Karate class Kiai or listened to the Haka of the All blacks Rugby union team.

 

The important bit……

 

Limited outburst’s of vocal energy can release tension, provide pain relief and focus the mind.  

 

Many people are too noisy and disperse their energy, while others don’t let go enough and build up too much tension.   If the former is you try some quiet time, if you are one of the quiet ones then go on….make some @#*%!$^ noise!