The recent events of the container ship stuck in the Suez Canal has offered some great viewing, much dialogue, and some critical discussion points represented in memes for us over the past week. The event has also offered us a familiar metaphor for how we sometimes feel as PhD scholars, writers and researchers. Who is your tugboat?
Read MoreTeaching 2021 is starting back again here in Australia. It will be a year and one week since I last taught in a room that is not my lounge or spare bedroom and on campus! I’m pretty excited actually. I love the energy in a room and the additional layer of social connection that is achievable away from screens. But, I know my excitement is not experienced by others.
Read MoreIt’s mid Feb and there are an enormous amount of lockdowns happening right now. Like many of us, the sense of control, or lack thereof is very much present. Let’s connect to our sphere of control for covid…and our academic work.
Read MoreMy word for 2021 is Sparkle. I’m setting the intention that we can all sparkle and be the best we can be as we navigate a pandemic and this chance to pause and review all that is happening in the world, how we work, and how we treat one another. One way to sparkle is to connect to your strengths. Let’s explore how and why.
Read MoreI am heading into the 2021 working year feeling behind. What about you? I don’t think I’ve ever said that before, and I have definitely not said that out loud before. But I feel rather empowered in saying it out loud to you all. And this empowerment has me thinking about what I need to tweak as I more forward - hello a mini experiment in piggyback, mono-tasking, and slowing down.
Wow, 2020! What a year. We’ve made it, and with a few extra new words to our vocabulary! It has been a year of exhaustion, heartbreak, and of reflection. It has been a significant year of pause. And many of the “re” words….rethink, renew, refresh, regroup, restart, reset, reflect, repurpose...have featured.
Read MoreI don’t know about you, but I’m all zoomed out! 2020 has had us working in different ways, connecting virtually...well, all of the time. More screen time has been one major feature for most of us. I’ve always thought of my time in different ways - green, screen, me and down time. As I've navigated what down time can look like for me I've explored different ways to do this. You have probably found this as well.
Read MoreThe feedback floats around in my mind, blurring together, I hear them but I don’t register them. But there is one louder comment that gets stronger and stronger in my mind, playing like a bad song I’ve heard in the foyer of a building that for some reason I remember and keep playing again and again in my mind: "On this occasion, we regret to inform you that your application for promotion, has been unsuccessful".
Read MoreWhat I have noticed is that my meditation practice has required some fine tuning, more attention. I’m able to see that my current situation is allowing me to refine my meditation practice. It is reminding me that perhaps I have dropped a few aspects and been a little hap hazard. Nothing like a real-life Seinfeld episode playing out to remind you that you don’t need to be caught up in the drama. Thank you 2020.
Read MoreWe are surrounded by constant feedback. We are taught lots about how to give constructive feedback - the feedback hamburger comes to mind where we start with a positive, share something that needs some work, and then end with an encouragement aligned to an action or goal. But when it comes to receiving feedback, we are not really taught how to receive it. We know we need to listen. But what does this really mean? Especially when the feedback is something we do not want to hear.
Read MoreI’m not the biggest fan of visiting the dentist. So, after 12 months of resisting some major work I needed to have done, I prepared myself to just get it done. What happened for me on this journey? Well number one was that I had to tune into my thoughts and my responses and embrace them as a personal development lesson. Here’s my findings: 1. Communication, 2. Know your body, 3. Mindfulness, 4. Soothing touch, and 5. Explore the power of your noise cancelling earphones and an audiobook.
Read MoreSelf-care is about taking care of yourself. It is a proactive action involving steps to develop, protect, maintain and improve health, wellbeing or wellness. Self-care can be seen as a repertoire of practices – different things you do that help you care for you, no matter how small, in the act of treating yourself like you would a close friend. The importance of valuing self-care has not changed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ways in which we engage with and value our self-care may needed to have changed.
Read MoreGratitude involves the ability to notice, appreciate, and savour. When we intentionally apply attention to being grateful or expressing a gratitude, we can increase enjoyment of experiences and in turn there is an increase in strengths such as kindness, appreciation, perspective, and optimism that enhance our wellbeing. There are many different ways to do this. In this post I share some strategies and a list of questions to scaffold and support your expression of a gratitude to yourself.
Read MoreTiny habits put together help with the end result, the change you want to see. But the habit itself, the tiny change you make, won’t make the habit form into a routine. It is the system of the habit that is key to the transformation. We have to fall in love with the process, and it has to become a part of our identity. In this way the habit becomes about the cycle of refinement and continuous growth, not the end goal.
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Habits are about making small changes. These small changes accumulate over time to make a big difference. Often we can underestimate the small changes, the small tweaks we make to our thinking or behaviour thinking they don’t make a difference. But in fact, it is the small, tiny little tweaks we make, that add up and contribute to improvements in our self.
Read MoreQuestions to think about and you ponder your screen time, green time, down time and me time.
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How we spend our time is remarkably different right now. To be kinder to myself I am thinking about my day like this:
Screen time
Green time
Me time
Down time
Read MoreEvery day I go for a walk. I walk to feel the fresh air on my skin, to smell nature and to notice beautiful things around me. I also walk to pause. To pause, stop, refresh and renew. On my walk I’ve been noticing new things, and I’ve been sharing these on social media as a way to share my pause and pass it on to others.
Read MoreRaise your hand if you are a little bit unsure as to what spending more time at home might look like for you? Here are a load of tips, strategies for you, your family, friends and housemates for you to be curious about.
Read MoreI had the privilege this morning of working with a group of final year pre-service teachers preparing to enter their last professional experience (time in the classroom where theory and practice are put into action). Our focus today was goal setting, and we approached this by exploring our ideas around what it means to be a teacher and our why of being a teacher closely connected to who we are right now as teachers as this identify formation is occurring. One of the key aspects of this was working to our strengths and extending our knowledge and language around how we can do this.
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