Tag: gratitude

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Restoring Mental Energy

Tranquil Meditation scenery
Pixabay.com

Sometimes, no matter how much meditation, deep breathing, or mindfulness we pack into our day or week, our mental energy can be depleted.

To restore it without drugs, alcohol, caffeine or food, try one of these ways:

Find uplifting and positive activities

If f a Facebook or YouTube cat video makes you laugh, then watch it. Just in case you need a fix right now, here’s one:

If prayer or meditation gives you the needed relief, then pray or meditate.

If playing with your children does the trick, then play.

Some days, binge-watching Netflix can do the trick. 😉

Make a list of activities that are uplifting to you and make you feel positive about life.

Do what you love just like Bob Ross

(Here’s a link to Bob’s YouTube channel!)

Work aside (the one that pays the bills), what is it that you LOVE to do?

Baking, cleaning, organizing, reading, painting, running, walking in nature?

Some say you can’t choose what you do for a job and many say that the notion of “doing what you love, so that it doesn’t feel like work” is reserved for the few and the talented.

But each time you decide to do something (life, work, family) you are making a choice.

A choice to eat or not to eat the chocolate cake instead of an apple for breakfast. That’s not to say you have to beat yourself up about it. Admit your choice, and move on. But do realize you did make that choice.

Same with work. You CAN choose to take steps to better your situation. You can choose to be happy you have a job in the first place. Often that can be the catalyst to accepting what you have, and often it can be the catalyst for change.

You could start turning your hobby you love into work you love. It may take time, but it is possible.

If you are already doing what you love (teaching), then make every moment count. Do the things you love to do with your students, brainstorm with colleagues to make your school the best – the greatest – place to work and learn.

Mission for a purpose

Often, focusing on the “why” of our work can restore your energy.

For teachers, the why can be helping students understand grammar or math problems, influencing lives, ensuring students are taken care of, getting them ready for the real world.

For a factory worker, it can be that the microwave-ready veggies they put into the bags parents are purchasing helps the harried family have a fast and nutritious meal.

Restore with gratitude

writing a gratitude journal
pixabay.com CC0

When you are grateful for even the smallest things in life, you can quickly restore your energy. Writing down or saying out loud the things you’re grateful for today can increase your positivity.

Simply state: “I’m so happy and grateful that I have…

…food in my belly

…a job

…money for gas

…a nice home and family

…a healthy lifestyle etc.

Bringing work home

As teachers, we feel that we should be available 24/7, including nights and weekends.

After all, we do have summers off as well as time during the Holiday season to recharge.

You know well that it doesn’t work that way.

When you’re working 6-7 days a week, you’re doing no one any favors. Least of all yourself.

When you’re not happy, no one is happy.

We don’t even realize it ourselves that we project the unhappiness and exhaustion we feel onto everyone else as well – students, colleagues, and family alike.

Bringing work home won’t show as extra pay at the end of the month. Nor any less.

Instead, try to do all the work possible at school – at work.

Now, if you’re an English teacher like I was, there are times when you have to take a stack of essays home to read and correct. But it shouldn’t happen every night.

And if you’re like me, taking that bag of work home but not even opening it because you are so exhausted, well – that just creates more stress, because now you didn’t take care of it. (I wrote about the belief of how hard a task is here)

My solution was to have rituals in place, so that work was done at work, and home was for relaxing.

Cultivating a calm mindset is the key in managing the way your energy is expended.

That energy can be replenished with meditation. To feel calmer, happier, and more energized, click here for guided meditation written for Teachers by a Teacher.

I wish you a calm day.

Most sincerely,

Taru

Feel happier today — Order the full guide to listen to words of inspiration

Master your life to find happiness and fulfillment. Live in the moment, be present, be here now, and use your talents to create a clear and tranquil mind.

TRY IT! 5 DAYS of FREE GUIDED MEDITATION!

Just click here, enter your name & email to get started!

All done with the 5 Free Days? If you found the meditation helpful, imagine what 21 Days of Guided Meditation can do? Order now and Listen to Days 6-21 and continue to create calmness, happiness, and energy in your life.

Use coupon code Love2019 during the month of February to get $9.00 OFF regular price of $29.00! (That’s 31% off!)

Keep Reading the blog: 9 Tools to Get Enough ZZZs

©2018 Taru Nieminen – The Happy Teacher Solution

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Day 9 Create Abundance through Gratitude

Photo by Jessica Bristow on Unsplash

Today’s Meditation

________________________________________________________

“Sometimes we should express our gratitude for the small and simple things like the scent of the rain, the taste of your favorite food, or the sound of a loved one’s voice.” —Joseph B. Wirthlin

 

When you started on this journey of meditation, of finding balance in your life, your career, your relationships, we started with the simple act of breathing.

Breathing with intention, and with clarity, is an antidote to the hassles of life, the challenges of teaching. Breathing deeply during meditation (or any other time) relaxes your muscles, lowers your blood pressure, and helps you manage your emotions. It creates the peace of mind, serenity, and tranquility we all need in our lives. And with practice, you will see positive results.

Peace, positive thoughts, and happiness, also come in the form of gratitude

Appreciation of the life you already have, the teaching, the family, the relationships, is a key to letting go of the scarcity mindset so many often cultivate. Instead, choose to cultivate a mindset of abundance, of energy, of love, and the love of teaching.

Today’s affirmation: “I’m so happy and grateful now that I can teach every day.” Feel free to change to anything else you might be grateful for in your life today.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to start a journal. But not just any journal, a gratitude journal. You might have heard of these and you might even have started one. If you have, but haven’t written in one in a while, it’s time to take it out again. If you’ve never had one, it’s easy to start. All you need is a notebook, any kind will work. It doesn’t have to be a fancy one. Decorate the cover with pictures and photos to make it special, yours.

The act of writing down of all that we appreciate brings peace, and knowing that we truly do have enough, we have more than enough. A friend of mine started with writing down, each day after the students had left, three things that went well that day. Nothing else. Just three things.

Sometimes we just forget

Learning to feel good about what we have can be harder than we think. We sometimes lose sight of what we already have and only think of what we don’t have.

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”  —William Arthur Ward

 

A gratitude journal gives you a chance to be thankful for, appreciate, and notice all the beautiful, good, and precious that you already possess.

The actions you take today to feel abundant, and the confidence in your ability to produce, do, work, and be, are affected by your positive thoughts and focus. This way, you’re not acting, working, and being out of desperation. There is a purpose to all you do.

“I am so happy and grateful now that I…”

Writing down the words, seeing the words, and feeling the words of “I’m so happy and grateful now that …” —I am teaching, I have food in my belly, I have books to read, I am able to teach and influence lives every day, etc., brings joy. I could keep listing more, but instead, I will remind you that unlike some of your students, you most likely have food in your belly, you have warm water for your shower, and you can sleep safely at night.

Now the above is not to make you feel bad for your students or their families. On the contrary, it is to show you how good you do have it. Be thankful. Appreciate all you have. Appreciate yourself.

“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.”  —Brene Brown

Adopting a mindset of abundance can be very challenging at first, but it can also be the most rewarding aspect of this meditation for teachers. You’ll gain a renewed optimism in all your teaching. You’ll start to feel more blessed, more resourceful, and even more productive. All of this allows you to shift your reactions and actions to your environment. Feelings of happiness, relaxation, and appreciation embody your being.

Feel happier today — Order the full guide to listen to words of inspiration

The practice of appreciation and abundance reverses the trend of scarcity. You can be your own source of abundance and richness, of optimal happiness. Abundance and the law of attraction show us that the more we give, the more we receive. Show your brain, your body, and your environment that you appreciate them.

TRY IT! 5 DAYS of FREE MEDITATION!

Just click here, enter your name & email to get started!

All done with the 5 Free Days? If you found the meditation helpful, imagine what 21 Days of Guided Meditation can do? Order now and Listen to Day 9 and beyond to create calmness, happiness, and energy in your life.

Keep Reading the blog: Day 10 Promoting Positive Change

©Taru Nieminen 2017   The Happy Teacher Solution