When something stirs me, I have to post, and I have been affected, in positive ways, by several training sessions at school.
You may remember my posts:
Fixed Vs. Growth Mindset: The Round Roti
(If you don’t, well they click away, I’m sure you’ll be inspired too!)
Last Friday, we were treated to a cracker of a three-hour training session by the official Doctor of Happiness, Andy Cope.
And what a wonderfully upbeat, positivity-filled guy to deliver this workshop!
Andy Cope
The workshop was entitled The Art Of Being Brilliant. And it really was BRILLIANT!
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Andy Cope has researched for 12 years about the emotion of happiness, at a time when all other psychologists were busy looking at the ‘illness’ aspect of state of mind. Depression/why are we down?/mental health issues… but no one was out there, thinking about what created happiness, or that feeling of contentment, and how we could all turn our state to ‘happy’ instead of ‘down’.
So he did.
We started off being shown a word.
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A Finnish word, which piqued my interest straight away, what with my Finnish connections!
The Finns have a word that is all about their favourite bouncy cushions!
We were then instructed to go home, find those ‘meh’ pants in our underwear drawers, and chuck them away. Instead, we should start our day with our ‘special’ pants.
Why?
Because every day is special.
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And that is so true, isn’t it?
Through a series of humorous slides, clips and activities, the main aim was to show us that we needed to foster that internal sense of positivity that lives within us all.
There have been many types of research done on creativity and our ways of thinking. And all of them point to the fact that as a child, we are all geniuses, thinking out of the box.
But as we grow older, it gets taught out of us.
At school, we are not necessarily encouraged to have our own off the wall ideas, but to conform to a certain method of how to solve a maths problem, or how to conduct an experiment. Even art is prescribed.
A nursery child is likely to be fearless, in the name of learning about life, from jumping around to tasting strange things. But that same child will be totally different, ten years down the line, almost afraid to be unique in his thinking, following the expectations of the teacher, the school, and the government.
Slowly that creativity is almost beaten out of us.
It’s the same with our thinking and positivity.
The majority of the world is stuck in a loop. A learned loop. Learned from the grown us around us, the teachers who influence us, our colleagues.
And we, in turn, will pass that same thinking on to others.
If all you hear is moaning, and negativity, you are likely to find that you are also becoming the same – a Mood Hoover, as Andy Cope calls them.
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Instead of seeing the bright side of life, it’s much easier to see the flip side. And moan.
According to Andy, a third of the population are what he calls Mood Hoovers.
The rest of us hover between being a bit moany, a bit negative, but there are periods of brightness, positivity and HAPPINESS too.
Then there are the 2%ers – the 2% of the population who are truly happy, content with life, positive and at peace.
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These are the people who have learned to wake in the morning feeling thankful, facing every day with a zing in their step, not afraid to try something different from the norm, and they’ve learned to ‘build a bridge’ over troubles, and minor niggles, and ‘let them go’.
They are the people who seem to naturally follow the Danish Hygge way of thinking…
Embracing the little things that give happiness.
Sure, they will have down days too, they’re only human, but for the majority of their time, they choose to be happy and smile in the face of life.
“What does all this have to do with teaching?” I hear you say.
Well, nothing, and everything really!
The thought behind this is that you, and how you project yourself as a teacher, has a huge impact on your class. If you show that positivity, fearlessness, and excitement, and embrace the unknown yourself, you are likely to be the teacher that creates that kind of ‘2%er’ influence in the life of children who may live in a house of ‘Mood Hoovers’.
You have the confidence to try new things, and you show the children that it is okay to learn ‘differently’.
You foster a love of learning with your own enthusiasm – and they WANT to learn!
And if we, as teachers can do this, our schools will become places where people want to come. We can help to create a generation of ‘2%ers’, unafraid to step out into the unknown, and excited by what life may have in store for them.
Seriously, mind blown!
And even cooler… There was a competition… to win a Happy tee-shirt… and I won!
Yes, I bought more books (I’m a bookaholic, I can’t help myself) but one was a ‘gift’ from our headteacher. And I am really excited to read them too!
As I went to collect my stuff, our deputy head smiled at me and said “Well done!”. I joked, that I must be one of those ‘2%ers’ then and he said “No Ritu, you are definitely a 1%er. That wasn’t your victory, it was a victory for our school.”
I was so touched… It means a lot to me to be seen as that positive influence, and I hope my love for teaching, learning, my job, my pupils and my colleagues shines through…
(As long as he wasn’t referring to some other 1% of the population who is as annoying as heck, smiling all the time!)
And I have sorted my undies out, only the best ones now for every day. I’ll use my best crockery, and wear my ‘nice’ clothes because every day is a new day. I’ve been building bridges over minor niggles and letting things go too. And going forward, I’ll use that lovely stationery I have collected, and take some of my special Arts and Crafts resources to school for the children to use, rather than leave them in boxes, for those just-in-case moments… Every day IS SPECIAL and so are we all!
(But as it’s my birthday today too, I’ll wear my extra special undies along with my Happy tee shirt!!!!)
Schools out there, I’d definitely recommend The Art Of Brilliance as a tool to reignite a flame of positivity that seems to have dimmed withing us all. We can all do it, it just seems we need to relearn how to be happy. And if we are happy, it automatically reflects upon how we are as teachers and colleagues, which in turn will create a positive, exciting learning environment, and engaged children.
From Andy Cope!
Find out more at:
https://www.artofbrilliance.co.uk/
Twitter: @beingbrilliant
Instagram: @artofbrilliance
But I Smile Anyway... 