Glimmers and gratitude are great, but fun is where it’s at. Fun is changing my daily experience one small moment at a time. Fun is something that I actively seek and it brings joyful sparks to the day. It can be playing hide and seek with the dog, or putting sprinkles on my ice cream.… Continue reading Fun as an antidote to difficult times
Category: Mental Health
Don’t Practice What You Don’t Want To Build
Practice makes us stronger. If you have a musician in your life, or if you play an instrument, you’re well aware that regular, daily practice is necessary. The internal discipline of regularly putting some of your energy into practicing your skills helps those skills stay strong and develop over time. Lately, I realize that I’ve… Continue reading Don’t Practice What You Don’t Want To Build
Can You Rest?
Can you rest? I’d never really thought about it before I retired. As a teacher, rest was simply not working on school work. When I first retired, I told myself that I was taking a year to “rest.” I think I probably meant, just not working. I did rest that first year, despite my poor… Continue reading Can You Rest?
Cultivating Three Spaces For Your Wellbeing
A friendly smile as I walked down the hall, and sharing frustrations with a co-worker while un-jamming the photocopier, are two of the daily interactions that disappeared when I retired. At the time they seemed fairly insignificant to my overall wellbeing. How could venting to a colleague about the construction that delayed our commute, support… Continue reading Cultivating Three Spaces For Your Wellbeing
Keep Curiosity Alive
Genius Hour was a popular concept a few years ago and I used it with my class. Every week the students would have time to pursue projects that they had designed. This was student-initiated learning: their curiosity leading to a project that they would share with the class at the end of term. It was… Continue reading Keep Curiosity Alive
Can You Remember What You Just Read?
Just a quick scroll through the news cycle or a social media app exposes me to an overload of ideas. Many of these ideas are interesting and important. They act as a distraction from what I’m in the middle of doing, or not doing. But having too much information leaves me vulnerable to poor decision… Continue reading Can You Remember What You Just Read?
Mind The Happiness Gap
*Free Happiness Gap resource included* It has long been established that what people say and what they actually do, are two completely different categories. This applies to when we’re talking to ourselves as well. We tell ourselves a different story than our actions reflect. There’s a gap. Mind The Gap It’s common for us to… Continue reading Mind The Happiness Gap
A Simple Tip To See Your Friends More Often
Thanks to a friend’s wisdom, I’m more comfortable connecting with others. I used to feel like I was imposing on them, or interrupting their lives, by asking if they wanted to get together when I was in their neighbourhood. What if they didn’t want to see me, and were just agreeing to our meeting because… Continue reading A Simple Tip To See Your Friends More Often
Creating Healthy Habits
Our brains love to create habits. It allows our brains to relax and not use much energy. How many times do we bring conscious thought to our daily habits? We don’t need to! We brush our teeth; get into bed and turn out the lights. No thought needed. Habits Can be Beneficial, Neutral Or Unwanted… Continue reading Creating Healthy Habits
A Work/Life Balance Doesn’t Make Sense
I’m determined not to get sucked into that whirlwind of work again. Before I retired from teaching, I was a chronic over-worker. I enjoyed my job (for the most part), and filling my out-of-school hours and weekends with work felt necessary and purposeful. Perhaps it was just easier to do more work than to figure… Continue reading A Work/Life Balance Doesn’t Make Sense
Retired, And Now What? 