Wellness

Lao Tzu said "Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure." 

Indeed it is important to take care of our mental and physical wellbeing. 

It is never too late to start investing in our bodies. "Embodied cognition" is the idea that the physical body influences the mind.

Stepping away from our everyday lives to recalibrate, relax and restore is no longer seen as an indulgence, instead it has become a necessity.

Kanso means "keeping things simple and achieving clarity by eliminating clutter" in Japanese. 

In today's fast-paced society, we can lose sight of what really matters, such as happiness, health, and love. 

Therefore, we need to connect with what's truly important and develop our spiritual side. For example, we can fill each day of the year with items of food or clothing that can be taken to a food bank or charity to help those who are struggling. 

The true spirit of our 365 days in a year is about taking the time out of our busy lives, slowing down and connecting with those who bring us comfort and joy. 

Sharing and giving empower us to live well. 

Health, happiness and wellbeing empower us to live well.

Discover the truth-who you are in essence-through body-mind experiencing in the here and now: 

1. nurture your self-esteem and emotional healing
2. build resilience
3. manage your emotions
4. nourish relationships
5. connect to family and friends

Indeed herein lies our physical, emotional, and neurological healing, as a restorative process resulting from the rewiring of our nervous system.

How to create moments of Joy

Moments of incandescent joy are all around us!

Truly joyful people seem alive and switched on, confident about the future, and clear about what really matters.

They will use activities such as listening to an inspirational podcast or ebook.

They will walk somewhere beautiful or they will do yoga or meditation.

They will enjoy a good laugh with a friend.

They will try to avoid feeling numb, worried, frazzled, or restless.

On a group holiday, they are the one who will suggest a group activity. They will plan for all contingencies. They want to try everything! 

Truly joyful people will set themselves a new and exciting challenge and to not hesitate to vent to someone who is supportive.

To truly joyful people, a life well-lived means making a difference and taking every opportunity that comes their way. They will always try their best self and they will always make the most of every day.

Are you one of them?

Am I one of them?

Joy often comes in tiny packages that are easy to miss. Sometimes we may seek joy in all the wrong places. 

We need to nurture our inner optimist. As Voltaire said we need to cultivate our own garden. We need to treat ourselves with compassion and to spend time with people who uplift us. 

Indeed Happiness is under our control. Living a life of meaning is possible and it seems to always be a work in progress but it is worth it. 

If we bring our daily habits in line with our values, then, JOY will follow. 

Joy is a form of resilience

Joy allows us to develop more resilience and find purpose in the midst of challenges!

Little moments of joy can help our bodies recover from the physiological effects of stress, and indeed they can help us find meaning and purpose in difficult times.

Joy is a form of resilience!

Studies have shown that cultivating an optimistic outlook is key for building resilience and finding more JOY in our life.

As Voltaire reminds us at the end of Candide, "We must cultivate our own garden" of joy. The garden represents the cultivation and propagation of joy, which despite all their misery, the characters choose to embrace. 

In fact, research by psychologist Barbara Fredrickson reveals that if we allow ourselves to experience small moments of joy, such as buying ourselves a bag of sweets, we will be more likely to see the bigger picture when solving difficult problems, as well as coming up with creative solutions.

Fetell Lee said that we need to become a joy detective! We need to start keeping a joy journal to note down all the times during the day that we experienced joy. 

1. who were you with?
2. what sensory experiences were present?
3. what was happening?
4. record the details
5. the more specific, the better
6. what was the silliest thing that happened to me today :)

Fetell Lee said that "we have hypersensitive fingers and all we give them to do is tap away on a keyboard." SO TRUE! 

It is so important to focus on the senses. How to keep our senses Alive? (sight, smell, touch, sound, taste)

People express joy in different ways. Some express themselves externally and for others the expression of joy is more inward-focused. 

Some people need to remove themselves from the ordinary distractions and noise of everyday life in order to feel an inward joy. In silence and meditation the focus is turned inward instead of outward.

All I need to do is turn my awareness inward and focus on a quieter energy during the breeze at dawn. Rumi said "The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep." I never miss the breeze at dawn. 

The breeze at dawn helps me focus on gratitude instead of focusing on the loss. 

Indeed there is a plan to create joy in every area of our lives. We need to make a list of all the tiny actions that make us feel more joy on a daily basis. 

Think of how you can create uplifting moments in your day. 

Why boundaries are important?

Boundaries keep us safe in relationships, giving signals about behaviour we will accept and behaviour we find intolerable.

If we

• fear conflict and are a people pleaser
• feel responsible for other people's feelings
• say yes when we want to say no
• allow people to take advantage of us
• put others' needs before our own
• agree to things that make us uncomfortable or that we don't want to do 

If we display any of the following behaviour, we do not have strong boundaries.

In order to strengthen our boundaries, let's look at this list which will help us exercise healthy boundaries.

1. I have the right to...
2. If my boundaries are violated, I will...
3. Other people may not...
4. I will not accept...
5. I will no longer allow...
6. I will not continue relationships with people who...
7. Having clear boundaries will enable me to ...

If we have a controlling or aggressive person in our life, we need to remember that their behaviour is not about us. It is how they are. We are not responsible of their behaviour and we need to say it loud and clear: I will not continue a relationship with you!

If we have to deal with difficult people, we need to listen to them without feeling the need to justify ourselves. We need to listen to them without feeling the need to solve their problems.

Indeed we need to learn to see them with a soft compassionate eyes but we need to let go of feeling responsibility or guilty.

Some people need to be the centre of attention even if it means starting fights or making unpleasant remarks about others. Therefore, boundaries keep us safe in relationships, giving us signals about the behaviour we find not acceptable!

Breathe in that word "joy"

Take a moment right now and breathe in that word "joy". 

Joy can be found All the time. 

Joy can be in those fleeting moments when someone texts us unexpectedly. 

JOY can be that feeling when we are experiencing success.

Joy can be a walk on the beach followed by a warm bath. 

I have a friend who is battling postnatal depression. I told her the sure path to find joy again is to dance everyday. She loved the idea! An hour of dancing each week got her out of the house and doing something that she loved brought definitely back JOY in her life.

We often forget to just stop and breathe. 

To have more joy in our lives, we have to slow down.

Lord Byron said "There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar."

In a frantic world, finding pockets of JOY can be tricky. We know about the downward mood spiral and how our brains are primed to scan the world for threat. 

But what if we play with the idea of creating an upward spiral and put our focus on what brings us JOY? 

When I feel overwhelmed, the beach is my favourite place. The Atlantic Ocean air and the sound of the waves never fails to blow away my anxieties and re-energise my mind. 

We need to remember to take time out for ourselves. 

"Don't worry, be happy" is the passport to serenity. We need to enjoy things, rather than constantly worrying. 

As Holocaust victim Anne Frank, while facing mankind at its worst, said in her diary: "I still believe, in spite of everything that people are truly good at heart." 

It looks as if, for the most part, she was right. 

Humans are good.

And this last sentence gives us cause to have faith in humanity. 

Coronavirus and Kindness: Kindness amid the coronavirus

Teachers need to create ways to show that kindness can be just as contagious as coronavirus.

We need to ask our students to share acts of kindness, large and small, that they have witnessed during this time of coronavirus.

Indeed all these share acts of kindness are glimmers of light amid the crisis. All these acts of kindness that happened amid coronavirus pandemic help us stay positive and hopeful!

From students playing violins and flutes, to citizens making mask, to people delivering flowers at people's doors, we have learned that amid the fear, there is also community support and hope.

People are coming together to sing on Balconies in Italy, France, Spain...People having virtual movie nights and creating choreographed dances over video chat to share with the world.

Indeed we need to tell our students that the benefit of helping others is that it is good for our own mental health and wellbeing.

Students can show their kindness in different ways:

• send someone you know a picture of a cute animal
• send a motivational text to friend who is struggling
• arrange to watch a film at the same time as a friend and video call
• reach out to call a friend, family member or neighbour who is experiencing loneliness or isolation
• arrange a popcorn and soda virtual catch up with a friend

KINDNESS IS CONTAGIOUS. 

Reading "New Boy Othello Retold" by Tracy Chevalier

Tracy Chevalier relocates Othello to 1970s America, where four teenagers compete in the school playground.

The novel is concerned with the way that people are isolated from others in different ways.

These two quotes taken from "New Boy"make us realize why sometimes teenagers do isolate themselves from others without even knowing why.

"People believe what they want to believe. Even if it isn't true."
"Perhaps I can't escape the image that others have created for me, but if I don't try, I will never know if I can or not."

The tragedy of Othello is transferred to a 1970s suburban Washington schoolyard, where kids fall on and out of love with each other, and practice a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers.

Owen Richardson wrote in The Sunday Morning Herald, "Like Othello, Osei moves in a white world that doesn't really want him: all he has ever known of America are upscale schools and neighbourhoods where his family are the only people of colour."

Having taught different grade school children, I understand that some serious drama can happen on the playground.

The novel explores the psyche of a boy isolated by racial difference.

Our mission in school is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and with knowledge and tolerance we can defeat RACISM.

Critical thinking and learning about the past are the two keys that we will help us prevent and combat Racism. 

We need to empower students to become youth ambassadors in their own schools and communities, and spread awareness on how to deconstruct the mechanisms underlying racism and discriminations. 

Racism must stop NOW. It is up to ALL of us to fight racism. 

Every day. Everywhere. 

No Excuses for Racism

There are no excuses for Racism.

R. Rosaldo said "When someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium as if you looked into a mirror and saw nothing."

Educating children and youth against racism is our responsibility as teachers, educators, librarians, and paraprofessionals. Educating teachers, librarians, and paraprofessionals against racism is also the responsibility of every school director or directress.

Race and racism are complex topics with long histories. Therefore, we need to have a curriculum adapted to this complex topic which will help us educate our students to become aware of racism.

We've got to teach our students that racism is wrong.

First of all, we, as educators, should focus on basic concepts that are fundamental to understanding race and racism and their impact on our society. Secondly, we need to explore how these concepts relate to and can be applied to our school environment. Finally, we need to fight the popular theories of racism.

Our anti-racism curriculum must provide teachers with the resource materials that will help them assist students with class discussions and to help make concepts clear.

Concepts like

• stereotypes
• tokenism
• character roles
• lifestyles
• power
• heroes and heroic traits
• self image
• dominant perspective
• representation
• knowledge representation
• language 

Evaluating class materials is very important. 

We should teach our students how to use their critical thinking in order to detect racist language or stereotypical characters. 

The book "If a bus could talk (The story of Rosa Parks), is a non-fiction book which every library must have! It is written by Faith Ringgold. 

If a bus could talk, it would tell the story of a young African-American girl named Rosa who had to walk miles to her one-room schoolhouse in Alabama while white children rode to their school in a bus. It would tell how the adult Rosa rode to and from work on a segregated city bus and couldn't sit in the same row as a white person. 

This book is a valuable introduction for children to learn about the discrimination people of colour were forced to face in the United States not so long ago, as well as highlighting the continuing struggles and efforts being made to gain equal rights. 

Sustainable Development in Humanitarian Action

Besides teaching my regular classes, I ran a Youth group dedicated to build Peace and Justice during 5 years.

Run as an after school activity, my Youth group had attracted many students and had been active and vocal in supporting sustainable development in humanitarian actions in the local community.

Incorporating sustainability into humanitarian action is key to making humanitarian organisations more effective and accountable.

We understood the importance of ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for All.

We understood that a government must ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning for All.

We understood that if we are to leave no one behind, we must make sure that everyone has access to sustainable, healthy food resources.

We believed and fought for the campaign One free meal for every student in school.

Pupils must have access to better health options and necessary micronutrients by strengthening the local food systems.

In today's interconnected world, many young people are concerned about global issues and sustainability remains one of the most important topic of the 21st century.

What are life's Limitations?

Many people have had the advantage-and confusion-of a double heritage.

I am one of them.

I have struggled to maintain a sense of my own culture and traditions after being engulfed in those of the French and English that I had acquired in school.

The French Empire brought the French language to a large part of the globe and The British Empire brought the English language to a large part of the globe.

In our world of modern conveniences and endless possibilities, it is hard to think about limits. But for most people who lived in Africa and grew up in Africa, life's limitations were readily apparent.

From scarce resources and opportunities, to premature death and dangerous health threats, ordinary people faced innumerable obstacles in their lives.

People often have yearnings that are difficult, if not impossible, to fulfill.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that "all men are created equal," but he and the other Founding Fathers left out many men and women when they first considered rights in the new United States.

Why equal rights have historically been so difficult to achieve?

The reason why equal rights have historically been so difficult to achieve is because women presented themselves as weak and delicate, which causes them to depend on men.

I urged mothers to teach their children to recognize and take pride in their strengths.

Women should be encouraged to develop themselves and to avoid dependency upon men.

Indeed too often we are so caught up in the bustle of our lives that we lose sight of what's important.

The most important thing is to find a common ground.

When people find common ground with those they think of as different, they are more likely to reach out and help these people.

It helps us to break down prejudice and create social harmony.

It definitely channels our energies in a positive direction.