For Flourishing's Sake

On 24th March I hosted a virtual mental health and wellbeing panel on YouTube with a group of fantastic guest panelists:

• Dr Caren Baruch-Feldman: Cognitive Behavioural Psychologist, School & Camp Psychologist
• Adele Bates: Behaviour & Education Specialist. Adele was also featured on this podcast in November 2019.
• Kelly Hannaghan: Wellbeing Consultant, Public Speaker & Author. Kelly has also been a contributor to this podcast, in October 2019.
• Anna Harrington: Specialist Public Health Nurse, Occupational Health
• Kate McAllister: Teacher, Trainer, Speaker, Writer, Thinker, Wellness Nerd

You can watch back the entire #Covid19MHWBpanel on YouTube, of course, but if you'd rather get a few bitesized nuggets, I'll start you off today, as the school summer term officially starts in many countries, even though for most children, teachers and parents, this will not be 'business as usual'.

Today's bitesized snippet comes from Kate McAllister. In this excerpt, she shares with us how to bring routine and normality back into our lives when everything is far from normal.

You can follow Kate on Twitter: @Rethinking_Kate

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Today I bring you a very special guest to help us navigate the challenges of staying mentally well and even flourishing through and beyond the Covid-19 crisis.

Keri Haw is the Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead at Malvern St James Girls' School, an independent boarding school at the foot of the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire. Over 10 years in pastoral care has offered a world of experience, helping young people and colleagues navigate the ups and downs of life in education. Her role encompasses PSHE teaching, running the school's wellbeing provision for staff and pupils, leading Youth Mental Health First Aid Training and wellbeing consultation to other schools. Twitter - @adventuresinwb Instagram - @adventuresinwellbeing School wellbeing accounts on Twitter & Instagram - @msjbuzz

Everyday Hero - 60 second version (Corporate, motivational, you tube, podcast) Music by Pond5

Welcome to episode 32. As promised, while the current Coronavirus situation continues to evolve and provide us with challenges, in each episode I will share with you a simple activity that you (or your pupils or your own children) can do to support your wellbeing.

As many of us are spending more time in homes we share with other people, we may be getting to a point where we are more easily irritated and where rows might erupt. Here is an activity that may help - it is best suited to adults or older children and teens as it requires quite a deep level of reflection.

This activity is adapted from Ryan Niemiec's book Character Strengths Interventions: A field guide for practitioners (1). Either do this as a solo reflection activity - you may wish to write down your answers (be as detailed as possible, take your time) - or you can pair up with someone, ideally not someone closely linked to the person the activity relates to. Perhaps pair up with a friend or colleague via phone or video call and take it in turns to talk through your answers while the other person listens.

1. Start off by thinking of a person that has hurt or offended you and think clearly about that person and the thing they have said or done that caused you hurt or offence.
2. Look at the person and their imperfections in light of the complexity of being human - as a human being they have flaws and character strengths (see the VIA Institute on Character for more information on character strengths.
   1. What character strengths (however small) do you see in that person?
   2. Was the thing they said or did perhaps a display of one of their character strengths which they may have been over-using or using inappropriately?
   3. If you can, view this person as someone that needs to experience positive growth and transformation, or that perhaps is already working on this but gets it wrong sometimes.
3. Now think about yourself:
   1. What character strengths did you show while the 'offence' took place?
   2. What character strengths are you showing right now?

This activity guides us, via the use of character strengths, through a process called "positive reappraisal" which Ryan Niemic describes as "a type of meaning-based coping". This enables us to add perspective and balance to situations, events and our views of other people and can help us change our perception from unpleasant or stressful to harmless and possibly even beneficial. Take the current Coronavirus pandemic, for example. Whilst the situation is undoubtedly difficult and traumatic - and for some far more than others - I have experienced many unexpected benefits and, judging by conversations and social media posts, so have many of you. From more time connecting with people because we make a special effort to chat on the phone or via Skype/Zoom etc, to experimenting in the kitchen, to making a conscious effort to exercise, there are many things we are now doing that we weren't doing consistently or appreciating as much before. And for that, at least, I am hugely grateful. Looking at these positive aspects (whilst not negating the trauma, loss and hardship we are going through) is one form of positive reappraisal.

According to research by Folkman (2), reappraising stressful situation (even when the stress is severe or distressing) through a more positive lens can improve our mood (or what psychologists call "positive affect"). When it comes to situations that have caused offence, such as in the exercise I suggest today, reappraising the situation with compassion can replace negative emotions with positive ones and can help us forgive (3).

Let me know via @FlourishingED on Twitter how you get on with this week's activity and how you are. I'd love to hear from you!

Do also get in touch if you'd like to contribute content to this podcast as a guest, particularly if you'd like to share one or more activities that can help children, parents or other teachers at this difficult time.

Also look out for a special edition longer episode of the For Flourishing's Sake podcast - it is coming soon, I promise! - which is the audio of a virtual panel that I hosted the week before last.

I look forward to catching up with you next week. Until we speak again, be safe, be well and For Flourishing's Sake, have as great a week as it's currently possible to have!

References:

1. Niemiec, R. M. (2018). Character Strengths Interventions: A field guide for practitioners. Boston, MA and Goettingen: Hogrefe Publishing.
2. Folkman, S. (1997). Positive psychological states and coping with severe stress. Social Science and Medicine, 45(8), 1207–1221. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(97)00040-3
3. vanOyen Witvliet, C., DeYoung, N., Hofelich, A., & DeYoung, P. (2011). Compassionate reappraisal and emotion suppression as alternatives to offense-focused rumination: Implications for forgiveness and psychophysiological well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6(4), 286–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2011.577091

Everyday Hero - 60 second version (Corporate, motivational, you tube, podcast) Music by Pond5

Welcome to episode 31. These are unprecedented and challenging times we're all going through. There are, however, some comforting thoughts I take from the present situation: We're all in this together, and we're seeing daily wonderful examples of communities coming together, of individuals helping others in need, of children displaying rainbows of hope in the windows of their homes. I have never felt more hopeful for humanity than in these past few weeks!

That said, there are of course big challenges for us all. Depending on what stage of lockdown your country is in, you may be allowed to exercise once a day outside, or not at all. You may be going stir-crazy after weeks cooped up inside, or you may be relishing the opportunity to spend more time with your loved ones. You may have lots of time to rest and read, or you may be frenetically re-developing lessons to be delivered remotely. We're all in this together, but we're also all going through it in our own way.

One thing is for certain, we all need to look after our mental health during this time, working on our wellbeing more than ever. So, each week, I will share with you some activities, ideas or strategies you can use, either for yourself and your family, or for your pupils - you can share this with them via their parents or in person for those still in school. Many of the suggestions I make over the coming weeks will be applicable to adults and children alike.

Today, I would like to invite you - and your children - to tap into the strength of curiosity by starting interesting conversations. I recently did this activity with a group of students on the Positive Education module when I was teaching them as part of the Anglia Ruskin University Masters in Applied Positive Psychology.

Think of a question you would like to hear the answer to. Make it as bizarre and unusual as you'd like, straying from the usual questions you might hear at social gatherings and networking events. Ask as many people as you can - social media is great for this and doesn't require physical proximity, but also ask people you live with, ask people you have virtual meetings with. Ask your question of as many people as you can and revel in your curiosity as you hear the answers they give you! Children, particularly younger ones, tend to be much better than we are at asking seemingly random questions, but encourage them to do this anyway and to ask their questions of as many people as possible and listen for the answers with intentional curiosity.

Not only will you be starting some fascinating conversations based on the answers you get and your responses to those answers, but you will be working on the character strength of curiosity, which supports wellbeing in a number of ways:

Curious people are less likely to be aggressive towards others (1) and curiosity promotes positive social interactions (2). Additionally, curiosity has been moderately associated with measures of wellbeing, when used as an exploration, i.e. to seek out new or challenging situations (3). For adolescents, curiosity is also important. Research has shown that very curious adolescents score more highly on wellbeing than those who are less curious, particularly on the wellbeing measures of hope and positive mood (4).

So, I'll start you off with a question of my own:

When you are on a plane and look outside, do you prefer to see a clear sky or clouds when you look down? Why?

Let me know your answer via @FlourishingED on Twitter, and please do ask me your questions, too! I'm looking forward to having some fascinating conversations with you!

Do also get in touch if you'd like to contribute content to this podcast as a guest, particularly if you'd like to share one or more activities that can help children, parents or other teachers at this difficult time.

Also look out for a special edition longer episode of the For Flourishing's Sake podcast coming out in the next few days, which is the audio of a virtual panel that I hosted last week.

I look forward to catching up with you next week. Until we speak again, be safe, be well and For Flourishing's Sake, have as great a week as it's currently possible to have!

References:

1. Kashdan, T. B., Dewall, C. N., Pond, R. S., Silvia, P. J., Lambert, N. M., Fincham, F. D., … Keller, P. S. (2013). Curiosity Protects Against Interpersonal Aggression: Cross-Sectional, Daily Process, and Behavioral Evidence. Journal of Personality, 81(1), 87–102. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00783.x
2. Kashdan, T. B., McKnight, P. E., Fincham, F. D., & Rose, P. (2011). When curiosity breeds intimacy: Taking advantage of intimacy opportunities and transforming boring conversations. Journal of Personality, 79(6), 1067–1099. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00697.x
3. Gallagher, M. W., & Lopez, S. J. (7AD). Curiosity and well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology2, 2(4), 236–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760701552345
4. Jovanovic, V., & Brdaric, D. (2012). Did curiosity kill the cat? Evidence from subjective well-being in adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(3), 380–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.10.043

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Season 1, Episode 30 (23rd March 2020)

Simple wellbeing activities to do during Coronavirus school closures

Welcome to episode 30. Wow, what a week! In the UK, we have had daily updates on drip-fed changes with about as much clarity as you would expect when attempting to scuba-dive in a muddy pond. All schools are now closed…except they're not, because many schools are open, with staff looking after the most vulnerable children and the children of key workers. Teachers, school leaders and parents, not to mention the children themselves, are in a state of bewilderment and doing the best they can to adapt to the circumstances very quickly. This week, for example, my colleague Elizabeth Wright and I will be delivering a series of virtual workshops to groups of children and staff in six schools to support their mental health and wellbeing at this difficult time. We have worked with the Academy Trust's leadership team to adapt the sessions we were due to deliver in person to virtual sessions instead.

Over the coming weeks and months, my main focus in this podcast will be on helping you weather this storm, supporting yours and your children's wellbeing as we all deal with the global Coronavirus crisis, while also bringing you content to support your longer-term planning for teachers' and children's wellbeing once classroom teaching resumes. I am also putting together a virtual panel of education wellbeing professionals and teachers to share ideas for getting through this frightening time. The panel will go out live - hopefully in the next few days and will then be aired as a special longer-length episode of this podcast. Watch this space!

Today, though, I'd like to share two activity suggestions - a meditation activity and a gratitude activity:

1. A simple meditation for younger children. If you are operating on skeleton staff in your school and you have young children there, this is a great way to calm them if they are agitated or worried. And of course you can send this to parents, too, to do with their kids at home. It's called 'Take Five'. You ask children to hold out one hand with their fingers splayed and with each breath, they trace each finger on one hand with one finger of the other, so as they breathe in slowly, they trace up their thumb and then trace down as they breathe back out, then up the index finger as they breathe in again and down as they breathe out again, then onto the middle finger, ring finger and little finger so they complete five slow breaths in and out.

1. A simple gratitude activity. Make a poster thanking your delivery and postal workers for doing their job at this difficult time and keeping us all going, and display it outside your front door. Your children, whether at home or in school, can also do this. I put two posters up outside my door last week - you can download the files below, though I'm hardly an artistic genius, so I'm sure you or your pupils can do something far prettier than I've created! - and yesterday something amazing happened. The doorbell rang for a delivery. The delivery driver, who has delivered to us on a number of occasions, stood a safe distance away from our door, having left the items in our porch. He pointed at my posters and said "thank you so much for the note - can I take a photo and post it on my Instagram?" I said that of course he could, and he answered that out of all of his delivery customers, I was the only person who had thanked him. I told him I was so sorry to hear that - if it wasn't for delivery drivers, postal workers, supermarket workers and so many other people who have to risk their health and keep going to work, we would really struggle to keep going. I was close to tears as I said this to him. He thanked me again and he left. We were both smiling. Gratitude and kindness have a wonderful effect on the mood and wellbeing of both parties. And they can have a powerful ripple effect, too! And let's face it, we really need to be as kind to each other right now as we possibly can! I'd love to see examples of your and your children's posters, and hear stories of reactions to these! Get in touch with me on Twitter at @FlourishingED.

View and download poster for delivery drivers

View and download poster for postal workers

Do also get in touch if you'd like to contribute content to this podcast as a guest, particularly if you'd like to share one or more activities that can help children, parents or other teachers at this difficult time.

I look forward to catching up with you next week. Until we speak again, be safe, be well and For Flourishing's Sake, have as great a week as it's currently possible to have!

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Welcome to episode 29. Over the last week, our world seems to have changed dramatically! Coronavirus has been declared a Pandemic by the World Health Organisation and people don't know which advice to follow and how best to protect themselves and their loved ones. I am not qualified to give any advice on this, so I won't. But I want to help you navigate these challenging times for yourself and for the children you work with, with the help of Positive Psychology.

Children are often acutely aware of the world around them. Already the world has been feeling pretty uncertain for quite some time, but Coronavirus has added an additional layer and a certain level of urgency and panic for many people - this will include children you work with. So…what can you do to support their mental health at this time?

Now is an ideal time to encourage them to talk about their emotions in a safe space, to express the complexity and depth of what they're feeling and help them unpack those emotions. For the youngest children, you may wish to have wall charts with various emojis and encourage them to place their names under the emoji that best reflects how they feel, and to move this around as each day and week progresses, to reflect their changing emotions throughout each day. You can have conversations in circle time around these. For older children and adolescents, you can have discussions about their emotions around the current crisis during tutor period, or when discussing related topics in History, Science, English Literature etc.

Now is also a good time to focus on strengths. You can encourage children to identify and discuss the strengths they need individually and that the country and the world needs at this time. They may identify the need for bravery as we all face our fears around the current situation, or for creativity to find new ways of working, learning and interacting. Curiosity may be a strength we all tap into as we learn more about the specific virus and about the spread of disease, historical pandemics and the way treatments are developed, for example. Honesty may also be a prominent strength to focus on as we need to self-isolate if we develop symptoms. They may discuss the need for the strength of leadership, and whether that only comes from country leaders, school leaders, business leaders etc, or from all of us. And how about love, prudence, self-regulation? Of course, we mustn't forget kindness! Kindness towards those who need to self-isolate and may need help to get food and medication supplies, kindness towards others in not hoarding scarce supplies in supermarkets, kindness towards those who are worried about vulnerable loved ones. You can find out more about the 24 VIA character strengths from the VIA Institute on Character.

You can focus on strengths by specifically asking children to discuss or write about the strengths needed in the current situation, you can increase the way you use strengths vocabulary with children and adults in school, you can encourage strengths-spotting in others, or you can set children and colleagues strengths-challenges (use a particular strength in novel ways and see who comes up with the most unusual ways to use it). The possibilities are almost endless!

If you or any of your children display symptoms and need to follow the current advice to self-isolate for seven days, or if you need to close your school, this is an ideal opportunity to practise a couple of great positive psychology interventions:

1. Write down three good things - or think of it as 'what went well today?' - each evening before bed for seven days.
2. Identify one of your 'signature strengths' (you can do this on the VIA website for adults and children ages 10 or above…or you can discuss strengths and examples to help each pupil identify their key strengths ahead of any self-isolation or closure) and find seven new ways to use it in seven days.

Both these activities were found in one ground-breaking study (1) to cause lasting increases - for six months - in happiness and a reduction in depression for the same amount of time. A more recent replication of the study (2) also found that these interventions can lead to lasting increases in happiness.

I hope this episode helps you draw some positive inspiration from these challenging times we are living through. Keeping ourselves mentally well in addition to looking after our physical health is more important than ever. Look after yourself and, as always, I look forward to catching up with you next week. Until we speak again, For Flourishing's Sake, have a great week!

References:

• Seligman, M. E. P. et al. (2005) 'Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of intervention', Positive Psychology, pp. 1–19. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410.
• Mongrain, M. and Anselmo-Matthews, T. (2012) 'Do Positive Psychology Exercises Work? A Replication of Seligman et al.', Journal of Clinical Psychology, 68(4), pp. 382–389. doi: 10.1002/jclp.21839.

Everyday Hero - 60 second version (Corporate, motivational, you tube, podcast) Music by Pond5

Welcome to episode 28. A few weeks ago, I published an episode about healthy coping mechanisms in which I talked openly about some difficult times I went through and how I'd got through these with the strengths (and emotions) of hope, love and gratitude.

Today, I'm going to share some of the emotions running through my head right now, and how I'm using positive psychology to help me. I hope that, in doing this, I can help you, too - whether you are going through a difficult time yourself or are supporting one of your students through some challenges. Because, really, it might be an over-used cliché, but it IS ok not to be ok. That doesn't mean there's nothing we can do to help us feel a bit less rubbish than we would if we didn't have positive psychology tools at our disposal, however.

Last week, I had one of my regular coaching sessions with my executive coach. We do talk about emotions in those sessions, of course, as I don't live and work in a vacuum, but this session was something else! I spent almost the entire hour and a half of my Skype coaching session crying (with some beautiful and uplifting moments of laughter thrown in!). Once I gave myself permission to talk about the anxieties I am dealing with and to let the emotions out, I couldn't turn the tap off and my eyes just kept on leaking.

I don't want you to worry about me. Even though I'm not ok, I accept it's ok to feel this way, under my present circumstances. And I know I will be ok again. I am dealing with a lot of stuff…financial stuff, family stuff…stuff that comes at all of us at some point or other in life. Lots of change, lots of uncertainty, lots of worry. It's just all coming at me in one go - which I know also happens to lots of us from time to time. And like many of us in various parts of the world, this is all underscored by a political climate that I find extremely concerning and that sends me into moments of despair on an almost daily basis.

I'm permanently exhausted and, through talking with my coach, I realised that of course I'm exhausted - I'm dealing with all this anxiety, with various circumstances that I cannot directly control or even influence, and working hard to keep myself mentally well…it's bound to be tiring! And I released that, although on an intellectual level I understood and accepted that it's ok to feel this way, to not be at my very best all the time with all this stuff going on, that it's ok to give in to the exhaustion when I can and just 'be', I was compounding how I was feeling by adding a layer of guilt - that I should be doing more, that I shouldn't be so self-indulgent, that I should just get my act together. Does that ound familiar?!

I talked through some of the well-practised positive psychology tools and strategies I am currently using, with my coach, and these are serving me well: Gratitude is so ingrained in everything I do that I experience it, deliberately and by chance, multiple times a day over the smallest of things sometimes. The same goes for savouring (which I also covered in a recent episode). Then there are the things I do more deliberately - what Layous and Lyubomirsky refer to as "Positive Activity Interventions". At the moment, what is working well for me is taking every opportunity to go for an energising walk outside. Practising self-kindness is something I thought I was doing quite well, but now I realise I was undoing the impact of this by feeling guilty, so now I'm working on that, too. And as Layous and Lyubomirsky say in their paper, working on our happiness takes effort, like most other worthwhile things in life. They also mention another couple of points worth noting: That we need a variety of activities to draw upon as we otherwise experience fatigue or boredom from the endless repetition of one activity, and that not all activities work for everyone; even though everything I share with you on this podcast is evidence-informed - there needs to be a fit.

Throughout this podcast's many episodes, I have and will continue to share with you various activities that may help you or your students flourish. Not all activities will work for everyone, but whether you're working on yourself or supporting one of your students, it's about building up a toolkit of activities you can try out to find the ones that work for each individual.

And as my wonderful coach reminded me last week, it's ok if you still feel rubbish despite doing all this stuff…just think how much worse you might feel if you weren't putting in the effort to support your mental health! Thanks to my knowledge of positive psychology and putting the work in, I am able to keep bringing the energy and professionalism I pride myself on to my public-facing work, I am able to keep things ticking along - even if sometimes I just do the bare minimum - in my behind the scenes work, and I am able to say "I feel pretty rubbish at the moment, but it's ok…it's normal under the circumstances and I know it will get better again." Sometimes that is all we can do.

So keep adding to your toolkit, keep trying out the different techniques, ideas and interventions I and my wonderful podcast guests share with you, and put the work into your wellbeing (or support your students into putting the work into theirs). And start by being kind to yourself - it's one essential item in the toolkit and possibly the most difficult one for many of us to put into practice. Let me know how you get on and what works for you!

And, as always, I look forward to catching up with you next week. Until we speak again, For Flourishing's Sake, have a great week!

Everyday Hero - 60 second version (Corporate, motivational, you tube, podcast) Music by Pond5

Welcome to episode 27. Last week, we explored the importance of savouring - not just food but moments and experiences. So let's talk a little more about the importance of experiences.

Do you go out of your way to create enjoyable experiences for yourself, the people you love, and your students? Do you spend your money and any free time you have on experiences or possessions? I'll admit I am a bit of a shopaholic - though it's a habit I am working on curbing - but as I've got older, I have found I increasingly value experiences, especially if I can share these with the people I love. Whether it's an evening spent with friends, watching a favourite TV show with family members, or going for a walk in nature by myself, it's those experiences that bring me the most joy and contentment, and that ground me when I find life hectic, stressful or worrying.

Research (1) has shown that spending time and money on experiences rather than possessions is linked to increased happiness. One piece of research (2) which involved a number of separate studies looked at whether extraordinary or ordinary experiences make us happier and found that this very much depends on age - specifically how much time we have ahead of us. The researchers found that younger people generally value extraordinary experiences more, whereas as we get older, we tend to value the ordinary everyday experiences. Yet another piece of research (3) found that when we spend money on experiences - or indeed on other people, incidentally - this promotes happiness because it enhances our social relationships.

So how can this research help your personal flourishing? Have a think about the experiences that have brought you joy, serenity or allowed you to reminisce happily time and time again. Consider whether these were everyday ordinary experiences or extraordinary life moments. What do these experiences have in common? Can you deliberately bring more of these kinds of moments and experiences into your life?

And how about your students' flourishing? Perhaps, in conjunction with conversations about savouring, you can help them focus on the experiences that they find helpful to their wellbeing. When it comes to your lessons, can you build in some exciting experiences to make those lessons more fun and more memorable? I know one physics teacher who brings so much excitement into his lessons. I've never been interested in physic, but I think if he'd been my teacher when I was at school, I may have viewed the subject very differently! I also remember a Year 9 class in my second year of teaching - it was a school where, until Year 8, all students studied two foreign languages, but afterwards, only those who did particularly well in languages carried on with both; the others just continued with one language. Year 9 was a bit of an anomaly though - students carried on with a second language, but those that weren't considered to be gifted in languages were not assessed in any way in their second language.

After my initial confusion and panic about what to teach that particular Year 9 class, I realised that this gave me immense freedom: No compulsory curriculum or learning objectives, no exams, no restrictions! I could have fun with language lessons with this group. So I made the lessons fun, with lots of language games. Learning a language, for this group of students, became fun, rather than a means to an end. These were students that didn't generally engage very well with education, but in this particular lesson, they had fun, and made tremendous progress in their language learning.

I'd like to think that, had I stayed in the teaching profession longer and gained more experience, I could have found a way to bring that element of fun to my other lessons, too. I see plenty of teachers who do this very well. If you can turn more of your lessons into 'experiences' for your students, you will not only make them more memorable and help your students' learning, but you may support their wellbeing in the process, too.

Let me know how you bring 'experiences' into your life and your teaching. I love to hear your stories!

And, as always, I look forward to catching up with you next week. Until we speak again, For Flourishing's Sake, have a great week!

References

1. Mogilner, C. and Norton, M.I., 2016. Time, money, and happiness. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, pp.12-16.
2. Bhattacharjee, A. and Mogilner, C., 2014. Happiness from ordinary and extraordinary experiences. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(1), pp.1-17.
3. Yamaguchi, M., Masuchi, A., Nakanishi, D., Suga, S., Konishi, N., Yu, Y.Y. and Ohtsubo, Y., 2016. Experiential purchases and prosocial spending promote happiness by enhancing social relationships. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), pp.480-488.

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Welcome to episode 26 - I can't believe we've been enjoying this weekly rendez-vous for exactly half a year already! Thank you for going on this journey with me. Talking of journeys… I have just come back from Paris, where I spent two days teaching on the Positive Education module of the Anglia Ruskin University Masters' in Applied Positive Psychology - the same Masters' I graduated from last year and the same module I took as a student exactly two years ago. The experience was surreal, awesome and - honestly - initially absolutely terrifying.

I loved being back in Paris, and although I was there for work, I wanted to make sure I could make the most of the experience, and that's what today's episode is about. Although it was definitely hard work to teach at a level I hadn't taught or trained at before, it was also an honour and a delight to teach a group of students that were very experienced and knowledgeable in Positive Education. I wanted to focus my attention on the experience itself and enjoy it as much as possible, which I did. And I wanted to enjoy the beauty of Paris, a city I love, of the French language, which I grew up with and love, and of the mouth-wateringly delicious food I know I can always find in Paris.

According to an article by Dr Davis in Psychology Today, "savoring just means that we attempt to fully feel, enjoy, and extend our positive experiences" and is "a great way to develop a long-lasting stream of positive thoughts and emotions". According to research by Dr Barbara Fredrickson(1), maximising our experience of positive emotions is important as these trigger "upward spirals" in wellbeing. So how do you go about triggering those positive emotions and increasing your wellbeing through savouring?

One way to do it is by taking time to savour your food. So often, when we are busy with work and life in general, we eat our meals without really thinking about the food, without taking the time to truly notice its tastes and textures, perhaps watching TV at the same time, or answering messages on our phones, or talking to colleagues about work-related matters. We may even simply be mentally distracted by our busy minds. Taking the time to savour a meal from time to time is a form of mindfulness.

One day this week, set out to do something different: For one of your meals, choose a food you haven't eaten before and want to explore, or choose to eat one of your favourite foods. Set some time aside for that meal and when you sit down with your food in front of you, before you start eating, look at the food. Observe its colours, its smell, perhaps the way the steam rises off it if the food is hot. Take in every visual and sensory detail before you start eating. Then, with each mouthful, focus on its taste, texture and temperature. Notice how these change as you chew, how each mouthful feels as you swallow it. Notice how your hunger gradually reduces and how it feels to gradually be satiated. After you have finished eating, reflect on the experience and how you feel in that moment - whether you feel comfortable, are still hungry or feel over-full, whether you feel energised or tired, and any other thoughts and feelings that may come up.

You can extend this activity by photographing your food, as this allows you to reminisce about the experience later. In fact, you can use this form of mindfulness through photography for all sorts of activities. You can capture beautiful moments by stopping to take notice, snapping a photo and later reminiscing over those moments you preserved.

"Moules et Frites" in a Parisian Brasserie

View from the rooftop of the Galeries Lafayette

According to research (2), being able to savour and enjoy positive emotions derived from positive experiences improves wellbeing. Additionally, savouring has been shown to protect against depression, even reducing the likelihood of negative events causing depression (3). Reminiscing and mindful photography have also been shown to improve mood (4,5).

I hope you'll give savouring a go, and of course this is a simple activity you can encourage your students to do, too. If you try it, get in touch and let me know what impact this has on you or your students.

As always, I look forward to catching up with you next week and, until we speak again, For Flourishing's Sake, have a great week!

References

1. Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions. The American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.56.3.218
2. Bryant, F. B., Smart, C. M., & King, S. P. (2005). Using the past to enhance the present: Boosting happiness through positive reminiscence. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6(3), 227–260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-005-3889-4
3. Ford, J., Klibert, J. J., Tarantino, N., & Lamis, D. A. (2017). Savouring and Self-compassion as Protective Factors for Depression. Stress and Health, 33(2), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2687
4. Bryant, F. B., Smart, C. M., & King, S. P. (2005). Using the past to enhance the present: Boosting happiness through positive reminiscence. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6(3), 227–260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-005-3889-4
5. Kurtz, J. L. (2015). Seeing through New Eyes: An Experimental Investigation of the Benefits of Photography. Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 11, 354–358. https://doi.org/10.6000/1927-5129.2015.11.51

Everyday Hero - 60 second version (Corporate, motivational, you tube, podcast) Music by Pond5

Welcome to episode 25. As it was Valentine's Day a few days ago and my Birthday yesterday, and I was lucky enough to have the people I love most in the whole world close to me, love has been on my mind more than usual over the past week. So today I want to dedicate this podcast to love, but not the romantic kind.

Today, I want to talk to you about love as an emotion in the context that Barbara Fredrickson talks about love. I will come back to Barbara Fredrickson and her work on emotions - positive emotions in particular - in a future episode, but for today, I want to focus on her work on one particular emotion: Love. In her book, Love 2.0, Barbara talks about love being the "supreme" emotion, and how really honing in on this emotion gives us immense wellbeing benefits. She talks about love in the context of "micro-moments of connection" with other human beings: The smile as you cross a stranger in a doorway, making eye contact with the cashier at a supermarket, taking a few moments to have a meaningful conversation with a colleague in the staffroom. It's well worth reading the book - the first part is the science behind it all, and the rest of the book is packed full of activities to help you bring more love into your life.

One such activity is the one she says her research has found to be the most powerful way to increase the amount of love and its resulting positive impact into our lives. The activity is a Loving Kindness Meditation. In 2017, when I attended the IPPA World Congress in Montréal, I had the opportunity to sit in a presentation by Barbara Fredrickson and Sharon Salzberg: The science and practice of loving kindness meditation. Sharon Salzberg explained that the original term for the ancient practice of loving kindness meditation is "metta", which directly translates as friendship, but she feels that doesn't quite hit the spot and describes it more as a form of connection and a powerful tool to help us achieve a sense of peace.

I'm now going to take you through a loving kindness meditation from mine and Elizabeth Wright's book, Character Toolkit for Teachers.

In the book, you will find the suggested wording and a process for leading such a meditation for children, but for now, if you are able to do so, please join me in this peaceful moment.

Close your eyes and take a couple of deep, slow breaths. Think about a person you care deeply about. Imagine this special person; what they look like, the clothes they wear, their smile, what they look like when they're happy. Think about how lovely it feels to hug this person and to see them being happy. Imagine this special person doing something they love to do. Do they like to listen to music, potter around in the garden, or eat out with friends? Imagine them doing something they love doing and that, as they are doing this, you walk up to them and give them a huge hug, filled with love. Imagine all of that love gathering in your heart. Now release that love and send it out towards this special person.

As you do so, say the following words silently in your mind and send them out towards this person you love: 'May you be happy, healthy and strong'. Take a few more moments to remain still and quiet, with your eyes closed, as you take three slow, deep breaths in and out. Now gently open your eyes.

'May you be happy, healthy and strong' is mine and Elizabeth's suggested wording, but you can adapt this for yourself or even encourage children to come up with their own. Barbara Fredrickson and Sharon Salzberg's wording was "May you be safe, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease".

You can extend this meditation by taking the love you felt when thinking about another person and sending it out to yourself. In our book, Elizabeth and I use the following recommended wording for children:

"Imagine [that love] is going on a journey, from your heart to your head…now say 'may I be happy, healthy and strong'."

You can further extend this meditation to people you know but don't have any strong feeling towards, for example someone you regularly meet at the bus stop, or a checkout assistant you regularly see at your local supermarket. You can direct this to your whole family, school or community, the whole world, or, for a real challenge, someone you don't like. According to Sharon Salzberg, seeing this type of meditation as a form of connection for your own inner peace makes no assumption about whether you wish to spend time with that person or have them in your life.

When doing this activity with your pupils, it is useful to check in with them and discuss how this meditation made them feel, and to build up to the extensions bit by bit. I started you off with sending out love to someone you care about because that's the one we find easiest. Often people struggle initially with sending the love to themselves, and you or your pupils may be no exception. That's ok - just build up to that.

I hope you have found this episode useful and that our shared meditation has given you a sense of calm and inner peace. As always, I look forward to catching up with you next week and, until we speak again, For Flourishing's Sake, have a great week!

Everyday Hero - 60 second version (Corporate, motivational, you tube, podcast) Music by Pond5