COVID-19’s effect on the world caused schools and educators to have to make lots of changes. Suddenly we had to wear face masks, keep ourselves socially distanced, shift to virtual classrooms, and so many more changes. The school landscape looked quite different. How do we stay connected with our students was a frequent question and topic of conversation for many educators. That inspired me to interview John Young to explore connection as educators with a grounding in the inside-out nature of life.
John grew up and went to college in Ireland, where he studied engineering. After moving to the US, John worked in different businesses before deciding to make a career change into education. Over 10 years ago he found his way into his first classroom as a substitute teacher and has never looked back. John is the founder of Clear Calm Living, a platform dedicated to supporting heart-centered professionals - those who do the emotional work that uplifts others, by helping them understand how they can bring more joy back into their lives. I really enjoy talking with John because he has a unique ability to understand and explain how the mind works. In our conversation for this episode, we talked, as educators about our experiences teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and how understanding how our human experience is created from the inside-out helped us with our connection with our students.
Even though John and I talked about connection through the lens of our experiences as teachers, this episode is for everyone, no matter your background or occupation. The essence of connection is universal. It’s only our felt experience of connection that comes and goes. Sometimes we just have so many thoughts that block us from feeling connected, but our connection with each other is always there.
You can find out more about John and his work at his website, clearcalmliving.com.