This dude has one of the fullest schedules i know, and he's never stressed... how does he do it? 

think about it, everybody hates being bored... so the solution is pressure, stress, challenges!! As humans we WANT to use our brains, we CRAVE stimulation, which we get in school! Just remember that life is always a balance, always moving in waves from boredom to challenges back and forth. Can you enjoy both??

feeling very lucky to have this group of positive, hard working students showing up open and ready to go. 

beginnings are always full of excitement and enthusiasm, but obviously things will come up that will be hard, and affect this positivity. But how can we respond faster to give ourselves a fresh start whenever we feel we need it??

a podcast can be a journal, just the act of saying it out loud rewires my brain and allows me to gain control of a negative feeling. with so many people and students going through mental health issues that affect their motivation, i feel it's very important to share my personal struggles not so we can all just complain and stay stuck, but so that we can find solutions to becoming OURSELVES again. because negativity is not your fault, it's not permanent, and there is always a way out. Journaling and podcasting is great, but the second i shared this struggle with my students i felt significantly better, and many of them explicitly showed a lot of compassion that actually changed me. The more you share your struggles with caring people around you, the faster you can go back to being YOURSELF, the happiest most motivated version of yourself. 

for the first ever appreciation day, i had no idea what i was doing. I knew something was wrong and i have been feeling awful for about a week and a half and I decided to show some gratitude and recognition to the students that inspire me to be better every day. turns out, what i've been reading is really true: when you care about others and show kindness and thankfulness, it actually rewires your brain and can heal the body too. that's why we do thoughtful thankful thursdays. in some small way, i need every day to be appreciation day

this week has been an unbelievable struggle for me, and I have used this podcast as mu journal to keep me motivated and reminded of why i do what i do, and how to do it best. compassion. I have been learning about this through books on mindfulness and podcasts on buddhism, and i really want to share it. when you truly seek to understand how and why someone is acting the way that they are, approaching everyone around you with kindness and compassion, it not only relaxes your brain and makes your interactions with that person better, it also helps you become a better person too. because it's working for me in my toughest times, i can only recommend that more of the world practice more compassion in both their interactions with others, and also just as importantly, with themselves. 

after this interview the student told me the best thing i ever told him was "instead of problems focus on solutions". Well in this interview we dig deep into the problems to understand how he came to spiral down into skipping class for weeks and filling his days with sleep and video games. and THEN how he took small steps to turn his life around and be himself again, where i now have seen him day after day making himself happier through organized work. I am so proud of the reflections and mindfulness that he has practiced that allow him to learn about his struggles and notice what truly makes him happy. I thank him during and after the recording of this pod for his inspiration, because his transformation is what encourages me to continue to work harder and harder to believe in all students and support them in their journey to learn about themselves, their happiness, their motivation, and improvement. 

When I'm stuck and procrastinating, my mind is swirling and overwhelmed, sometimes the first step is just talking about it! journaling is a version of this, an opportunity to get your ideas out of your head so you can undesrtand them, sort them out. Talking is best done with a teacher, mentor, or loved one, but it also works with dogs, cats, and mirrors. ALSO! The benefit of naming your feelings and emotions allows you to take back control as your understand what you're feeling. 

a reflection on why it's so important to actually meet and talk with your peers in person!!