Feeling Your Feelings

It is sooo important for every human but especially teachers to step into awareness, to learn to recognize their emotions, to feel them and to observe what actions they take when they feel uncomfortable feelings and observe the way they are showing up for themselves and for their students. Once you start observing your emotions and the actions you take, start asking yourself out of curiosity, are these emotions and actions I am taking serving me as a teacher and is it serving my students

When we as humans feel a certain way- we take certain actions, or don’t take certain actions

I encourage all teachers to spend a good week observing the top three emotions they feel every day inside their classroom and write down their actions when they feel that way and see what results they are creating.

When we are willing to feel any feeling, when we are open to feeling all of the sensations in our body that feelings cause, we slowly teach our brain that we can feel: disrespect, we can feel impatience, we can feel frustration, we can feel unheard, we can feel out of control and it is OK nothing has gone wrong- then that will allow us enough time to pause just long enough to engage our prefrontal cortex and think how we want to react. Instead of being reactive role models for our students. We show them that Yes we know our thoughts cause our feelings, and yes we know some feelings are harder to sit with, allow and feel. Then we also model how we can feel any feeling and be okay and we can choose how we want to react.

If teachers are to be open and willing to feel all emotions especially inside the classroom.

You know open to feeling annoyed, frustrated, impatient, disrespected, and so on, if a teacher was open to feeling these feels without responding to their primitive brain that is shouting- this is a threat- we are in danger- react -react, then that teacher would be able to show up for their students

Any feeling that a teacher perceives to be uncomfortable - if a teacher is willing to feel it- allow it- and not find the need to react instantly- they will be able to manage students from a place of indifference, and I mean indifference in a calm peaceful way not indifference as in not caring. If a teacher practices being OKAY to feel annoyed, unheard, impatient, this would give them back so much power and energy within their body and mind that would allow them to be able to show up for their students and create meaningful connection, meaningful teacher-student relationship and a compassionate classroom climate.