Mindful Joy: The Secret Sauce in Educational Leadership

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In this episode of The Conscious Classroom, Amy Edelstein unpacks the importance of teacher happiness and how to use mindful awareness and perspectives to improve teacher wellbeing and sense of possibility prior to making practical changes, which undoubtedly also need to occur. 

Amy explores the impact of educators who tap into their passion, setting the classroom tone and invigorating their students with a love for learning. In this insightful episode, she dissects how a teacher's zest for their craft can revolutionize the traditional learning space, fostering innovation and a thriving environment for both students and educators. The goal of this is to understand the perspective -- and  to lay out practical steps that will reignite the spark in our educators' eyes, ensuring that their connection to teaching becomes the cornerstone of educational success.

The role of Assistant Principals takes center stage, revealing their unique ability to steer a school through their own calm and caring leadership. Amid their diverse responsibilities, these unsung school heroes can demonstrate the power of stillness and mindfulness in a nurturing educational ecosystem. Hear a heartwarming description of how a simple, intentional, mindful approach can open up communication with a student, revealing hidden struggles, and helping resolve school conflicts. showcasing the unexpected ways in which leaders can make a real impact. 

Join Amy for a compelling episode that reimagines the future of education by  emphasizing the essential role of teacher wellbeing and the transformative potential of a mindful approach.

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Episode Transcript

Amy Edelstein (00:59):
Today, I wanted to talk about the importance of
teacher happiness.
The importance of happinessoverall is one of the central
themes of a conscious classroom.
Everything we're doing is toinspire our students to love
what they're doing, to feelpassionate about education,

(01:19):
about learning, aboutdiscovering, about growing,
about change, about possibilityand about who they are
essentially, about their joy andtheir own existence and nature.
To cultivate that happiness inour classrooms is a big part of

(01:42):
what a conscious classroom does.
All the tools and tricks arereally about shifting our
attention away from limitation,away from problems, away from
strife, away from inadequacy,away from mistakes and towards
that which lights our hearts onfire, because if we're connected

(02:03):
with what we truly love, not afleeting attachment or a
fleeting desire, but thatineffable which makes our life
purpose shine brighter come intofocus and fuel our jets.

(02:25):
Then all kinds of problems willbe overcome.
When we think about how we'regoing to do that, what is the
future of education?
How do we create theenvironment that enables us to
walk the path that leads towardsgreater fulfillment, greater

(02:47):
happiness In the school?
A huge part of it rests onteachers.
Teachers having the bandwidth.
Teachers being inspired by whatthey love, teachers being
connected with the reasons whythey chose to go into such a
demanding profession.
Those teachers are going tocreate those pathways for

(03:12):
happiness.
Those teachers are going toguide their students and they're
going to be able tocontextualize mistakes and
obstacles, as small things,within the greater context of
our own beautiful, precious lifeand each student's beautiful,

(03:36):
precious life, and that contextthat allows for growth and
development.
If our context is too small andit's only set within all of the
problems, we're never going tofind our way out.
If our context is set withinthat which is ennobling,

(03:58):
inspiring and even that which wecan't quite wrap our heads
around, we have so much room forinnovation and change.
We're propelled by an updraftand we have a sense of the way
forward and also in our context,is that big?

(04:19):
We're willing to do thingsdifferently.
We see the distant horizon andwe know that the earth is round,
so we can keep going and keepgoing, and so the idea of trying
something new, reaching forwhat we truly care about and

(04:40):
want to see happen, feelsaccessible if our context is big
enough.
If our context is justlimitation, that'll be beyond
our context and we'll feel likewe have to punch through walls
to get there.
So, as you can see, you knowI'm coming to one of my often

(05:03):
repeated themes, that how we'rereviewing our classroom, our
situation, what's possible, is abig determinant for what is
going to end up happening.
And, given that teachers createthose pathways for students and
set the tone, supporting ourteachers to have a bigger

(05:29):
context, supporting our teachersto feel the way forward is
possible and supporting them tofeel the joy of learning and
discovery and collegial supportis essential.
We can add all of the mostincredible technology.

(05:52):
We can change our buildingswith all the building issues
that we might have.
If we live in an old schooldistrict where buildings were
built, you know, 70, 80 yearsago, we could replace them with

(06:13):
state of the art technology, butif the human beings who are
guiding the classroom are notsupported, then our students
will feel it.
They'll feel the sense oflimitation, they'll feel the
sense of restriction, they'llfeel the sense of overwhelm.

(06:34):
So caring for the quality ofeducation, in the way that we're
uplifting our youth, means wehave to care about the adults
who serve them.
We have to draw out the best oftheir understanding, their

(06:55):
intelligence, their creativity,their experience and, most of
all, their care and theirhonoring of themselves as the
human beings that they are.
So how do we do that?
This past week, I was running atraining for the assistant

(07:18):
principals in Philadelphia, atone of their regular leadership
convenings, and the tools that Ibrought were incredibly simple.
We started out connecting withwhy we work where we do.

(07:42):
Why do we teach?
Why do we?
Why are we administrators in aschool?
What's our passion foreducation, for learning, for
discovery?
And then we acknowledged whatare the difficulties?
Creating space, expandingcontext means we have to see

(08:05):
clearly.
So first we have to root in ourpassion, in that which lifts us
beyond.
We all know if, when we fall inlove, whether it's our, if we
remember our first love when wewere young, or we have a new
baby in our life and we look atthat infant and we feel that

(08:26):
extraordinary love and care.
Our problems recede, our eyesgo a little misty, in a positive
way, because our heart has cometo the foreground.
And when our heart comes to theforeground and we feel in love,

(08:47):
we feel that problems andobstacles are smaller and
anything is possible, becauseour hearts feel as big as the
universe.
So first we ground in ourpassion.
Grounding your teachers, ifyou're an administrator.

(09:08):
Grounding your colleagues, ifyou are one of the lead teachers
, when your common planning time.
Grounding in your passion,grounding in something you love
that has meaning.
That's related to the purposeof why we care to guide our
young people.

(09:30):
We could get rid of schools, wecould go back to, you know, a
time when there were no formalstructures of education.
We don't, for many reasons.
Education is so important, it'san enabler when it's done right
.
So grounding and passion firstof all, and then being direct

(09:55):
and simple about the pressuresand the limitations.
So not drowning in theobstacles, but being able to
name them has power, becausewhen we can name the obstacles
together without diving into thestory, or getting lost in the

(10:15):
details or trying to come upwith immediate solutions.
We're simply setting the stagewith reality.
We're simply seeing what'sthere.
We can't move from where we'renot.
So grounding in our heart'spassion grounds us in reality as

(10:38):
well.
That's what moves us andmotivates us and inspires us to
step out, seeing the obstaclesthat are there.
So for assistant principles, ofcourse, there are many obstacles
.
Assistant principles have tonsof responsibility but they don't

(11:00):
often have the same level ofauthority to implement.
Assistant principles arebuffers between everything they
hear, from the staff andteachers in the school to the
principal and from the principalback down.

(11:20):
So being the buffer means youoften have to carry everyone's
tension because you're gettingit from both sides, and then
you're trying to reduceunnecessary friction so that you
can convey a clear message in away that's going to inspire
change and not just add toirritation.

(11:41):
So that's an interestingconundrum for that role.
And assistant principles areoften deluged with work, from
minutiae that has to get done.

(12:02):
That doesn't seem like part oftheir job, but because they are
enablers, they often take thingson like that to strategizing,
to big picture, to supportingthe leader of the school, to see
the whole system of a school,to see the whole ecosystem and
organism.
Because schools are likeorganisms they're live, they're

(12:24):
breathing, they're moving,they're growing, they're
shrinking, they get hurt, theyget sick, they get better, they
have successes.
So we have to see our role andthe situation clearly, not just
what happened this week and whatdidn't work or what did work,

(12:47):
but how does the whole systemwork.
So when we can see thatdispassionately, without excess
emotion, we're all on the samepage.
So that's one way that you canhelp your teachers and your

(13:10):
staff or your leaders in theschool.
And then the third step, ofcourse, is to hold your deepest
passion and love and the realityof the present and the

(13:32):
practical and, without gettingcaught in limitation, allow
yourself to be still, whateverthat looks like for you, whether
it's a formal practice ofmindful breathing or open

(13:54):
awareness or rooting in the body, but allowing that inner
silence and stillness to fillyour mind and your heart.
So you can intuit a next stepthrough.
So what's aligned with what youreally want to see happen in

(14:20):
your school at the deepest level, that takes in the
practicalities as they are andthen that sees a change.
That change might not be theone that you anticipated.
Sometimes we have to come outof problem sideways, and you

(14:45):
must know this.
When you're with a student incrisis and they won't talk to
you and you're sitting down inyour office, you know face to
face, looking at them directly,and they look away, and then you
say you know, why don't we gofor a walk?
I have to make some copies inthe copy machine, which is way
down the hall and up the stairs.

(15:08):
Will you come with me?
And so the student that's incrisis is like oh phew, now I
don't have to do anything, Idon't have to talk, I'm off the
hotspot.
And so you're walking down thehall and you're walking up the
stairs and the copy machine isgoing and spitting out 200
copies and all the while you'rejust fiddling with the buttons

(15:30):
and the student is there.
And then you're walking down thesteps and you're walking back
to your office and as you'rewalking back, side by side, not
really looking at each other,all of a sudden the student just
blurts out what happened, whatgot them so upset, why they were
so upset, what's going on intheir home life, what happened

(15:53):
to them walking home from schoolthe day before, what they're
afraid of coming up animmigration case related to
someone in their family,extended family, a court case, a
trial, a hospitalization, amental health or substance abuse

(16:15):
issue, financial hardship,homelessness, and they just
blurted out the 10 secondsbefore you get to the door of
your office.
So all of that time walkingdown the hall, standing at the

(16:38):
copier, walking back down thestairs, walking back, was just
creating that space, thatstillness, to allow for
something to come in sideways.
And that's something that comesin sideways may explain why,

(16:58):
when the teacher wasshort-sighted or snapped or
criticized the student, thestudent flipped, not because of
what the teacher did, butbecause of what the student was
carrying.
And if you'd stayed in youroffice, face to face, without
student addressing it directly,pushing for acknowledgement of

(17:23):
their rudeness, you never wouldhave understood what are the
extenuating circumstances, whatare the factors.
So then you and the student,now on the same page, can
acknowledge what happened, youcan express full support and

(17:46):
care and compassion and thestudent has the room to see that
their rude behavior or snappingat the teacher was unfair,
misguided, misplaced, and theycan apologize because their
whole reality's been met.

(18:07):
So again, rooting in thepassion for positive change and
wholeness, seeing things as theyare and then creating space for
an unexpected insider solutionto emerge sounds very simple,

(18:29):
but it takes a tremendous focuson the part of a school leader,
teacher, the administrator, notfocus.

(18:54):
That dedication to trulyevolving our way of being with
each other is a huge part ofcreating an educational future
that is really going to work foreveryone.
It's not just finding thelatest, greatest technology.

(19:20):
It's not just changing thestructure of a school so there's
a more human amount of timebetween classes to take care of
bio needs or emotional needs.
It's not just providingstimulating learning

(19:42):
environments.
It's about our real sense ofour own interconnection with our
environment and our sense thatopening up through stillness
whether it's a classicalmindfulness practice or it's

(20:05):
simply the way your quality ofattention when you're walking
down that hall that focus andopenness and sincerity will
start, in small and large ways,changing our approach from the

(20:29):
biggest context possible.
And when we change our approachfrom trying to make all the odd
shaped pieces fit and trying towork within limitation to
working within a context thatallows us to identify with that

(20:55):
visionary goal of education,that's when it's possible to
intuit change Within theeducation system, within your
school, within your classroom,that has real meaning and
transformative power.

(21:22):
So, as you go through your weekthis week, as you start thinking
about the way you relate toyour day to day, keep this in
mind.
Do some exercises, focusyourself and allow yourself to

(21:48):
shift in this inner orientation,how you relate, and then see
how the practical will followsuit.
It's like setting the rudder ofyour ship.
If you're just slightly offover time, you're really going
to end up in the wrong place,and if you set your rudder true

(22:15):
to the direction that you reallycare about heading, you will
get there.
Now, as we allow this topermeate our being, let's sink
into a short mindfulnesspractice, and one that you can
do every day, as you go, as youset the tone of your day, maybe

(22:45):
when your students are inadvisory, in the homeroom and
you have a few minutes.
So allow yourself to focus onyour own sensations, on what's
present in your experience, whatyour hands are touching, what

(23:13):
your feet are resting against,the way the chair holds you up.
Take a deep breath in noticinghow the air passes through your
nostrils and tickles the back ofyour throat, fills your lungs

(23:37):
so that your chest rises and, asyou exhale, allowing the
stomach to collapse and push theold air out, just breathing at

(23:57):
your own pace for a few breaths,paying attention to the
sensations at the nose, at thethroat, your chest rising, your
belly expanding, your bellysoftening and contracting the

(24:20):
air pushing out through yournose.
And as you pay attention to thebreath, notice any stillness

(24:40):
that's coming in behind thethoughts, just like your head
opened up into the whole sky somuch space.
Notice a small smile in yourheart as you remember an excited

(25:13):
moment when you first decidedto pursue your first teaching
job.
Take a deep breath in and aslightly longer exhalation,

(25:39):
drinking in your own joy andpassion and commitment,
breathing out your love and carefor your students and their

(25:59):
learning, bringing in the valueof your own vision for what's
possible in learning.
And breathing out that sense ofhappiness of your own

(26:29):
creativity and innovation andpossibility for change.
As you bring your attention backto the room that you're in, to

(26:55):
your students in front of you orwherever you may be, allow that
spaciousness and groundednessand sense of your own heart's
wholeness to leave an imprint inyour experience.

(27:16):
And when you go about your dayand the inevitable conflicts and
problems and limitations arise,know that you have the room
inside you to see them clearlyfor what they are and allow that

(27:38):
stillness and silence and roominside to perhaps reveal one of
those sideways, solutions ornext steps that can unfold a
much better possibility foreveryone involved.

(28:01):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for all the good workthat you do.
Thank you for listening to theConscious Classroom.

(28:22):
I'm your host, amy Edelstein.
Please check out the show noteson innerstrengthfoundationnet
for links and more informationand if you enjoyed this podcast,
please share it with a friendand pass the love on.
See you next time.