March 26, 2024 • 27 mins
What does it mean to truly invite joy into our lives? What impact can it have on our personal and professional experiences? This week, we had the pleasure of sitting down with the esteemed Sheila Kennedy, founder of Be Positively Connected. Together, we took a deep dive into her 25-year journey in education and discovered the immense power of applied positive psychology.
Sheila Kennedy is the founder of Be Positively Connected. One of the first thousand in the world to earn a masters degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, she is known for her passion for connecting others to the practical applications of the science of well-being so they can live their best lives. Ranging from first grade teacher to instructional coach, adjunct professor to educational consultant, as well as conference presenter and keynote speaker, Sheila has spent the past twenty-five years working in education. With a focus on topics rooted in positive emotions, investing in joy, and building resiliency, her mission is to help others reclaim their happiness, ignite their passions, and unleash their potential.
Picture your day-to-day life, now imagine being able to spot joy in every corner of it, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. Sheila shares her experience with 'joy spotting' - an intentional practice that has not only aided her through personal losses like the passing of her beloved Chihuahua, Oreo, but also greatly enhanced her life. Through vivid tales from her own journey, she illustrates how joy spotting can amplify gratitude, foster resilience, and ultimately make our lives richer.
Reaching the end of our conversation, Sheila gifted us with the story of her personal connection to joy and how it influences the relationships that matter most to her. We examined the potency of positive messaging and its role in shaping the ambiance of our personal spaces and workplaces. This episode promises to offer a fresh perspective for educators and a guide for anyone seeking to lead a more positive and fulfilling life. Get ready to step into a world where joy is limitless and positivity is contagious. You won't want to miss this.
Episode resources:
Sheila Kennedy, MAPP
- IG @positively.sheila
- Facebook page @bepositivelyconnected
- www.bepositivelyconnected.com
- Hashtags: #MondayPositiviTEE #joyspotting
Martin Seligman
- MAPP program at UPenn https://www.lps.upenn.edu/degree-programs/mapp
Book recommendations:
- Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee
- The Power of Play: Optimize Your Joy Potential by Elaine O’Brien & Andra Seydel
- The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again by Catherine Price
Read Aloud books: (for children AND adults)
- Finding Muchness by Kobi Yamada
- Feeling Grateful by Kobi Yamada
This episode is sponsored by Positively Sheila; stay positively connected.
Buy The Minimalist Teacher book from ASCD+ISTE.
Follow on Instagram @PlanZEducation and @minimalist_ed_podcast.
The Minimalist Educator Podcast is a Plan Z Education Services adventure.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, a
podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, TammyMusiowsky-Borniman and Christine
Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
On today's episode, sheila shares with us various
insights into how we can spreadhealthy positivity through our
days and with each other in ourbusy lives as educators.
Her pared down pointer is aboutmaking today count.
Sheila Kennedy is the founderof Be Positively Connected, one
of the first thousand in theworld to earn a master's degree
(00:55):
in applied positive psychologyfrom the University of
Pennsylvania.
She is known for her passionfor connecting others to the
practical applications of thescience of well-being so they
can live their best lives.
Ranging from the first gradeteacher to instructional coach,
adjunct professor to educationalconsultant, as well as
conference presenter and keynotespeaker, sheila has spent the
(01:16):
past 25 years working ineducation With a focus on topics
rooted in positive emotions,investing in joy and building
resiliency.
Her mission is to help othersreclaim their happiness, ignite
their passions and unleash theirpotential.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Hello everyone, welcome to today's episode of
the Minimalist Educator Podcast.
Today we have with us SheilaKennedy.
We are super excited to haveyou with us today, Sheila.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I am so happy to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Thank you for having me.
You're welcome.
How are you today?
I'm doing well.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Like I say, practice.
When I preach, I always try tofind the goodness.
It was a little bit of a crazymorning, but it's all turning
out well, good, good.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And how are you today , christine?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I'm very good.
And what about you, Tammy?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Pretty well.
I'm happy to just be talkingwith lovely people today, so
it's a good day.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Speaking of good days and happy moments, so far we
are with Sheila, who is anexpert, someone who knows a lot
about positive psychology, whichis a very interesting field,
especially with all of us beingeducators, where education is
often a rough field to be in andwe really need positivity.
(02:38):
So, Sheila, can you tell us abit about how you got into the
study of positive psychology?
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Absolutely.
It's kind of funny because itstarted, you said, us all being
here as educators.
It was through professionaldevelopment that I was taking
and we had a list of books tochoose from and for some reason
I chose the book LearnedHelplessness, which doesn't
sound a whole lot like apositive book to read, but it
(03:05):
was by Marty Salgman, who isconsidered one of the
forefathers of the positivepsychology field, and through
reading that book I really justgot on this journey of
discovering the field andthrough that and on a teacher's
salary, realized at that time Iwas not able to earn a degree
from the University ofPennsylvania, in which Marty
(03:28):
Salgman offers a degree in thefield.
So instead I went and got acertificate in positive
psychology and I, as many of usas learners do, wanted to take
what I was learning and bring itinto my classroom with my first
graders, and so through thecertificate program I'm learning
the science of how to live well.
(03:48):
And I'm also one who lovespositive messages on my shirts
and I would wear them on DressDown Fridays Not a lot of
Fridays for that.
So I thought, hmm, how could Imake it that I can wear these
t-shirts a little bit more andstill look professional and
throw a blazer over a t-shirt,it dresses you up.
Along with that, I was lookingon social media and you would
(04:10):
see a lot of the Sunday nightscarries, the Monday morning
blues, which is all real andokay.
And also I thought, well, howcould I kind of take these two
things I'm seeing and bring itinto my classroom?
And so I got the idea ofwearing my positive shirts on
Mondays and I would share themessage with my students during
(04:33):
Monday morning meetings as wellas have a lot of curious
teachers, as I was doing it moreand more often of looking to
see what that positive messagewas on my shirt.
Aside from doing it in myclassroom, I would post it on
social media.
I would use the hashtag Mondaypositive at T, but with a TEE.
(04:53):
I would not only share thispositive message, but I also
would share a little bit of thescience behind why that message
really could help us with.
What the science tells us ishow can we live better, how can
we flourish both in theclassroom and outside of the
classroom?
I started sharing that andthrough sharing that, it not
(05:14):
only helped myself get excitedfor a Monday morning, because I
got to pick out a new T-shirtwith a great message.
It also had that ripple effectof what we know about positivity
, which is it started affectingothers and others started
wanting to do it.
So other teachers startedsharing it on social media as
well as my students, and at thetime my school had a dress code.
(05:35):
My principal was reallysupportive of what I was doing
and seeing the effects of havingpositivity in my classroom, how
it was having my studentsexcited to come up to school.
They even allowed the studentsto start wearing shirts with
positive messages to school.
So it had that ripple effect.
That's the longer version of howI got into the field.
(05:56):
But through that, like many ofus, that passion grows and gets
deeper.
So it was about three yearslater.
I went from getting acertificate to saying you know
what I'm all in, I want more ofthis.
And I applied and was fortunateenough to be accepted into the
master's program and then, sinceI've earned a master's in
(06:16):
positive psychology and now notonly get to share it with
educators and students but withlots of different organizations
in bringing it into how we canhave that ripple effect in all
of our lives.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Very cool.
What a great thing to do amaster's in.
I love it.
I'm yeah, yeah, awesome.
I mean I definitely want tohear more about positive
psychology with the students.
But just my first initialthought, thinking about what we
can spread, the feelings that wecan spread.
So when I look at Instagramreels and so on, I'm seeing a
(06:54):
lot of these teacher tired.
We're so overwhelmed and likethe world is burning down around
our shoulders, sort of things.
We send it to each other as ajoke and a laugh.
But this is making me think.
Are we actually spreadingrumination?
Are we spreading this feelingof negativity rather than
(07:16):
actually spreading a morepositive message?
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (07:21):
That is such a great question, christine.
I really think it ties intowhat and I know we're probably
going to talk a little bit laterabout your 3P process, but I
think one of my piece, that atfirst part of the purpose of
your why, really ties into thatawareness.
I think when we're on socialmedia to have that awareness of
(07:43):
what we're consuming, is itbringing us, when we send it as
a joke, adding a little laughterto our day.
Laughter is good.
It's good to have thatawareness also of like, okay,
I'm not in this alone, otherpeople are experiencing the same
thing I'm experiencing.
Then I think, but then it has togo that next step of but if I'm
(08:04):
consuming it and it'sruminating and it's causing now
more of taking me down thatdownward spiral of not feeling
good and spreading morenegativity feelings, that's
where then we need to take apause and say wait a minute.
If what I'm consuming is notdoing what I really intended it
to do, to take a pause and dosomething about it.
(08:24):
I think that's where then a lotof these other people who share
and post about things likemaybe it's Monday positivity, or
it's the joy spotting that I doas well as many others do, or
it's sharing your passions, yourstrengths, the things that
really light you up tocounteract some of those not so
good feelings, because we also,if we didn't have those bad
(08:46):
feelings, we wouldn't know howgood the good feels, and so we
need both, but we also need tohave that awareness of when it's
too much.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
That's such a good point.
And, as you were just talking,I was thinking about some of
those memes, right, likeChristine and I will share them
to each other sometimes and Isend things to you too, sheila.
But I also think, like, when Ilook at some of your posts,
sheila, because I like lookingat your joy spotting, because
you do these cute things and youcan share about that in a
(09:16):
moment.
But the joy spotting has aclear purpose, right?
The sharing the dumpsterburning.
This is my teaching job, which,again, we know is funny.
But it's such a differentfeeling and I think about, like
how do I even though I do laughat it and it's relatable what
feeling do I wanna walk awaywith when I'm done looking at
(09:40):
Instagram or whatever?
Well, I probably wanna look atsomething that has that better
kind of like warming your heart,feeling right, and it's not one
of those things like you're notever saying like everything is,
we're not thinking like toxicpositivity where there's nothing
negative happening, like you'rereal about things, right, but
(10:02):
maybe this is a good spot foryou to talk about the joy
spotting that you do.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah, absolutely, and I love what you said there.
A couple of things that Iwanted to pull out was like that
intentionality piece.
It's great to have thatawareness of like.
Oh, is it filling me up, ormaybe not so much.
I suddenly wanna walk away withthat feeling.
But prioritizing and havingthat intentionality of like,
okay, well, when I'm consumingthis, now what?
(10:27):
And maybe it's when I seesomething like that, that funny
meme, that's that intentionalpiece of like.
Now I need to go find somethingthat lifts me up.
Yeah, it's my cue to move on,but with the joy spotting and
how.
Yes, it's not all sunshine androses all the time.
(10:47):
Joy spotting really is a key tofilling the pieces when things
aren't feeling so great In ourlives.
We can't control a whole lot ofthings and we can have days
when things aren't going right.
But what I like to say is joyis and I'm not sure if you're
familiar with or if you've everheard of Kintsuji, which is this
(11:09):
Japanese art form where it'spottery that has cracks and
usually when you think ofsomething cracked, it's broken,
it's no longer good.
But in this Japanese art form,they fill these cracks with a
liquid gold and turn this brokenpiece of pottery into this
beautiful form of art.
And I like to think of joy inthe same way.
(11:31):
That joy is that liquid goldinto our days of when the things
that aren't so good kind of putthe cracks in our day that by
using joy you can fill in thosecracks.
You can have that liquid gold.
And with joy especially, I knowtime.
You're aware of this, but I'verecently lost what I always say
is my love of my life, my littleOreo, my Chihuahua, who would
(11:53):
have been 15 just two weeks ago.
But it was through joy spottingthat really helped me get
through the hard stuff, because,as much as there was some pain
involved in that and we all needto have that it was those
moments of joy that I hadcollected that really refueled
me and allowed me to get throughit.
And so when I talk about joyspotting for those that may not
(12:15):
be familiar with it it's reallythose couple components that
we've kind of touched on already, which is having that awareness
of taking that pause for amoment.
Your day can be crazy.
For example, even just thismorning I said I had a little
bit of a crazy morning.
I took my mother.
She's going through a lot ofmedical issues right now, but
she went for a procedure.
We go to sign her in and theysay, oh, your insurance is no
(12:39):
longer valid and she's nowpanicking.
The hands are shaking like Ineed to get this procedure done
and she's stressing out.
And I happen to look over andon account.
Or there's this planner with alittle succulent in it and it
says be happy, choose joy.
She didn't see this, but Iimmediately grabbed my phone, I
(13:00):
walk over and I snap a pictureand she says what are you doing?
And she goes are you joyspotting?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And I said yes.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
And then I showed her the picture of what it was and
just for that moment she wentfrom being stressed and the
hands shaking and nervous of amI going to be able to get this
procedure that I need to get to?
Just for that moment, being ableto calm down her internal
nervous system and take a pauseand catch her breath, put a
little smile on and then go onwith dealing with what she was
(13:31):
dealing with at hand.
And that's what joy spottingallows us to do to have that
awareness for that moment, totake in something around us when
we see it and capture it.
And it doesn't need to be thebig stuff, because that's easy
to spot.
The easy stuff is easy to spotwhen it's a real big stuff the
big celebrations, the big goalsettings that we accomplish, the
(13:53):
big get-togethers but in thoselittle moments there are the
things that those little momentsadd up and really have a
profound effect on us.
So it's with that awarenessthat we have and then the
ability of purposely going outand doing more of it.
So when I first started doingJui Spotting, it wasn't
something I automatically wentto, but we know with any muscle
(14:15):
that whatever we focus on isgonna grow stronger.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
And so if we?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
look for negative, we're gonna find it really
easily because our brain isdesigned to do that.
But when it comes to joy, likea lot of other things, if we
really make it a point to beintentional and look for it, the
more we do it, the easier it'sgonna be to find it.
And so what started off withfrom my positive psychology
program of a gratitude practicein which we were told to write
(14:41):
in a journal and practicegratitude, it didn't work for me
.
I did not enjoy writing in ajournal.
I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I'min this program and I'm supposed
to be grateful and I am, butwriting it down is not making me
feel good.
And so they said be creative,find other ways to try it out.
(15:01):
And so I thought well, I alwayshave my cell phone with me.
I'm gonna snap a picture everyday of something that I'm
grateful for.
And so I had an album in myphone of a daily gratitude
picture.
And so when I starteddiscovering joy and really doing
a lot more research in joy, Ithought, well, let me see if I
could do this with joy and startfinding things that bring me
(15:24):
joy.
It might be a rainbow, it mightbe a pretty flower, it might be
something funny using all fivesenses.
And what I found was like, themore I did it, the easier it was
to find those moments of joy,even in what you would consider
to be maybe not a good day.
And what I realized was oh, howcan I take this practice and
(15:45):
make it even more meaningful?
And that's where on Sundays, asTammy commented, I do a weekly
most Sundays not all not perfect, but most Sundays I try to
share a joy spotting post.
And it really started off as away to kind of hold myself
accountable, to really get usedto this practice and strengthen
that muscle.
But it was through thereflection of going back and
(16:06):
looking at each picture from thepast week of that one moment of
joy, that through thatreflection of really looking at
and thinking about why, goingback to that purpose and
awareness, why did that bring mejoy?
It really increased andheightened my awareness.
And through the reflectionprocess I realized it really
(16:27):
level back down to gratitude.
I realized like I have allthese things to be grateful for
in my life and so it has turnedinto a joy post.
But it really underlying isgratitude and what we know from
the science is gratitude and joyare very closely connected to
one another.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's making me think about, yeah, the science
behind it.
Is it more effective if we'renoticing it in the moment or is
it as effective if, at the endof the day, I can go back and
reflect on my day and think,okay, what were the moments of
joy or gratitude?
Is there any science behindthat or is it, as you say, it's
kind of more dependent on theperson and what they prefer?
Speaker 4 (17:08):
I like to often refer to this, christine, as the
Goldilocks rule.
It's kind of my own littlesaying, probably from my first
grade teacher background, that Irefer to Goldilocks.
But when we think of Goldilocksand having to try out things to
find what's just right forGoldilocks, the same holds true
for us.
And so what the science tellsus, with positive interventions
which are truly like theseintentional actions that we go
(17:31):
after to increase our level ofpositive emotions that we're
feeling, you really need to finda just right fit for you.
And so, like anything, you needto practice it and try it on
and see which one really fitsfor you.
And so for me, initially, I hadto be really intentional about
looking for and spotting thosemoments, other people.
(17:53):
It may come very easily too ifit's something you kind of
unconsciously do already,probably if you're more of that
cup half filled kind of aperspective.
But it also involved for a lotof people it might be, if you're
someone who thinks about it atthe end of the day, what was
good about my day.
That may be the initial stepyou have to take and through
(18:14):
that heightened awareness you'llstart to realize you know, I
noticed a lot of times when I'mout in nature.
It seems to be those momentsthat are really shining for me.
I need to get out in the naturemore.
Or I noticed when I get on aZoom call and see faces of my
friends that I haven't seen in awhile, that really lights me up
.
I need to be more intentionalabout planning out some more
(18:37):
Zoom calls with friends thatlive far away.
You know, or as many people know, my favorite color is color
pink.
I have that awareness, but somepeople may not be aware of what
things in your surroundingsreally make you light up and
feel good, and so maybe it's acertain color or your happy
place.
For me it's New York City.
(18:58):
So whether I'm physically inNew York or I have little
reminders around that Remind meof New York, I'm gonna feel more
joy by having those reminders.
So I think it really comes downto having that first
self-awareness and understandingit.
And if you can do it in themoment, that's great.
But also that reflection and weknow reflection is so important
(19:19):
as educators to go back and seewhat's working and what's not
working.
That's really gonna help us tosee and the science tells us the
same thing that awareness iskey first and foremost Cause,
then we know what to eitherpractice more of or, in some
cases, get rid of and eliminate.
And I know you ladies are very,very keen on that, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Well, and you've just broughtup so many good points about the
intentionality of what we do,right?
So how many times do we gosomewhere and we were taking
pictures of things and then dowe actually look back at them?
And yes, you know lots ofpeople do.
But I really like that focus onusing your photos as a
(20:04):
reflection point to find joy orgoodness or happiness, and I
know you and I have both donethis in professional learning
sessions, where it's like getout your phone and find a
picture that makes you happy ormakes you smile as a way to kick
off a session, because thenpeople have to start with a
smile on their face instead ofcoming in kind of feeling down
like they have to be in anothermeeting, right.
(20:26):
So it's nice to use that as atool to spark a little joy
before you're going to continuesome learning.
But it's so intentional andlike think about like
everybody's probably got what 10, 20,000 pictures on their
phones.
It's like start scrolling backand looking at them and see what
, why you even took the picturesin the first place.
(20:47):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
And you just reminded me of something that I have
right here.
Actually, my door will probablykill me.
I know your listeners can't seethis, but I have this dally
calendar that my children havegot me as a Christmas gift each
for the last two years now, butthey go through and find
pictures either from my socialmedia or pictures as a family
that we send back and forth andevery day talking about like,
(21:11):
setting yourself up for joy.
Every morning when I wake up,my surroundings I have colors
that bring me joy, pictures thatbring me joy.
This is a dally piece of goingback into those billions of
pictures that we have on ourphones and have.
They have turned it into adally like reminder of something
from the past, and savoring issuch a powerful tool to elicit
(21:35):
those positive emotions.
Whether it's savoring in thepresent moment, like I do with
my phone when I do joy spotting,or when we go back and look at
all the pictures on our phone oran old yearbook or a photo
album back when printingpictures was a thing, that has
just as much of a benefit.
It gets us to take us like timetravel back into the past and
(21:57):
experience that positive emotionagain in the present moment and
so, even having just somethingthat is a reminder of that, to
go back on to our phone and, asyou mentioned, tammy, about
sharing it in professionaldevelopment, of having that like
starting off with a smile, Ihave even forced myself to
really be intentional about,instead of asking you know how
(22:18):
are you doing, because, again,you're opening up, it can go one
of two ways.
You know it's either goinggreat or it's not going so great
, and that's okay too.
But if we want to start with anintentionality of raising the
positive emotions and putting asmile is to change that and
shift to tell me somethingthat's going good today and
right away.
(22:38):
It forces us to shift frommaybe not all the stuff that's
going on that didn't go well,but really to be intentional and
focus on what is somethingthat's going good for me.
You know what's finding thegood.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
And what a great way to start a day with students too
, right, because I do that too.
Like I'll see the kids in themorning and I'm like how are you
this morning, so?
And so they're like, good, okay.
Well, that's kind of theresponse that I was expecting.
But just changing that languagea little bit can really change
someone's day too.
So I really appreciate justthinking about those little
(23:12):
tweaks in language that we canmake.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
That little change in a question can change some day
With the good part is, you knowlike, oh, it's good, I mean,
that's our general good, that'sgood, everything's good.
And like what's going good,what's going well, or what are
you looking forward to?
Because that's the other pieceof savory.
You know, not just in thepresent or reminiscing in the
past, but anticipation is also apowerful tool in regards to
(23:37):
like something to look forwardto.
So even if you're coming in andyou're tired on a Monday
morning, or even Friday morning,you're worn out and look
forward to that afternoon oflike, woohoo, the weekend's
finally here.
It's a way to up our positiveemotions and what we know is
students learn better when youcome from a positive state.
(23:58):
So if for no other reason, ifyou need justification of why,
to start your day with goingaround and having children in
your room, share about what'sgoing well for them or tell me
something good for learningpurpose, the brain's going to be
better ready to learn when itcomes from a state of positivity
.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
It makes so much sense.
I feel like we might need toinvite you back again, sheila,
to talk more about how we canreally implement this with our
students.
Do you think would that be okay?
Can we invite you back sometime?
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
That would be awesome .
Speaker 4 (24:33):
I think we got a little bit too preoccupied with
the adults, totally fineThinking about ourselves, and I
think that's a great beginning,because if we show up with our
cups filled, get to go back tothat analogy, but we're refueled
, then we're gonna show up forour students in such a better
way.
And so now that we know what weneed to do to show up as our
(24:55):
best selves, now we can takethat and have that ripple effect
and find ways to bring it intoour students.
So I would love to have a parttwo.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Excellent.
Thank you so much, but beforewe go, we do ask our guests to
share a pay down point with us,some tip or strategy that might
help our listeners to maybe bemore minimalist or to find more
joy in their day.
Do you have a pay down pointerfor us?
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Yeah Well, my favorite motto, my mantra, is to
make today count, and I thinkone of the best ways to do that
if we wanna put a financialinvestment piece onto, that spin
onto that is truly invest injoy, because that is really
gonna give you the highestinterest, that compounding
interest of the more you keepinvesting in moments of joy.
(25:43):
It's gonna show up in so manydifferent ways and I don't know
about you, but I'll take any wayof being rich as I can, and if
it's being rich and joy, I willtake it.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I love that.
Thank you so much for beingwith us today, Sheila.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Thank you so much for having me today, and I will be
happy also to share with you,ladies, some of my favorite
resources when it comes to booksand sites for cultivating more
joy.
Awesome, you've got those inthe show notes, thank you, we'll
see you for part two Absolutelyanticipation.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
This episode was brought to you by a positively
Sheila.
Invest in a life full of joyand stay positively connected.
Follow Sheila on Instagram atpositivelysheela on her Facebook
page at be positively connected.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the minimalisteducator podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at plan ZPLSon Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
Gaia Moretti.
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, a
podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, TammyMusiowsky-Borniman and Christine
Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
On today's episode, sheila shares with us various
insights into how we can spreadhealthy positivity through our
days and with each other in ourbusy lives as educators.
Her pared down pointer is aboutmaking today count.
Sheila Kennedy is the founderof Be Positively Connected, one
of the first thousand in theworld to earn a master's degree
(00:55):
in applied positive psychologyfrom the University of
Pennsylvania.
She is known for her passionfor connecting others to the
practical applications of thescience of well-being so they
can live their best lives.
Ranging from the first gradeteacher to instructional coach,
adjunct professor to educationalconsultant, as well as
conference presenter and keynotespeaker, sheila has spent the
(01:16):
past 25 years working ineducation With a focus on topics
rooted in positive emotions,investing in joy and building
resiliency.
Her mission is to help othersreclaim their happiness, ignite
their passions and unleash theirpotential.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Hello everyone, welcome to today's episode of
the Minimalist Educator Podcast.
Today we have with us SheilaKennedy.
We are super excited to haveyou with us today, Sheila.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I am so happy to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Thank you for having me.
You're welcome.
How are you today?
I'm doing well.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Like I say, practice.
When I preach, I always try tofind the goodness.
It was a little bit of a crazymorning, but it's all turning
out well, good, good.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And how are you today , christine?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I'm very good.
And what about you, Tammy?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Pretty well.
I'm happy to just be talkingwith lovely people today, so
it's a good day.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Speaking of good days and happy moments, so far we
are with Sheila, who is anexpert, someone who knows a lot
about positive psychology, whichis a very interesting field,
especially with all of us beingeducators, where education is
often a rough field to be in andwe really need positivity.
(02:38):
So, Sheila, can you tell us abit about how you got into the
study of positive psychology?
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Absolutely.
It's kind of funny because itstarted, you said, us all being
here as educators.
It was through professionaldevelopment that I was taking
and we had a list of books tochoose from and for some reason
I chose the book LearnedHelplessness, which doesn't
sound a whole lot like apositive book to read, but it
(03:05):
was by Marty Salgman, who isconsidered one of the
forefathers of the positivepsychology field, and through
reading that book I really justgot on this journey of
discovering the field andthrough that and on a teacher's
salary, realized at that time Iwas not able to earn a degree
from the University ofPennsylvania, in which Marty
(03:28):
Salgman offers a degree in thefield.
So instead I went and got acertificate in positive
psychology and I, as many of usas learners do, wanted to take
what I was learning and bring itinto my classroom with my first
graders, and so through thecertificate program I'm learning
the science of how to live well.
(03:48):
And I'm also one who lovespositive messages on my shirts
and I would wear them on DressDown Fridays Not a lot of
Fridays for that.
So I thought, hmm, how could Imake it that I can wear these
t-shirts a little bit more andstill look professional and
throw a blazer over a t-shirt,it dresses you up.
Along with that, I was lookingon social media and you would
(04:10):
see a lot of the Sunday nightscarries, the Monday morning
blues, which is all real andokay.
And also I thought, well, howcould I kind of take these two
things I'm seeing and bring itinto my classroom?
And so I got the idea ofwearing my positive shirts on
Mondays and I would share themessage with my students during
(04:33):
Monday morning meetings as wellas have a lot of curious
teachers, as I was doing it moreand more often of looking to
see what that positive messagewas on my shirt.
Aside from doing it in myclassroom, I would post it on
social media.
I would use the hashtag Mondaypositive at T, but with a TEE.
(04:53):
I would not only share thispositive message, but I also
would share a little bit of thescience behind why that message
really could help us with.
What the science tells us ishow can we live better, how can
we flourish both in theclassroom and outside of the
classroom?
I started sharing that andthrough sharing that, it not
(05:14):
only helped myself get excitedfor a Monday morning, because I
got to pick out a new T-shirtwith a great message.
It also had that ripple effectof what we know about positivity
, which is it started affectingothers and others started
wanting to do it.
So other teachers startedsharing it on social media as
well as my students, and at thetime my school had a dress code.
(05:35):
My principal was reallysupportive of what I was doing
and seeing the effects of havingpositivity in my classroom, how
it was having my studentsexcited to come up to school.
They even allowed the studentsto start wearing shirts with
positive messages to school.
So it had that ripple effect.
That's the longer version of howI got into the field.
(05:56):
But through that, like many ofus, that passion grows and gets
deeper.
So it was about three yearslater.
I went from getting acertificate to saying you know
what I'm all in, I want more ofthis.
And I applied and was fortunateenough to be accepted into the
master's program and then, sinceI've earned a master's in
(06:16):
positive psychology and now notonly get to share it with
educators and students but withlots of different organizations
in bringing it into how we canhave that ripple effect in all
of our lives.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Very cool.
What a great thing to do amaster's in.
I love it.
I'm yeah, yeah, awesome.
I mean I definitely want tohear more about positive
psychology with the students.
But just my first initialthought, thinking about what we
can spread, the feelings that wecan spread.
So when I look at Instagramreels and so on, I'm seeing a
(06:54):
lot of these teacher tired.
We're so overwhelmed and likethe world is burning down around
our shoulders, sort of things.
We send it to each other as ajoke and a laugh.
But this is making me think.
Are we actually spreadingrumination?
Are we spreading this feelingof negativity rather than
(07:16):
actually spreading a morepositive message?
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (07:21):
That is such a great question, christine.
I really think it ties intowhat and I know we're probably
going to talk a little bit laterabout your 3P process, but I
think one of my piece, that atfirst part of the purpose of
your why, really ties into thatawareness.
I think when we're on socialmedia to have that awareness of
(07:43):
what we're consuming, is itbringing us, when we send it as
a joke, adding a little laughterto our day.
Laughter is good.
It's good to have thatawareness also of like, okay,
I'm not in this alone, otherpeople are experiencing the same
thing I'm experiencing.
Then I think, but then it has togo that next step of but if I'm
(08:04):
consuming it and it'sruminating and it's causing now
more of taking me down thatdownward spiral of not feeling
good and spreading morenegativity feelings, that's
where then we need to take apause and say wait a minute.
If what I'm consuming is notdoing what I really intended it
to do, to take a pause and dosomething about it.
(08:24):
I think that's where then a lotof these other people who share
and post about things likemaybe it's Monday positivity, or
it's the joy spotting that I doas well as many others do, or
it's sharing your passions, yourstrengths, the things that
really light you up tocounteract some of those not so
good feelings, because we also,if we didn't have those bad
(08:46):
feelings, we wouldn't know howgood the good feels, and so we
need both, but we also need tohave that awareness of when it's
too much.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
That's such a good point.
And, as you were just talking,I was thinking about some of
those memes, right, likeChristine and I will share them
to each other sometimes and Isend things to you too, sheila.
But I also think, like, when Ilook at some of your posts,
sheila, because I like lookingat your joy spotting, because
you do these cute things and youcan share about that in a
(09:16):
moment.
But the joy spotting has aclear purpose, right?
The sharing the dumpsterburning.
This is my teaching job, which,again, we know is funny.
But it's such a differentfeeling and I think about, like
how do I even though I do laughat it and it's relatable what
feeling do I wanna walk awaywith when I'm done looking at
(09:40):
Instagram or whatever?
Well, I probably wanna look atsomething that has that better
kind of like warming your heart,feeling right, and it's not one
of those things like you're notever saying like everything is,
we're not thinking like toxicpositivity where there's nothing
negative happening, like you'rereal about things, right, but
(10:02):
maybe this is a good spot foryou to talk about the joy
spotting that you do.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah, absolutely, and I love what you said there.
A couple of things that Iwanted to pull out was like that
intentionality piece.
It's great to have thatawareness of like.
Oh, is it filling me up, ormaybe not so much.
I suddenly wanna walk away withthat feeling.
But prioritizing and havingthat intentionality of like,
okay, well, when I'm consumingthis, now what?
(10:27):
And maybe it's when I seesomething like that, that funny
meme, that's that intentionalpiece of like.
Now I need to go find somethingthat lifts me up.
Yeah, it's my cue to move on,but with the joy spotting and
how.
Yes, it's not all sunshine androses all the time.
(10:47):
Joy spotting really is a key tofilling the pieces when things
aren't feeling so great In ourlives.
We can't control a whole lot ofthings and we can have days
when things aren't going right.
But what I like to say is joyis and I'm not sure if you're
familiar with or if you've everheard of Kintsuji, which is this
(11:09):
Japanese art form where it'spottery that has cracks and
usually when you think ofsomething cracked, it's broken,
it's no longer good.
But in this Japanese art form,they fill these cracks with a
liquid gold and turn this brokenpiece of pottery into this
beautiful form of art.
And I like to think of joy inthe same way.
(11:31):
That joy is that liquid goldinto our days of when the things
that aren't so good kind of putthe cracks in our day that by
using joy you can fill in thosecracks.
You can have that liquid gold.
And with joy especially, I knowtime.
You're aware of this, but I'verecently lost what I always say
is my love of my life, my littleOreo, my Chihuahua, who would
(11:53):
have been 15 just two weeks ago.
But it was through joy spottingthat really helped me get
through the hard stuff, because,as much as there was some pain
involved in that and we all needto have that it was those
moments of joy that I hadcollected that really refueled
me and allowed me to get throughit.
And so when I talk about joyspotting for those that may not
(12:15):
be familiar with it it's reallythose couple components that
we've kind of touched on already, which is having that awareness
of taking that pause for amoment.
Your day can be crazy.
For example, even just thismorning I said I had a little
bit of a crazy morning.
I took my mother.
She's going through a lot ofmedical issues right now, but
she went for a procedure.
We go to sign her in and theysay, oh, your insurance is no
(12:39):
longer valid and she's nowpanicking.
The hands are shaking like Ineed to get this procedure done
and she's stressing out.
And I happen to look over andon account.
Or there's this planner with alittle succulent in it and it
says be happy, choose joy.
She didn't see this, but Iimmediately grabbed my phone, I
(13:00):
walk over and I snap a pictureand she says what are you doing?
And she goes are you joyspotting?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And I said yes.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
And then I showed her the picture of what it was and
just for that moment she wentfrom being stressed and the
hands shaking and nervous of amI going to be able to get this
procedure that I need to get to?
Just for that moment, being ableto calm down her internal
nervous system and take a pauseand catch her breath, put a
little smile on and then go onwith dealing with what she was
(13:31):
dealing with at hand.
And that's what joy spottingallows us to do to have that
awareness for that moment, totake in something around us when
we see it and capture it.
And it doesn't need to be thebig stuff, because that's easy
to spot.
The easy stuff is easy to spotwhen it's a real big stuff the
big celebrations, the big goalsettings that we accomplish, the
(13:53):
big get-togethers but in thoselittle moments there are the
things that those little momentsadd up and really have a
profound effect on us.
So it's with that awarenessthat we have and then the
ability of purposely going outand doing more of it.
So when I first started doingJui Spotting, it wasn't
something I automatically wentto, but we know with any muscle
(14:15):
that whatever we focus on isgonna grow stronger.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
And so if we?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
look for negative, we're gonna find it really
easily because our brain isdesigned to do that.
But when it comes to joy, likea lot of other things, if we
really make it a point to beintentional and look for it, the
more we do it, the easier it'sgonna be to find it.
And so what started off withfrom my positive psychology
program of a gratitude practicein which we were told to write
(14:41):
in a journal and practicegratitude, it didn't work for me
.
I did not enjoy writing in ajournal.
I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I'min this program and I'm supposed
to be grateful and I am, butwriting it down is not making me
feel good.
And so they said be creative,find other ways to try it out.
(15:01):
And so I thought well, I alwayshave my cell phone with me.
I'm gonna snap a picture everyday of something that I'm
grateful for.
And so I had an album in myphone of a daily gratitude
picture.
And so when I starteddiscovering joy and really doing
a lot more research in joy, Ithought, well, let me see if I
could do this with joy and startfinding things that bring me
(15:24):
joy.
It might be a rainbow, it mightbe a pretty flower, it might be
something funny using all fivesenses.
And what I found was like, themore I did it, the easier it was
to find those moments of joy,even in what you would consider
to be maybe not a good day.
And what I realized was oh, howcan I take this practice and
(15:45):
make it even more meaningful?
And that's where on Sundays, asTammy commented, I do a weekly
most Sundays not all not perfect, but most Sundays I try to
share a joy spotting post.
And it really started off as away to kind of hold myself
accountable, to really get usedto this practice and strengthen
that muscle.
But it was through thereflection of going back and
(16:06):
looking at each picture from thepast week of that one moment of
joy, that through thatreflection of really looking at
and thinking about why, goingback to that purpose and
awareness, why did that bring mejoy?
It really increased andheightened my awareness.
And through the reflectionprocess I realized it really
(16:27):
level back down to gratitude.
I realized like I have allthese things to be grateful for
in my life and so it has turnedinto a joy post.
But it really underlying isgratitude and what we know from
the science is gratitude and joyare very closely connected to
one another.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's making me think about, yeah, the science
behind it.
Is it more effective if we'renoticing it in the moment or is
it as effective if, at the endof the day, I can go back and
reflect on my day and think,okay, what were the moments of
joy or gratitude?
Is there any science behindthat or is it, as you say, it's
kind of more dependent on theperson and what they prefer?
Speaker 4 (17:08):
I like to often refer to this, christine, as the
Goldilocks rule.
It's kind of my own littlesaying, probably from my first
grade teacher background, that Irefer to Goldilocks.
But when we think of Goldilocksand having to try out things to
find what's just right forGoldilocks, the same holds true
for us.
And so what the science tellsus, with positive interventions
which are truly like theseintentional actions that we go
(17:31):
after to increase our level ofpositive emotions that we're
feeling, you really need to finda just right fit for you.
And so, like anything, you needto practice it and try it on
and see which one really fitsfor you.
And so for me, initially, I hadto be really intentional about
looking for and spotting thosemoments, other people.
(17:53):
It may come very easily too ifit's something you kind of
unconsciously do already,probably if you're more of that
cup half filled kind of aperspective.
But it also involved for a lotof people it might be, if you're
someone who thinks about it atthe end of the day, what was
good about my day.
That may be the initial stepyou have to take and through
(18:14):
that heightened awareness you'llstart to realize you know, I
noticed a lot of times when I'mout in nature.
It seems to be those momentsthat are really shining for me.
I need to get out in the naturemore.
Or I noticed when I get on aZoom call and see faces of my
friends that I haven't seen in awhile, that really lights me up
.
I need to be more intentionalabout planning out some more
(18:37):
Zoom calls with friends thatlive far away.
You know, or as many people know, my favorite color is color
pink.
I have that awareness, but somepeople may not be aware of what
things in your surroundingsreally make you light up and
feel good, and so maybe it's acertain color or your happy
place.
For me it's New York City.
(18:58):
So whether I'm physically inNew York or I have little
reminders around that Remind meof New York, I'm gonna feel more
joy by having those reminders.
So I think it really comes downto having that first
self-awareness and understandingit.
And if you can do it in themoment, that's great.
But also that reflection and weknow reflection is so important
(19:19):
as educators to go back and seewhat's working and what's not
working.
That's really gonna help us tosee and the science tells us the
same thing that awareness iskey first and foremost Cause,
then we know what to eitherpractice more of or, in some
cases, get rid of and eliminate.
And I know you ladies are very,very keen on that, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Well, and you've just broughtup so many good points about the
intentionality of what we do,right?
So how many times do we gosomewhere and we were taking
pictures of things and then dowe actually look back at them?
And yes, you know lots ofpeople do.
But I really like that focus onusing your photos as a
(20:04):
reflection point to find joy orgoodness or happiness, and I
know you and I have both donethis in professional learning
sessions, where it's like getout your phone and find a
picture that makes you happy ormakes you smile as a way to kick
off a session, because thenpeople have to start with a
smile on their face instead ofcoming in kind of feeling down
like they have to be in anothermeeting, right.
(20:26):
So it's nice to use that as atool to spark a little joy
before you're going to continuesome learning.
But it's so intentional andlike think about like
everybody's probably got what 10, 20,000 pictures on their
phones.
It's like start scrolling backand looking at them and see what
, why you even took the picturesin the first place.
(20:47):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
And you just reminded me of something that I have
right here.
Actually, my door will probablykill me.
I know your listeners can't seethis, but I have this dally
calendar that my children havegot me as a Christmas gift each
for the last two years now, butthey go through and find
pictures either from my socialmedia or pictures as a family
that we send back and forth andevery day talking about like,
(21:11):
setting yourself up for joy.
Every morning when I wake up,my surroundings I have colors
that bring me joy, pictures thatbring me joy.
This is a dally piece of goingback into those billions of
pictures that we have on ourphones and have.
They have turned it into adally like reminder of something
from the past, and savoring issuch a powerful tool to elicit
(21:35):
those positive emotions.
Whether it's savoring in thepresent moment, like I do with
my phone when I do joy spotting,or when we go back and look at
all the pictures on our phone oran old yearbook or a photo
album back when printingpictures was a thing, that has
just as much of a benefit.
It gets us to take us like timetravel back into the past and
(21:57):
experience that positive emotionagain in the present moment and
so, even having just somethingthat is a reminder of that, to
go back on to our phone and, asyou mentioned, tammy, about
sharing it in professionaldevelopment, of having that like
starting off with a smile, Ihave even forced myself to
really be intentional about,instead of asking you know how
(22:18):
are you doing, because, again,you're opening up, it can go one
of two ways.
You know it's either goinggreat or it's not going so great
, and that's okay too.
But if we want to start with anintentionality of raising the
positive emotions and putting asmile is to change that and
shift to tell me somethingthat's going good today and
right away.
(22:38):
It forces us to shift frommaybe not all the stuff that's
going on that didn't go well,but really to be intentional and
focus on what is somethingthat's going good for me.
You know what's finding thegood.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
And what a great way to start a day with students too
, right, because I do that too.
Like I'll see the kids in themorning and I'm like how are you
this morning, so?
And so they're like, good, okay.
Well, that's kind of theresponse that I was expecting.
But just changing that languagea little bit can really change
someone's day too.
So I really appreciate justthinking about those little
(23:12):
tweaks in language that we canmake.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
That little change in a question can change some day
With the good part is, you knowlike, oh, it's good, I mean,
that's our general good, that'sgood, everything's good.
And like what's going good,what's going well, or what are
you looking forward to?
Because that's the other pieceof savory.
You know, not just in thepresent or reminiscing in the
past, but anticipation is also apowerful tool in regards to
(23:37):
like something to look forwardto.
So even if you're coming in andyou're tired on a Monday
morning, or even Friday morning,you're worn out and look
forward to that afternoon oflike, woohoo, the weekend's
finally here.
It's a way to up our positiveemotions and what we know is
students learn better when youcome from a positive state.
(23:58):
So if for no other reason, ifyou need justification of why,
to start your day with goingaround and having children in
your room, share about what'sgoing well for them or tell me
something good for learningpurpose, the brain's going to be
better ready to learn when itcomes from a state of positivity
.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
It makes so much sense.
I feel like we might need toinvite you back again, sheila,
to talk more about how we canreally implement this with our
students.
Do you think would that be okay?
Can we invite you back sometime?
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
That would be awesome .
Speaker 4 (24:33):
I think we got a little bit too preoccupied with
the adults, totally fineThinking about ourselves, and I
think that's a great beginning,because if we show up with our
cups filled, get to go back tothat analogy, but we're refueled
, then we're gonna show up forour students in such a better
way.
And so now that we know what weneed to do to show up as our
(24:55):
best selves, now we can takethat and have that ripple effect
and find ways to bring it intoour students.
So I would love to have a parttwo.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Excellent.
Thank you so much, but beforewe go, we do ask our guests to
share a pay down point with us,some tip or strategy that might
help our listeners to maybe bemore minimalist or to find more
joy in their day.
Do you have a pay down pointerfor us?
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Yeah Well, my favorite motto, my mantra, is to
make today count, and I thinkone of the best ways to do that
if we wanna put a financialinvestment piece onto, that spin
onto that is truly invest injoy, because that is really
gonna give you the highestinterest, that compounding
interest of the more you keepinvesting in moments of joy.
(25:43):
It's gonna show up in so manydifferent ways and I don't know
about you, but I'll take any wayof being rich as I can, and if
it's being rich and joy, I willtake it.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I love that.
Thank you so much for beingwith us today, Sheila.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Thank you so much for having me today, and I will be
happy also to share with you,ladies, some of my favorite
resources when it comes to booksand sites for cultivating more
joy.
Awesome, you've got those inthe show notes, thank you, we'll
see you for part two Absolutelyanticipation.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
This episode was brought to you by a positively
Sheila.
Invest in a life full of joyand stay positively connected.
Follow Sheila on Instagram atpositivelysheela on her Facebook
page at be positively connected.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the minimalisteducator podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at plan ZPLSon Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
Gaia Moretti.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com