Relaxation and Happiness Your Must Do Habits

A while back I reviewed the book First Aid for Teacher Burnout by Jenny Grant Rankin. Jenny Grant Rankin, PHD, is a former award winning educator with two doctorates in education who helps other educators through her lectures, books and as a Fulbright Specialist. You may be thinking “Great, another book with a lot of psychological nonsense”, but I promise you this book provided “easy to implement steps for alleviating burnout problems so you can enjoy peace and success in your teaching”. Check out my review for much more on the ways to prevent and recover from burnout. 

Recently I was researching ways for helping myself and others to find pathways to well being. To my surprise I came across the course The Science of Well Being taught by Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos. This course explores how to be happier, to feel less stressed, and to flourish more. It applies the science of psychology providing ways to “make wiser choices and live a life that is more fulfilling by implementing a few simple research based methods to your own life.” The course itself through Coursera is free, however, you can pay $49 to earn a certificate of completion. There is also the  Happiness Lab Podcast hosted by Dr. Laurie Santos. The podcast is based on the psychology course she teaches at Yale, which has proven to be, “The most popular class in the university’s 300-year history.” I have been taking the course and listening to the podcast and can highly recommend both. Taking time for yourself is so important and these are two tools that can truly help you think about the practice of happiness. You don’t have to be an educator to relate to the content as every career pathway has its share of stress, so please share this with family and friends who may find ways to destress and be happier.

I get a weekly email which is a gentle reminder of habits to create happiness and less stress from Annette Quarrier, a life and healthy mindset coach at AnnetteQ.com. Annette believes that our mind is our most powerful asset. What we think determines how we live. I enjoy her free weekly moments of thoughts and inspiration, and I encourage you to check out her site using the link provided above. Annette is also the author of Mind Yoga “Make your mental health stronger one thought at a time”. 

Finally, give yourself some down time. The Calm app is a wonderful way to find a quiet time and listen to a library of tools to help you to calm anxiety and stress relief. There are meditative tools and guided content that can help you relax. In addition it provides soothing music and daily guided programs to help you build healthy habits for your mind. You can try Calm for free by visiting the site https://www.calm.com/. NYSUT (New York State United Teachers) offers the premium Calm subscription as a free benefit for all NYSUT in-service and retiree members. 

Carve out time to relax and unwind. In addition to the tips I’ve provided for your mental health and happiness, here are a few of my favorite things I use to relax: 

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