Hello Teachers! Following our ‘Life Hacks for Happiness and Stability’ session here are some of the top tips, facts and figures.
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Life Hack #1: Interoception
This is about practice and repitition. Choose moments in your day when you might check in with your body’s experience: when washing your hands/stopping at lights/boiling a kettle.
Try a body scan: moving through the body in your mind’s eye noticing sensation/energy/tension in each part.
Life Hack #2: Body Resources
Using the body to calm the mind via the nervous system
Maximal inhale through the nose followed by another inhale through the nose and then a long exhale out through the mouth. Do 3 sets of 3 each day to help widen your window.
Fantastic for in-the-moment stress management.
Arrange hands as in image with one hand under and slightly behind arm pit. Breathe slowly while holding this position, giving pressure to the upper body.
Holding a cushion to your torso, wrapping yourself tightly in a blanket, or firm strokes to limbs and torso also provide containment.
In standing, ground your feet, noticing your contact with the floor. Start stacking your joints: ankles over feet, knees, over ankles, hips over knees. Tilt your pelvis until it’s in neutral. Then allow your spine to lengthen upwards, as if someone is gently stretching it from the top. Tuck your shoulder blades back and allow the crown of your head to float upwards.
Taking a moment to place a hand on your heart or belly, closing your eyes and tuning into how you are feeling. Then, whatever the emotion, choosing to meeting yourself with kindness, compassion and a little statement eg “You’ve done all you can”.
Life Hack # 3: Rest
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How much?
An average of 5-6 hours a day
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Boundaries with work
Decide how much work to do beyond work hours, do it in work (if possible) and have a simple finishing ritual.
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Do a life audit
List all the things you give time and energy to. Check if they are still giving you pleasure, connection or achievement and if you can do them gladly.
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Use the spare moments
Instead of scrolling, planing or worrying, use those 10/20/30 spare minutes to daydream, stroll, read or breathe.
Life Hack #4: Phones
Life Hack #5: Nature
It’s really about being present, being curious. Taking the headphones out, lifting the head up and starting to look around. Noticing, the weeds in the pavement, the neighbours garden, the clouds moving across the sky.
Within one hour of waking up, get direct exposure to sunlight (no sunglasses, windows, or windshields) for at least 10minutes, or 20 on a cloudy day.
Life Hack #6: Gratitude
If we want to rewire our brains toward a more positive mindset then when something good happens we need to savour it. That means thinking about that good thing and dwelling on it for around 20 seconds at least.
Examples of Gratitude practices:
write down 3 or 4 things each evening that you are glad happened in your day.
playback your day in your minds eye before you fall asleep, looking for the good moments
Text, write or speak your gratitude for others too them - it’s good for you both!
Life Hack #7: Relationships
Research from Harvard has shown that the number one predictor of happiness and wellbeing throughout our lives is the quality of our relationships. That means investing time and attention towards those closest to us. But there can be surprising gains in finally ignoring our parents advice to not talk to strangers…….
‘Having more day-to-day interactions with acquaintances was associated with greater feelings of belonging and subjective well-being (Sandstrom & Dunn, 2014).
Remember….
Whichever hack (s) you choose to experiment with, remember that powerful outcomes are often delayed. Don’t loose heart if it takes a while to see results - they will happen!
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