Hey there everybody,
This is Kristen from Teaching Balance and I am here with you at this week's mindfulness meditation practice.
And we are now in the month of August and at least in my part of the country,
This is the month where we go back to school.
And as of this filming,
It's still not completely clear exactly what that's going to look like.
I think decisions have been made and then there's been some pushback honestly from the educators and the unions regarding what the best choices are.
And I know you guys are all from various places all over the country and beyond and so what that looks like for you might be very different and it might not even be this month,
It might be next month.
And so I say all of this just to acknowledge the truth of the fact that August can be challenging.
It might be challenging because it's your last month of summer,
Summer break,
And it might be challenging because your break is over and you're going back in some capacity,
Whatever that might look like.
And the point that I want to make is first to state the incredibly obvious that these are extraordinarily challenging times.
Whether you're an educator or not,
I mean it is just crazy as you know.
And when things get really difficult and challenging and in particular when it continues to be difficult and challenging,
Which of course it has been for a long time and is still at the moment,
It's exhausting.
And when we have this experience,
The roundabout thing that I'm trying to get to is now more than ever,
It's extremely important that we prioritize our self-care.
And I don't know if you're on social media or any of that sort of thing,
But I'm seeing a ton of that out there,
Not only from mindfulness people like me,
But also mental health professionals,
Therapists.
It is just very much the theme song of the zeitgeist,
If I could get very fancy for a minute there,
But it really is and for good reason.
And so that is why this month our focus and our theme is self-care.
And you can do the extended remix of that,
Which is self-care is not selfish,
Or you could say self-care is actually an act of selflessness.
And there's all sorts of variations on that idea.
But what it comes down to is if you or any of us blow it off and let ourselves burn out in whatever that looks like for us,
Sometimes for us,
It's just this sort of like flame out of just like,
Go,
Go,
Go,
And then you're done.
And sometimes it's this sort of like slow,
Gradual,
Kind of like this gradual slowing down to the point where you're no longer functioning or somewhere in between.
And so the point I want to make,
And I know that you guys know this,
We all know it in our hearts,
But I cannot emphasize enough how incredibly important it is that you prioritize.
And I say that word very specifically,
Prioritize your self-care now more than ever.
Now I am saying this now more than ever,
Those of you who are members,
You I'm sure are getting the emails that during this month of August,
I'm also running what used to be called the 21-day daily meditation challenge,
But I'm not calling it that because no one wants a challenge right now,
Including myself.
And so I tweaked it and now it's just the now more than ever 21-day daily meditation program for teachers.
And so if you're not already on that,
I would encourage you to hop into that.
It's a daily five minute practice.
I find it's just useful as a reminder and there's going to be other elements to it that are new this year that you'll be able to see if you go to the page,
Just so you know.
I'll link it here in the email that this video goes out with,
But it's just teachingbalance.
Com slash now as in now more than ever.
So that's my invitation to you for this week and for the month ahead and honestly the months ahead that even though as caregivers,
It's very much our natural inclination to take care of other people and to put other people's needs first,
But we have got to put our needs at the top of the list because if you're not okay,
Then you're not going to be able to help other people to be okay.
And I know you know that,
But just consider this a very gentle,
Very friendly reminder of the fact that it is not selfish to prioritize yourself,
Care to take time for yourself to fill your bucket,
Whatever that looks like,
Including meditation.
It is actually a bold act of selflessness in my humble opinion.
So on that note and in that spirit,
Let's go ahead and do our 10 minutes and I'm feeling that this one should be pretty silent if you're also feeling that.
If you don't want that,
You of course can pause this and do play a different one,
Something else,
Something from my free page,
Which I'm sure you have looked at or from the core practices,
But let's go ahead and do this.
I'm going to set my timer for 10 minutes and I'll keep the instructions rather simple,
But I do always feel that it's valuable for us to begin by taking a few of those deep breaths.
I'm going to do that now.
10 seconds.
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