46% of teachers report high levels of stress and that is comparable to what nurses report and they're the two highest stress occupations in the United States just the constant energy we're giving to our students you know physical mental emotional spiritual energy that we're giving to others eventually we just run out of energy and that's when burnout happens that's when you become cynical that's when you start to question why did I even become a teacher do I even enjoy this anymore there's this fundamental dissatisfaction like it's not the way I wanted it to be it's not the way I remember it why it isn't this like how it felt when I was in third grade and my teacher loved me and I was a teacher's pet because you've changed and the world has changed and the kids have changed what's going on in here it feels like you know I know you want to learn I really want you to learn but but something's not working and teacher education you're never really told how emotionally demanding teaching is and then you're certainly not given the tools to cope with that I think without learning all the things that I've learned in the toolbox about mindfulness I don't think I could do what I do every every day the intentional demands of teaching are incredible you're going so fast right you're thinking about a million things you're multitasking the kids the time your lesson often that's when we as teachers we become reactive we sometimes use a metaphor of an elevator [Music] so you start your day on ground floor and your elevator over the day can your stress level can go up often the stress levels going up and you're not even noticing it and so you might not even notice that you just called out the same student three times when another student did the same thing or you might not notice that you've been getting more and more stressed out by little side chatting that to you is a sign that the students don't care about what you're talking it's really hard to think straight when your mind is on the 10th floor so bringing everything back down to baseline will allow you to see what's actually happening mindfulness can help you notice it because that's the first step the awareness to know oh I'm getting triggered because through mindfulness I'm a little more aware of what's going on in my body maybe I'm clenching my jaw then you can just at least notice that for a moment and maybe that pause is enough to not react right away at that student that gets you every day right just being aware of the difference you know thoughts that are constantly you know running through my mind and having the tools to not be at the mercy of those thoughts or it's just Oh something else is possible there's a different way of being the toolbox has helped me to be more where I am it's still pretty stressful but I used to be at such a high level of stress that it was hard for me to enjoy what I was doing so now I'm starting to enjoy even more what I'm doing so before I had developed a mindfulness practice each day was about reaching the objective of the lesson but those objectives weren't acknowledging what was going on in the world and what was going on emotionally for students so as I developed a mindfulness practice I was able to teach in a fun and engaging way that was transformational for students for me that was the beginning of me becoming what felt like a true educator once I started feeling more grounded and present with my students I found teaching to be so much more joyful than it had ever been [Music]