Finding Moments of Joy: Inspiration for Busy Educators

The Challenge of Finding Joy

Making it through the end of the school year can feel like running through mud while carrying a bag of rocks and swatting off mosquitoes! When your day starts like this, it can be hard to find joy in teaching. This is precisely why I recently offered a workshop on joy for teachers. Admittedly, it took me a while to access that joy myself. In this article, I share my thoughts and wonderings about joy, hoping to bring more of it into your day and your teaching.

The Accessibility of Joy

Some days, joy can be easily accessible, springing up with the song of a bird. Other days, it may not be so easy to find, but that doesn’t mean it will always escape us. Joy is available to us at any moment; we may just need to look for it.

It can begin with a glimmer, like a window opening into the world of joy. The more we seek what brings us joy, the more we will find it in myriad places—under rocks, behind light green spring leaves, with the sound of a mountain stream, and in the unmistakable cry of a newborn baby.

Sharing Joy with Others

Joy can also be born from other people’s happiness. Celebrating another’s joy is a powerful experience. So much joy happens in sharing—whether it’s good food, a walk, a trip, shared laughter, or even when something goes downhill; it feels lighter when someone is by your side.

Discovering Joy in Everyday Life

While preparing for FocusedKids’ recent workshop on joy, I had to look for it. I found a bracelet in the bottom of my drawer that says “Invite Joy.” I also remembered hearing an interview with author Ross Gay, who wrote The Book of Delights. I discovered that joy was all around me.

Additionally, I came across “The Big Joy Project” through the Greater Good Science Center, which focuses on seven areas that can help us feel more joyful in our lives:

• Doing Something Kind
• Tune into What Matters
• Dwell in Awe
• Celebrate Another’s Joy
• Make a Gratitude List
• Shift Your Perspective
• Be a Force of Good

The Power of Altruism

Research shows that doing good for others can bring us happiness and joy. Teachers, I invite you to remember that you are a force of good in the world. Every day, you help children learn, be their best selves, and find their way in life.

Guided Reflection: Connect with Your Purpose

I want to share this guided reflection to remind you that you are actively doing good in the world. Find joy in your good heart, the goodness of your students, and keep planting seeds of joy in the world.

You Are a Force of Good

(Written by Suzanne Vitullo. Inspired by the Big Joy Project from Greater Good in Action, UC Berkeley)

I invite you to connect with your purpose in teaching. Maybe it is what originally inspired you to teach. It could be the reason why you became a teacher. Or maybe your inspiration for teaching has shifted since you first entered the field of education.

• Who are you helping?
• How are you a force of good in the lives of the students you teach?
• Are you a force of good amongst your colleagues or the families and parents you work with?
• Who did you make smile today?
• And who made you smile?
• Did a student hug you today or ask you a question about your life or something you taught?

Sometimes when kids ask lots of questions, it can take us off course, but did you know you touched the seed of curiosity in them? We can only learn when our mind is open, spacious, and curious . . . when we are aware of how much we don’t know – because when we “know it all” there is no space to learn.

If you have eased a child’s sadness or pain, if you have made someone smile, if you have taught someone something, you are a force of good in the world.

Teaching is, by nature, an altruistic profession…
You are a helper and a healer,
You are a force of good in the world!

Resources:

• Printable: Small Moments of Joy Journal