Using Metaphors to Visualize Problems is Like a Massage for Your Brain

Posted on May 21, 2016 by tcadmin

“Jealousy feels like everybody in the world getting ice cream brought to them on the couch and you get none” – Olivia, age 7

Writing teachers must be doing an incredible job. The young people I see in therapy are masters of descriptive metaphor when it comes to describing the challenges they face in life and in how they might overcome them.

brain-massage Recent brain research has uncovered some of the potential healing benefits of thinking in metaphor. A 2008 study found that the sensory areas of the brain are activated when we hear a metaphor. Imagining yourself to be as ‘cool as a cucumber’ might send soothing signals to your brain in a stressful situation. Metaphors can bridge the mind/body gap, allowing us to understand our experiences and connect to our physical sensations, which can help us reduce stress.

Therapists have long understood the benefits of metaphor in helping clients shift perspective and unlock old ways of thinking. Metaphors can help a therapist and client visualize a problem more clearly and envision new solutions that might be difficult to imagine when one is focused on the immediate context and detail.

Olivia struggles with sharing her mother’s attention with her twin brother. Her comment above allowed us to talk about her feelings in a way that was removed enough from the anger she felt towards him that she could contemplate different possible ways of dealing with them.

ME: And who brings the ice cream to everyone else?

HER: The mothers!

ME: And what do you want to tell all those mothers?

HER: I want some ice cream too!!

ME: And what happens if you get some ice cream?

HER: I’m not so mad at the rest of them and it’s fair.

From here, we were able to talk more about how it felt when her brother was getting more attention than she was and she was able to feel a sense of control and calm that wasn’t accessible to her when she was angry at her brother.

Children aren’t the only ones who can benefit from visualizing through metaphor. Jarvis is a self-described worrier.

“I’m always focused on the worst possible outcome. I can’t even enjoy a night out because I’m thinking about what it will be like if things don’t go well.”

“Sounds like you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Yes that! Exactly”

“Maybe there’s only one shoe.”

I asked Jarvis to picture one shoe hanging above the floor. Then I asked him to see it fall to the ground and to imagine looking up again to see no other shoe. “What is it like to know there isn’t a second one waiting to fall?” I asked. He told me he felt he could keep his eyes focused forward. He said he felt his chest loosen and his shoulders relax a bit. His homework would be to call up the image of the shoe whenever he started to imagine what might go wrong and see if that helped him stay a little more focused on the present. Two weeks later, he reported being much more able to enjoy himself, though sometimes he confessed to imagining the second shoe.

Think of a problem you are currently facing. How might you use metaphor to describe it? What metaphors are you already using and not aware of (Are you painted into a corner? Are you walking on a tightrope?) Rather than focus on the details of your problem, imagine the metaphor as literal. Can you see yourself holding an umbrella to balance you across the high wire or finding a creative way across the painted floor?

Creating a visual picture can help you become more flexible in dealing with challenges and may reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety and stress you’ve been experiencing.

Anxiety in the Classroom

Posted on March 18, 2016 by tcadmin

Take a moment, right now, and pay attention to what’s going on around you. How are you seated in your chair? Is there tension in your neck, shoulders, jaw? Is it noisy where you are? Do you feel rushed to finish this article and get on to your next task? Close your eyes for a moment and take a few deep breaths. What do you notice now? Did anything change in your posture? How about your heart rate? Maybe nothing is different. Notice that too and notice how you feel about that.

That reflecting you just did was possible courtesy of your pre-frontal cortex. That’s the part of the brain that allows you to regulate your emotional responses and override any automatic behaviors or habits. It is central to self-regulation and empathy. And it doesn’t fully develop until the mid to late 20s.

When we experience something threatening, the fight or flight response is immediately triggered and the part of your brain that deals with emotions hijacks the thinking part of your brain. The prefrontal cortex, when activated, can serve as the ‘brakes’ to this response, lowering the alert signals and allowing you to assess the situation with more reason.

Children, however, do not have a fully developed prefrontal cortex to help them easily regulate high emotions. What might not seem to the rational, adult mind to be more than an annoyance, is perceived in the child brain as a threat. Fear triggers the release of stress hormones and if the child is unable to regulate the response, anxiety and then panic may set in.

Anxiety, in and of itself, is not an affliction. Anxiety helps us to be alerted to our surroundings. It can propel us to action and improve our performance. Anxiety is a signal to us that there is an imbalance between what we feel and what we think or know. Ruminating about the past and worrying about the future represent a skew towards overthinking. Becoming overwhelmed by emotions represents the other end of the pole.

What to Look for and How to Address Anxiety in the Classroom

In order to help children manage their anxieties we need to first recognize some indicators that a child may be experiencing high levels of stress. Anxious children may verbally express worries about grades, friends, physical activities etc. Preoccupation with getting the right answer or completing tasks perfectly are also indicators of anxiety. Restlessness, difficulty focusing or withdrawal may also be observed in the anxious child. These symptoms can often be mistaken for attention deficit disorder (ADHD) prematurely.

All children, whether they experience high levels of anxiety or not, can benefit from breathing and relaxation exercises to help them become more aware of body sensations and emotions. Here are some easy to implement strategies to combat classroom anxiety:

Use language children can understand to describe what they might be feeling. Instead of anxiety, try words like ‘worry’, ‘afraid’, ‘pressure’.
Incorporate breathing, stretching and relaxing exercises into the daily schedule. Before beginning a new subject, ask children to pay attention to their breathing, see if they can fill a ‘belly balloon’ with a longer, slow breath and then blow it out as if they are blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. Invite children to comment on what they notice this changes in their bodies. Invite children to tense and then relax their muscles to help them recognize the difference.
Teach children to celebrate mistakes as opportunities to learn. Neil deGrasse Tyson recently lost a popular radio quiz show game on NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me”. When the host asked if he was embarrassed to have gotten two out of the three questions wrong he said “If I had gotten all three right, I wouldn’t have learned anything. Today I got to learn two new things.”
Allow time for students to reflect on mistakes and successes so that reflection is a part of the learning process and not only as a consequence or punishment. Ask children to regularly name what they did that worked for them and what they will improve on next time.

Finally, we can’t teach what we don’t know. Learning more about how anxiety impacts you and how to manage your own symptoms will better prepare you to recognize and respond to children’s behaviors as they occur in your class. You can learn more about anxiety and how to manage it in our video courses at TeacherCoach.com.

Three Steps from the Assembly Line

Posted on March 12, 2016 by tcadmin

Lack of control over their work
The inability to be able to use their acquired skills
Low job security
High performance demands
Low pay
Limited decision making power
Lack of mental stimulation
Long hours
Poor work conditions

This is not a list of complaints from the teacher’s union, but a list of factors identified as contributing to stress and burnout among factory workers. As these stressors continue, workers become disengaged from their work, productivity drops and stress related injuries increase.

While attention in the field of industry turns to ways for increasing employee satisfaction and engagement, education seems to be marching closer to the assembly line. Teachers are being pressed to rely less and less on their own talents and passions in order to conform to prescribed academic standards and curricula. Measurements for teacher success seemingly have little to do with a teacher’s creativity or job satisfaction and do not take into account the impact of the larger education culture.

When teachers feel disconnected from their work, they become disconnected from their students. Research shows that risk-protective factors such as self-esteem, determination, and ‘grit’ in young people are fostered through relationships with caring adults, teachers and mentors. And yet, teachers’ well-being is often at best an after-thought to professional development, and more often dismissed entirely.

When teachers can bring their whole selves to work they can foster the kinds of relationships necessary for student well-being. Teachers who have a greater awareness of their own needs and abilities have a greater potential to be effective educators and role models to their students.

What can schools do to create a culture that values the importance of teacher engagement and satisfaction? Again, we might look to industry research that suggests that workplaces that incorporate wellness into the culture see greater productivity and satisfaction.

The following elements have been shown to be essential to creating a workplace that values the whole person. How far from your school to the factory floor?

Healthy and successful schools:

Embrace risk-taking
Allow for and celebrate mistakes as evidence of learning
Support healthy conflict
Set high expectations without demanding perfection
Offer a high level of nurturance
Focus more attention on process and environment instead of output

Don’t Let Your Anxiety Call the Shots

Posted on August 10, 2015 by tcadmin

Someone recently gifted me and my son with water balloon sling shots and we launched our epic battle in the yard. In his eagerness to pelt me, he would often fail to pull the band back far enough and his balloon would fall to the ground. In my effort to take revenge on all his pre-teen challenges of my authority, I would often pull the band so far back that I would shoot far past my taunting target.

The slingshots are a good metaphor for the role of anxiety in our lives. Anxiety produces tension that can motivate us to action. But too much tension leaves us unable to direct our energies effectively and too little can leave us stuck. Therapies to relieve anxiety may deny us the chance to harness the tension and use it to propel us towards change. Awareness of how we become anxious, what supports our worries and the type of anxiety we have can help us to cope with the symptoms and listen to the cues for what we need in the moment.

Anxiety occurs in two general categories, anticipatory – worrying about what has not yet happened, and ruminative – dwelling on the past. Of course many of us move between the two. While there are benefits to planning ahead and learning from past mistakes, our only real opportunity to make a change is in the present moment and the more awareness we can direct towards the here and now, the more choice and flexibility we can have in how to respond to life’s pressures.

Here are a few tips to help you get started on experiencing the present. See our courses on anxiety for more.

Live here, deal with what is present, not absent

Stop imagining. Experience the real

Stop unnecessary thinking. Rather taste, smell, see, feel…

Take full responsibility for your actions, feelings, and thoughts

Surrender to being as you are

Tips to Tackle Stress

Posted on May 30, 2015 by tcadmin

The countdown to the end of the school year has begun. With students only theoretically connected to their chairs and final marking period deadlines looming, teachers and students alike are bound to be feeling stressed.

Here are some stress-preventing tips you can share with your students in these final weeks:

Stretch Out Stress: You could probably use a break from standing and the students might love a chance to be out of their seats and still be following directions. Stretching releases endorphins, the body’s natural stress reliever.

Color Me Relaxed: Coloring books for adults are the latest craze in stress-busters. When is the last time you picked up a set of new, sharp markers and just colored?

Tune Out: Did you know that singing increases the flow of oxygen to your brain and lowers blood pressure? Can’t carry a tune? Don’t worry, humming one note or sound has many of the same benefits. How about a round of ‘name that tune’ next time you have a few minutes before the bell?

Stay Connected: While the students may not have any trouble chatting with their friends, you may have let your relationships take a back burner to work. A quick text, email or call to a friend can remind you that you’re not in this alone.

When in Doubt, Write it Out: Whether it’s stream of consciousness, doodling, poetry or daydreaming about your perfect summer vacation, journaling can help you disconnect from the stress of the day for a few minutes. Spelling and grammar don’t need to count when the journal is for your eyes only!

ROFL: There’s a reason it’s called the best medicine. Laughter releases endorphins, increases the flow of blood to the heart and increases the immune system. If your classroom is internet-ready, why not check out a doggy day care web cam for some quick laughs, because puppies.

Above all, attention to sleep, water and healthy food will help protect you from the end of the year demands so you can finish the year with enough energy to enjoy your well-earned break.

Five Not So Commonly Considered Causes Why the Holidays Are Stressful

Posted on December 3, 2014 by tcadmin

Holidays can be the most enjoyable and the most stressful times of the year. We are all familiar with the common causes of stress associated with these annual events such as financial pressure, fatigue, and family pressures, but there are several less known but equally potent factors that rob people of their seasonal celebrations. The following list represents some of the lesser known reasons and the explanations why:

Loss: While the holidays are typically times of celebration, they can also conjure memories of persons who are not present. The holidays are associated with loved ones no longer with us, conjuring memories and eliciting feelings, which although may be happy, simultaneously cause us to feel pain. This loss also involves the aging of children, our own progression toward later life, and a realization of what we didn’t accomplish in the year that we had wished to. Because the holidays come at the end of the year, we tend to reflect backward, focusing on what we have lost. While this is a very common reaction, it may leave us feeling empty. If we give ourselves permission to celebrate the person or loss, so they can be brought into the present, we can share the sadness and joy with others, leaving us feeling less alone.

Old Wounds: Holidays can be life triggers, sending us back into the experiences of our childhoods; not just to the happy times but also to the hurts and traumas we carry with us. Whether we are talking about family dynamics, such as not being treated like the favored child, or not receiving love the way we needed to feel secure (the love we needed so as to feel secure), we are often reminded of these insecurities at holiday time. During the anticipation of being around family, we are transported into our early years, back to when we didn’t know how to negotiate for what we needed. We sometimes forget we are older and hence more capable of protecting ourselves without isolating or lashing out.

Lack of Self-Care: While we are rushing around trying to accomplish the myriad of tasks that keep us busy in our ordinary lives, we now add the burdens of the holidays. Running around shopping for gifts, preparing foods, being slowed in traffic, or simply keeping it all straight in our heads, means less time for taking care of ourselves. We might not want to spend the money or just not have the time to eat well, exercise, take quiet time or just breathe, leaving us feeling depleted, like it’s a race to get finished. Learning how to be in the present, enjoying each moment to its fullest, allowing whatever outcome may happen, frees us of valuable energy.

Expectations: The need to have everything just right so that nobody is disappointed and everybody has a good time, is a certain formula (is an almost definite formula) for depriving ourselves of peace. The need to have things just right, is a huge burden that’s amplified on holidays. If we don’t get just the perfect gift to express our feelings for somebody or spend the right amount of money, we risk (real or perceived) being judged as a bad friend or family member. If we don’t have the house looking right inside and out, we aren’t a well-balanced person who can handle the pressures of work and family. Our expectations drive us to setting the bar high, which can more easily lead to disappointment. We look ahead toward outcomes instead of enjoying the moment, which can be changed with something as simple as breathing. Get into your body and experience what it’s like to let go and be free.

Diffusion of Responsibility: The priority for getting the house in order, the food made, and the guests to feel welcomed, nearly always falls on one partner more than the other. If you are single, the success or failure is all your own, but if you are in a family, there is rarely a balance. This is the case for two reasons. Firstly, it’s the female who is largely graded on being a good hostess. Whoever wonders to themselves, why didn’t the husband keep the house neater or spend more time stocking the refrigerator?

Try not to get discouraged by these five weighty obstacles to happiness during the holiday season. Simply by becoming more aware of their influence, you are more than halfway toward overcoming them. If we attend to the stressors that typically lie outside of our awareness, then we are less likely to get agitated, and thus decrease the strain on our relationships. Letting others know our reactions creates opportunities for support, which means we don’t have to go through it alone. For more ideas on how to deal with stress of all kinds, consider taking one of our many courses on teachercoach.

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