‘Winter at our back spring revealing itself.’

Roshi Joan Halifax
Abbot, Upaya Zen Centre

Renewal and the promise of spring

We have just passed the Spring Equinox, when day and night are in balance, the earth turns, and the season of spring with its scent of renewal begins. This newsletter will come into your in boxes on the last day of a challenging term for so many. This Easter break seems even more important than usual.

Why not use this vacation time to practice a little personal renewal?

Renewal is not the same as rest or relaxation. It's a deliberate practice of nurturing and sustaining ourselves. As Boyatsiz and McKee say in their book Resonant Leadership:

‘We need more than rest and relaxation. We need renewal in order to sustain ourselves. Reversing the slide into dissonance, and keeping ourselves energised as a leader are possible only through practicing renewal.’

As we stand with winter at our back and spring revealing itself, why not make renewal part of your day over the next two weeks?

How Mindfulness can help

Our lives are lived in moments. One breath at a time, one step at a time, one conversation and one action at a time. Mindfulness helps us to catch ourselves, and ‘wake up’ when we are not present for these moments. If we are not present then our default way of living tends to kick in, and we live as if always about to ‘get somewhere’ as opposed to ‘be here’. When we are not fully here, we miss the momentary opportunities to renew ourselves.

Mindfulness helps us to connect more fully with the state of our bodies, our emotions and our minds. When mindful we are both more likely to recognise the symptoms of fatigue, low energy or overwhelm, and give ourselves permission to practice self - care and renewal.

This is not a selfish act, it’s an ethical act. When we are under resourced we are less likely to be fully attentive to ourselves and those around us, and therefore less effective as a leader.

In the article ‘Serious leaders need self care too’ the Harvard Business Review explores why we find this so hard. They suggest we make it ‘micro’. So let’s explore some simple ‘micro’ practices that will renew and restore you in the midst of your day to day work.

Re-acquaint yourself with what nourishes you

It’s all too easy when in the midst of a busy term to neglect the nourishing activities which can help renew us and instead 'push through and plough on' doing those things which we know we have to do but may not be so nourishing. This further depletes and exhaust us.
Why not use this Easter to remind yourself of those things that nourish you - whether it’s walking in nature, cooking a meal, or spending time with friends?
Perhaps set an intention to find those nourishing moments even in the midst of a school day - hearing children sing, kicking a ball in the playground, chatting and having a laugh with valued colleagues - these are all micro moments of renewal that can make a difference.
The wonderful Tim Brighouse had a lovely way of talking about this practice when he would encourage those of us who worked with him in Birmingham to ‘buy hyacinths’. In other words, don’t forget to bring into each day those things that feed your soul.

Be aware of time travelling

Watch out for when, on holiday, your mind pulls you into the summer term, which can be accompanied by a creeping feeling of ‘anticipatory stress’. This is normal and it’s simply how the mind behaves, but it impacts on our ability to renew ourselves. The invitation is to notice mental time travelling the moment it begins and practice a quick ‘re-set’ to bring you back into this moment, this day, this holiday.
- Stand or sit down and let your breath settle into a regular rhythm. Place your attention on following the in breath and the out breath;
- Make your out breath slightly longer, and on each out breath notice and drop any tension in the body. You might feel it in your jaw, your shoulders or your hands. Allow the breath to soften and release this tension;
- Take this moment, like a spring leaf to 'unfurl', steady yourself through a few intentional breaths, and then move into the next moment of your day.

Find perspective and practice gratitude

It’s easy whilst caught up in the day to day, to lose perspective of just how amazing we are, and what a great job we are doing in these tough times. Ron Heifetz in his book ‘Leadership on the line; staying alive through the dangers of leadership’, encourages us to take a wider and longer view by spending time ‘on the balcony’ as well as in the thick of it ‘on the dance floor’.
This holiday time you are invited to spend some time on the balcony, allowing yourself to look over your leadership naming, and re-living the previous moments of the spring term when you were showing up as your most authentic and best self.
Find encouragement to take this stance in the words of Jon Kabat Zinn; ‘maybe the fear is that we are less than we are, when the actuality is that we are far, far more’.

If you have time to go further, here’s the paper from Tim, ‘How successful headteachers survive and thrive’ that includes the invitation to collect hyacinths and many other words of wisdom.