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Why not, at the start of 2023 make a conscious decision to find moments when you slow down and deliberately invite awe and wonder into your day? See through the eyes of a child;
Why not take an ‘awe walk’ round schools with a couple of children, opening up your senses to what’s magical, what we love about this school, what makes us smile - then share that with the staff and invite them to do the same. Many leaders I work with have incorporated this into their schedule and have shared the restorative and uplifting nature of the experience. Take a fresh mindset:
Our sense of wonder can sometimes fade, because our ‘thinking mind’ takes over - analysing and evaluating our experience, so it quickly it becomes common place. Instead why not practice ‘beginner mind’, as if coming to an experience for the very first time with curiosity, perhaps asking ‘what else might I notice here that I am missing?’, ‘what’s intriguing about this’, or ‘how might I stay open to new possibilities beyond my own immediate thoughts and ideas? Make awe and wonder an everyday experience;
During your day-to-day leadership, when you find yourself caught in ‘disenchantment’, try deliberately turning to that which invites awe and wonder - perhaps a piece of music, a walk into the art room, or a wander round the playground. Consciously savouring everyday wonder is important because it doesn't come naturally and so needs to be cultivated. Negative experiences tend to stand out in our minds, while positive ones can be easily dismissed or forgotten. In order to find renewal in that which is wonderful about leading a school we need to be intentional about reaching for the positive, savouring and sharing it. If you have time to go further, why not listen to this abridged recording from Haenim Sunim of his book ’The things you can only see when you slow down’ In it he explores how those things that make us happy, and invite awe and wonder are experienced more fully when we slow down.
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