ThoughtBox Education

I accidentally started a gratitude practice when I was training to become a teacher... It was a really tough year personally, with the added strain of my PGCE on top of everything, and I was struggling. But in January, I challenged myself to take a photo every day of one thing that made me happy. Sometimes it was a cup of tea, other times it was a new set of post-it notes, or a poem that felt meaningful. Seemingly little things, but over the course of the year I found myself paying more and more attention to those small moments of joy. The more my attention expanded, the more happiness I saw woven throughout my life, and the more energised and resourced I felt in navigating the hard times. Being grateful didn't mean that I was ignoring the grief and challenges I was experiencing, but it reminded me that my life was made up of so much more than the hard times. Since then, I've practised gratitude more consciously - writing a daily gratitude journal that goes back years, sharing daily gratitudes with friends and family, actively expressing gratitude each time someone brings joy or support into my life. It is also the way we start most of our workshops, our meetings, podcasts and conversations at ThoughtBox Education. It's the first step of Joanna Macy's Work that Reconnects, which underpins a lot of our work. This simple practice is engrained in many traditions and rituals across cultures, religions and societies, and is also supported by decades of research into wellbeing and happiness (I highly recommend checking out Dr Laurie Santos' work). And it does take practice. Often, the times when I least feel like expressing gratitude are the times when I benefit the most from doing so. Taking time to acknowledge what we have starts to shift us into more of an abundance mindset, allowing us to approach the challenges and stresses of the world from a place of resource and buoyancy. Something especially magical happens when we come together to share gratitude - publicly acknowledging and vocalising the parts of life which bring us joy helps us to process our own emotions, find commonalities with others and deepen connections. That's why, each Monday in the Triple WellBeing® Community Hub, we take a moment to do something both radical and deeply human: share what we're feeling grateful for today 💙 If you'd like to join our community of practice and connect with educators all around the world, you can sign up here: https://lnkd.in/ewXJyVdQ

"I'd like to live in a world that doesn't make us ill... Is that so much to ask?" I first started calling myself an 'inconvenient woman' a few years ago when I recognised it was time to stop apologising for challenging so many of the habits, structures and mindsets of our dominant culture and instead own it - own my frustration, anger, activism and deep care for the world and turn it into a positive force for change. It's terrifically inconvenient to challenge the status quo. It's painfully inconvenient to wake up each day and invite folks to question whether the ways we are living are actually good for us. It's endlessly inconvenient to have to face up to the mess we're in and recognise that things need to change - and to get up each day and do something about it. And yet this inconvenience - this challenge - all comes from a place of such care - of my deep love for the world and all life in it. This comes from a deep commitment to support a shift towards a world where live is thriving, not 'just surviving' and where our planet is treated as a precious home to protect, not a resource to destroy. One of the most joyful happenings in my life and our work at ThoughtBox Education has been welcoming Holly Everett to the team - ThoughtBox now has two inconvenient women at the helm :) Two Inconvenient Women is a podcast series we're launching to explore some of the inconvenient truths, possibilities and opportunities of our rapidly changing world. Each episode we’ll be diving deep into the big, tricky issues of our time, exploring what it means to be ‘inconvenient’ in our work to transform lives, communities and mindsets towards a healthier future for people and planet. We'd love to know your thoughts - do take a listen, share with your networks and share your thoughts...👇🙏 I want to live in a world that enables us all to be well. That's all. That's everything. ❤️ https://lnkd.in/e3JFxAcC #Activism #SystemsChange #TransformingEducation #Wellbeing #Sustainability #Education #TripleWellBeing #Flourishing #Changemakers #BeTheChange #RadicalLove #Care #Podcast

Over the years, many folks have asked me why - as a climate-activist whose life is dedicated to “saving the planet” - I’m spending so much time talking about wellbeing. The uncomfortable reality is that unless we address what’s happening to us all on a very basic nervous-system level, we won’t have any capacity left to be resourced enough to do much else other than crawl under the duvet and retreat... Sharing some thoughts, research and quick 'do right-now' activities to resource ourselves and our communities... #SelfCare #Activism #Resilience #Resourcing #WellBeing #NervousSystem #PolyvagalTheory #Psychology #Thriving #Flourishing

A very busy morning - FRONT page of the Times and more interviews to come! Please do check out and share our latest research and insights on #empathy Read the story - https://lnkd.in/ehiT-7xY See the full report here - https://lnkd.in/ecd8rrxT #empathy #empathyprogramme #empathystudios #empathyweek

One of this year's absolute highlights for myself and the ThoughtBox Education team was the Transforming Education Summit that we hosted earlier this year. Over the space of 3 days, education leaders from across the country came together at the Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking to explore ideas for transforming education to best meet the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing world. It was a profound gathering for many reasons, and the ripple effects from our short time together continue to ripple across our individual and collective work in educational reform. Take a moment to listen to what some of this year's leaders had to say about the summit in the short video below 👇 ✴ I'm delighted to announce that we will be hosting another gathering this October and bookings are now open. Learn more and reserve your place here: https://lnkd.in/di6nmETn https://lnkd.in/e_bd5xuS #Leadership #TransformingEducation #SystemsChange #Wellbeing #Sustainability #SocialJustice #Education #Teachers #TripleWellBeing With Holly Everett paula malone FRSA Paul Edmond Tina Farr Jill Howard Alex Cunningham Jo McAndrews Clive Belgeonne Lucy Oliff Elsa Kent Sasha Armitage-Pryce