Reflection Matters
‘It doesn’t make life perfect, but with gratitude comes the realisation that right now, in this moment, we have enough, we are enough.’
— Robert Emmons
Over the last ten years my beautiful wife and children have been dragged around Australia by me as I have pursued my passion for education. It has involved stints in alternate education, a disengaged youth centre, a school in a remote part of the Northern Territory, just to list a few. In and around this, my wife has also done some incredible teaching in some of the most challenging of circumstances
and our children have thrived as they have embraced everything that we have thrown at them.
It was during the annual road trip home (Darwin, Melbourne) with a good friend
and teacher Martin (Marty) Buchanan that I really began to get a good grasp on
gratitude. Let me tell you how. At 4:00 a.m., about a week out from Christmas
(both our families had fl own ahead), Marty and I would jump in the car, laughing at how sweaty we already were from the crazy humidity and head back to Melbourne, about 3,800 km away. At this stage of the year, I was mentally spent and normally the idea of a mindless drive back to Melbourne would be enough to tip most over the edge. But, not me, and there was a pretty significant reason why.
Marty Buchanan is a born teacher. He has built his career around what I would
consider a gifted ability to connect with people of all shapes and sizes. He is
genuinely interested in the students that he teaches and they admire and respect
him for this. Marty also has an obsession with making work fun. It was an absolute pleasure to watch him teach. Given that Marty has been leading the Batchelor Outdoor Education Camp for over a decade, it is staggering to think of the impact he has had on thousands of students as they come and go each year.
So, as Marty and I negotiated the first few hours of driving in darkness with livestock wandering all over the road, we slowly began to peel back the layers of the year. It was through the process of the ‘Stuart Highway Debrief’ that I was able to get perspective on what went well, move on from the tough stuff and make plans to do things better the following year. However, the most powerful conversations were the ones that covered the ‘what went well’ moments. Not because it was a bragging session, but because it allowed me a moment to be aware of the good things, appreciate what is valuable and share it with someone else. It was these moments of savouring life experiences, focusing on the positives intermixed with hours of ABC Cricket and hilarious banter about the Wolf
Creek scenery that boosted my wellbeing each year. It reminded me that this should not be a once a year conversation, but a daily reflection to deflect the negative bias we can be swamped by.
Up until recently, it never dawned on me how powerful this road trip home was in
allowing me time to reflect on the year that was and harness the ‘good stuff.’ If I flew home, I would not have had the time to truly reflect on the year, as I hit the ground running with all things Christmas. As it turns out, this wasn’t a fluke. There is a growing bank of research now pointing to the fact that gratitude is strongly associated with wellbeing. Interestingly, challenge and doing worthwhile work also act as boosters to your wellbeing.
My 3,800 km road trip of gratitude is probably not feasible for most, but there
are some other incredibly powerful ways to make gratitude part of your daily routine.
• Tell people what you are thankful for.
• Be aware of the good things happening around you.
• Keep a gratitude diary. Include a daily entry of the three things you are grateful for.
• Write a letter of gratitude to someone that matters in your life .
School Leadership is both challenging and worthwhile, so with some valuable end
of week, term, semester or year reflection, hopefully you will be able to feel a level of gratitude for the incredible work you do.
1. Gratitude is a choice.
2. Give yourself some time to refl ect.
3. Share your successes with someone.
4. Model and teach gratitude.
5. Write that letter.