• Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter

Creative Cynchronicity

  • Home
  • CELEBRATE
    • Christmas
    • 4th of July
    • April Fool’s Day
    • Autumn
    • Back to School
    • Canada Day
    • Easter
    • Family Day
    • Father’s Day
    • Football Friday
  • COOK
    • Egg recipes
    • Chicken
    • Casseroles
    • Canning
    • Canadian recipes
    • Burgers
    • brown bag lunch
    • Breakfast ideas
    • Breads
    • 4th of July
    • Beef
    • Barbecue
  • CREATE
    • CB Chat
    • paper art
    • Fabric Art
    • duct tape
    • DIY Gifts
    • Craft Wars
  • TRAVEL
    • London and Beyond
  • WELLNESS
  • Cyn’s Month
  • CONTACT ME
You are here: Home / LEARN / My Happy Place

June 15, 2011 By cydlee61 1 Comment

My Happy Place

Filed Under: LEARN, London and Beyond, Photography, TRAVEL

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

When I was teaching a Grade 7 class (challenging age at the best of times) at a very challenging school, the other Grade 7 teacher and I would support each other through the tough times, often reminding the other to “go to her happy place”. 

fl28pic

The greenhouses at the London Civic Garden Complex

While we meant it in a “visualize your happy place in your head” kind of way, we also decided that each of us should create a photo display behind our desks depicting our happy places. 

fl27pic

A wedding was just about to begin at this gazebo this morning

Some of the pictures were photos of places we had been to for which we held very happy memories. 

fl9pic

My view as I was doing my yoga at the complex this morning

Some were pictures we had clipped from magazines or printed off the internet of places we wished we could go someday. 

fl11pic

In any case, they gave us a tangible visual reminder of places that were happy and serene, far removed from the daily chaos of our classrooms. 

fl13pic

The roses are just beginning to bloom.  Soon these gardens will just be filled with them!

It’s amazing what a big help a practice such as mentally going to our happy places could be!

fl3pic fl4pic

In fact, knowing that many of the reasons behind the daily discipline and behaviour problems we faced with our students was because of the challenging lives they led, we even gave them lessons on how to go to their happy places. 

fl7pic fl8pic

We had them draw or paint or collage what they would like their happy places to be in art class and taught them meditation and deep breathing techniques in health class. 

beepic

We built extra time into the beginning of each test we gave and led the students through their breathing and meditation exercises as a way of reducing test anxiety and there seemed to be a correlation between this and an improvement in student test scores. 

fl1pic fl2pic

As I mentioned yesterday, the past few months have been somewhat stressful and about a month ago I made a conscious decision to take more time for myself, to find more fun in my life, and to pare back on some things that were becoming overwhelming for me. 

fl17pic

As I’ve been seeking this out, I found myself a happy place where I can go, regroup, relax, and recharge. 

fl26pic

I always find new inspiration there and I always come home ready to create again. 

chipmunkpic

Spied during my walk through the hiking trails surrounding the gardens after my yoga

Where is your happy place?

Previous Post: « Wordless Wednesday: My Roses are Starting to Bloom
Next Post: Bistro Burgers »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. itsMolly says

    June 17, 2011 at 12:24 am

    Gorgeous pictures, Cynthia! Thanks for sharing your story and all the photos. I can see where it would be a happy place. I’ll have to think about my happy place 🙂 hugs, xo

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

ABOUT CYN

Copyright © 2023 Creative Cynchronicity - All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy · Networks