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Positivity Vibing: Justin Cultivates Core Kindness, Optimism, and Inclusion in Classrooms
177 Plays1 year ago
Tune into a transformative episode of Codeplay Culture, where we spotlight Justin, an exceptional schoolteacher revolutionizing the educational landscape with core values of kindness, optimism, and inclusion. Beyond the realm of textbooks and tests, Justin channels his passion for positive change, creating harmonious classroom environments where every student feels valued. Discover his innovative approaches, including the enchanting positive songs and vibrant cartoons featured on his YouTube channel, Troubled Socks. This episode delves into the ripple effect of fostering a culture of positivity in schools and the lasting impact it can have on young minds. Whether you're an educator, parent, or just someone longing for an infusion of optimism, this episode is a beacon of inspiration. Dive in and immerse yourself in Justin's world of heartfelt education.
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Transcript
Introduction to Codeplay Culture Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Codeplay Culture Podcast, where we discuss tech, gaming, health, and the world around us. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another exciting episode of Codeplay Culture Podcast. I am Logan, together with my dynamic duo co-host. You got Rui? What up, Rui? How are you? I'm good, man. I'm good. How are you, man?
00:00:24
Speaker
Very good. Um, uh, just got back from the zoo and the place was, let's just say, you don't want to go on a Friday, you know, it's like hindsight, 2020 Monday, or some place during the week is, uh, the school trips are like close to the end of the year, you know, but, um, yeah, it was walking around. Yeah. Yeah. The silver bat.
00:00:46
Speaker
Man, those things are beefy. Those things are like, man, I got to do more pushups. You know, I'm like, these things, when they get smart enough, they're gonna, they don't need us, right?
Meet Justin Williams: Teacher and Mental Health Advocate
00:00:56
Speaker
And we got our guest today, Justin Williams. How are you, dude? I am good at doing good. Thanks. Very happy to be here.
00:01:04
Speaker
And Justin, maybe you want to go a little bit into what you do and why we're all going through this student mental health through kindness and music. And this is part of the health, wellness, well-being part of the podcast and the cultural part of the impact and some of the work that you're kind of instrumental in that area.
00:01:32
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Well, I guess I'll stop saying my main job is a teacher. So I've spent about 24 or so years teaching most of it in elementary classrooms, a little bit of in middle school. And a lot of what I'm going to talk about today comes from a chunk of it comes from that experience and sort of what I've learned over the years that hasn't worked for me and has worked for me and the things that I sort of think of
00:01:59
Speaker
I guess have been helpful in terms of helping students in my class be mentally healthy. I think I'm going to be as adventurous as to say that. I also have some lived experience myself.
Understanding Mental Health vs. Mental Illness
00:02:11
Speaker
I mean, I'm not sure, Logan, how much you and I have even talked about this, but I do live with bipolar.
00:02:15
Speaker
and some mental illness that I've had all my life. It's not exactly what people think it is. Like a lot of people have this stereotyped image of these extreme personalities. Just to cut it short, everyone has a base level and everybody goes a bit above that as a little bit of a high goes down. It has a little bit of a low that's perfectly natural.
00:02:35
Speaker
If you have bipolar, then on a recurrent basis, you will go higher than most and lower than most. And in both those situations, it usually needs treatment. So so most people have most people have bipolar, but they just have it at a smaller, I guess, cap of that, you know, high and low, right? It's just basically if it's wider, it's now
00:02:58
Speaker
what they call this, if it's shorter than it's, you know, it's like somewhere on there. Yeah, everybody's mental health goes up and down, right? You can do things after your mental health, like you can, you know, you can do favorite activities, you can exercise, make time for yourself. There's a lot of things you can do for your mental health, just like for your physical health, like you could eat healthy, you can exercise, you know, drink water, gets lots of sleep.
00:03:24
Speaker
These are all great ways of looking after your physical health. Same way with mental health. And to make the comparison, like, you might be really healthy and look after your physical health really well, but you can still get a disease, right? You can still get cancer. You know, you can still catch viruses. There's all sorts of illnesses you can get. And your mental health is the same. And a lot of people confuse mental health with mental illness, but it's not really that. It's like, same thing. We all have mental health.
00:03:51
Speaker
we don't all have a mental illness.
Creative Teaching: Music and Kindness in Education
00:03:53
Speaker
And bipolar would be an example of an illness that typically requires some form of treatment. And it's usually recurrent like mine recurs every over a period of years. So I'll go through it through an exceptional high that is uncomfortable comes with negative issues. It sounds positive, you know, to just be high, but it's not it's got a
00:04:14
Speaker
Definitely got a negative impact then, of course, the depression afterwards is, you know, people are very familiar with that sort of term and the things that sort of go along with it. So today, I guess, just to be clear, we're talking about mental health, not mental illness. And I'm just touching on it because I think that my experience with mental illness has led me to care about mental health a lot.
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, so were you one of those kind of contextual people that went through this hardship, realized that, OK, I need to figure out a way out of this. Once you figured out that, you know, this is how I solved it, I need to help other people because I don't want anyone to feel that way. Like, what was your kind of like, you know, journey out or still hovering or dipping in and out of that?
00:04:55
Speaker
Yeah, it was very much like you say that it's like a big part of it was going years untreated and sort of witnessing the havoc it can cause on relationships, life in general.
00:05:08
Speaker
And then realizing how amazing treatment is. I mean, we talk about surgeons, they get all the glory, right? Like surgeons, they save lives. They're psychiatrists, they save lives too. And they don't get quite as much credit out there. But yeah, it's that experience of that that sort of led me to
00:05:26
Speaker
initially focus on my own mental health a little bit more and then to take that you know to think like well where can we start how early can we start can I have do something about the children in my care as a teacher can I do something to help their mental health and so sort of developed some strategies over the years that work for me and hopefully that's what I can share today the one other thing I guess I should mention now is that
00:05:53
Speaker
I never quite use the word musician, but I do write songs, play guitar. And over the years, I've done songs most years with my students. And in the last few years, I've started to take them a step further and go into the studio and record them. And it's sort of a collaboration process with a very good friend of mine who's very talented. And we put out these songs are about kindness and about mental wellness. And I feel that the two are very much tied up together.
00:06:21
Speaker
Yeah, so so that's like incredible because there's so much going on in the world that is counter to that. Right. And that like so like probably like what zero point five percent of the people are really pushing what we all need in society, which is like that kind of topic. And
00:06:40
Speaker
You know, the opposite of that is like pushing gangster rap or, you know, whatever mainstream music there is. And you're a bit humble, too, right? Your stuff is good. You know, your music's good. You know, the harmony, the melody, it's like it's all produced well, it's quality. And then the fact that you're bringing in, I'm not sure if you guys remember
00:07:00
Speaker
when your kids like big shiny tunes and all those CDs, there was like sometimes you can get like a cheaper version where the kids sing the lyrics and like they would sing like Backstreet's Back or whatever. I forget those ones, but this is, you know, much different. You know, it's kind of just I'm going to get I'm going to bring them along the ride with me and in in that song and or in the series of songs and indirectly or teach them
00:07:27
Speaker
without teaching them, right?
Art and Effort: Engaging Students with Creativity
00:07:30
Speaker
You know, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you if a kid thinks they're being taught, they probably won't learn, right? You almost have to like that's the way it seems. Yeah. Right. So if you can't really be kind, you know, and beat it into them, you know, like, you know, not I'm just saying you can't really like force you have to like, you know,
00:07:50
Speaker
provide some examples which you know in Troubled Socks you go into YouTube and I watch every one of them and I'm subscribed and it's just that art style is incredible. Maybe you can talk a little bit about like how do you create those videos and you do it with the students as well. Yeah, so a lot of it comes out of, well, much like you were just saying, you were talking about this, you know, not over teaching in a way. There's this element of sort of self-discovery that's kind of important, right? Like once a child discovers that, oh,
00:08:20
Speaker
When I'm kind, it feels really good for me too, not just the person I'm being kind to. There's this element like you're talking about of sort of a self-discovery, right? You can sort of provide them all the tools with being kind. You can teach them about compliments, about sharing, about including others. But it's really when they go forward and they discover it themselves, how good it feels that they go on. And so we write these, I don't know, I guess it starts out as phrases, like literally just children would just write phrases about being kind. And we put them up on paper around the room
00:08:49
Speaker
And we start to pull some of them together and you know once you start to get like a theme like once you know the main song on the channel is about this alien who comes to earth and he wants to learn about being kind.
00:09:02
Speaker
But once you've got the theme, then the children start creating more and more ideas around it, like what should happen to it and what should he do. They write stories about him. He becomes this like character within the room that has a personality. And from that point on, usually I've got some chords going and an idea for a tune and we sort of just piece it all together really. And it lives like that in the classroom.
00:09:24
Speaker
for a long time for like a year and then eventually in this room you see here I put together like a little demo of it and then I take it to my friend's studio and kind of that's where the magic happened where it suddenly sounds like a finished product. Wow yeah that's amazing and how do you guys create the
00:09:42
Speaker
The art of that do you draw that stuff like I know I know that you and the other people in in in our group like they they're very artistic right like Yeah, so I'm like I'm not sure if you guys all like I don't know like we're like close or because like sometimes artists in general kind of hang out with other artists and
00:10:03
Speaker
I remember growing up I was like in a group of you know, four or five kids and we're all I mean you're in school So you draw because you can't really like do like go like they give you paper and pencil So, you know what? I'm not gonna learn I'm just gonna draw and doodle like art is like for me one of the most awesome things about school So I was in a group of like five different artists But I was like the worst but I was just like copy theirs and try to get better like I would learn from them but it sounds like you guys kind of like
00:10:29
Speaker
You guys were tight growing up and you guys are all incredible artists. Do you do some of the art digitally or do you use a tool or a combination?
00:10:41
Speaker
Yeah, no, well, yeah, certainly a lot of people in that group are interested in art. And you mentioned just now, like, your love for art. And I really want to come back to that. You can sort of put a pin in that. That's a really good, really good point. But yeah, although I didn't grow up with those guys, we've sort of discovered through skateboarding that we have these these personalities, these things in common and art is one I do most of my art on an iPad.
00:11:05
Speaker
Um, just with the Apple pencil and put it together like that. And then I use, I use final cut pro to put it back into the video and sync everything and animate it. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, yeah. So, and some of these are teaching certain, they're, they're different. They're teaching different lessons, right? About, you know, sharing and about like, you know, sticking up for friends and about, um, you know, how kindness feels good as opposed to.
00:11:35
Speaker
You know, you never really like, you know, cut, if you cut some guy off in a road and like yell at each other, whatever, you never like walk at home like, yeah, I had a great day, you know? And for some reason, like the human mind tends to, there could be a hundred amazing things that happen that day. If there's two that were bad, you're going to like ruminate on those, right? Which I feel is really that like lizard brain protection of like, I need to make sure nothing bad happens to me so I can survive or whatever. But yeah, like,
00:12:05
Speaker
It feels good to be kind, right? It does. Well, and then it's sort of, maybe I can take that into this whole concept of like what, what I found for me helps make a sort of healthy classroom. Because a big part of that is the kindness piece, but it starts with me for taking the pressure off. And I think just like when we're in work, right? Like it's horrible when you, if your boss is peering over your shoulder or if you've got tons of pressure on you to get stuff done.
00:12:30
Speaker
It's not good, it's stress, right? And we get stress hormones released and we end up tired, exhausted, not enjoying things. Classroom can be the same. I mean, if you can imagine turning up and constantly thinking you might get a test and that you are constantly judged against these grades of A, B, C, D, and there's all this stuff associated with getting an A, and then all the stigma of getting a C or D. So basically I take grades away.
00:12:57
Speaker
I don't really do grades. I still know where my students are. That's important to keep track of and what they need to learn next to progress. But when they start the year off, I tell them like you're going to be in this room, you're going to be judged on your effort on how hard you try. And secondly, on how kind you are during the course of the year. And I'm like, I'm going to teach you lots about both. Wow. See, see two kids working on a paper on whatever.
00:13:26
Speaker
One can get an A and one could get a D, right? And when you tell the kids that, the one with the A gets this huge pump up, like, wow, I got an A. And the one with the D thinks, oh, well, I didn't do, I'm no good at that thing. But if you take both kids and you look purely at how hard they worked, then you might well find that you can say to both of them, like, whoa, like, you worked your socks off on this. That's incredible, like, what a great job.
00:13:53
Speaker
You know, I can't believe you put that much time and effort in. You're concentrated on it. You'd ignored a lot of stuff. Brilliant. Well done. The two of you. Off you go. Both kids leave having had a positive experience and all that matters. They can't do better than their best. None of us can. All you can do is your best. And for some students based primarily on how much they've practiced something,
00:14:17
Speaker
Like practice does just make you better. So you come into the classroom with different amounts of practice of reading, say, or writing. So you're naturally at different levels. There's no point just pointing that out to everybody. You're an A, you're a C. But that effort thing, if you can get a class of 24 students and every single one of them is trying their best, what more can you ask for? You can't ask for that. You can't expect everybody to be getting A's. Like that's unreasonable and it's going to cause everybody to be frustrated.
00:14:46
Speaker
So there's this element of like, you know, constantly talking about the effort and being honest about it. Like if, you know, if somebody's not trying hard, I mean, sure, one day here and there, like we all come in, you know, one day haven't slept well enough, right? So you can't bring your A game, you know, another, maybe you've had an argument before you came in. All sorts of things can happen and make you unable to bring you your best
Growth Mindset: Effort Over Grades
00:15:09
Speaker
effort. But if you notice in that happen over time, you have to sit down and have a chat with someone about, you know, it's a student about like,
00:15:15
Speaker
what's up, like I need you to be trying your best, like you need to be putting more, it needs to be accountable, like the effort piece can't just be fluffy, like you're all trying so hard and well done, it does actually need to be, you have to need to be actually somewhat precise about it.
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah, the whole effort thing where you were you grade based on the grade, the measuring someone based on the level of effort towards kindness or the level of effort regardless. Like I remember the first time in school I realized I love school was I had a grade six teacher.
00:15:46
Speaker
that said, you know, you're not putting enough effort in or something like that. And then I just I was like, well, maybe I'll just do it and I'll just be super proud of everything I do. Like it was some kind of weird like mental duping political manipulation or whatever it was. But it really if it wasn't for that grade six teacher, I probably wouldn't have like cared so much about trying. Right. And he I feel like
00:16:11
Speaker
I can't remember when it was going through it, like if that was it, but I just remember, okay, I'm gonna really try, I'm gonna like, and then it's like, you know, like a certain,
00:16:23
Speaker
Like Rui and I, I'm not sure if you play games, but sometimes when you walk around like an area in the back of like some big building and then there's like a piece of cheese, right? You're like, oh, the game rewards you for exploration, right? So like basic, I put in all this effort with this grade six teacher and then I was like, here, like I love this. I'm so proud of it. Look how good this is, right? And it was like A since with, you know, with him and then, you know, seven and like it changes teacher to teacher and, you know,
00:16:53
Speaker
But I just remember he rewarded me from that to actually try. And then the effort I put in was like, yeah, it's like, it should be all grading that way. Like, you know, I was like, say the two things that school doesn't teach is kindness, right? And also how to make money. Because they essentially teach long division. And like Rudy and I are both like,
00:17:21
Speaker
computer science engineers, right? Like with program, right?
00:17:26
Speaker
I don't even know how to do long division, right? Like, I don't, like, I just. Nor do you need to. Yeah, that kind of stuff. But I'm like, I'm like, man, like it really completes the school system in my head, like what you're doing on that side. Like you kind of have to make money because of capitalism. But then the other hand, like none of that matters. The only thing that matters is love, compassion, kindness and your social impact for others and encouragement, you know.
00:17:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's a big part of it, isn't it? And I mean, you know, going back to that classroom, if you can alleviate that pressure of marks, and everybody's going to have more fun, which when you're dealing with seven and eight year olds, or even adults, isn't that the main thing that we're all turning up? And if we can be enjoying what we're doing during the day, that's going to make a massive difference to our lives. And definitely, I think we can all agree to our mental health, right?
Meditation in Schools: Benefits and Challenges
00:18:16
Speaker
Like, yeah, you know,
00:18:18
Speaker
so do you ever do any like meditation with the kids in the in the day with like close your eyes five seconds focus on your breath or kind of any kind of walking meditation or just listen or are they too like like their kids at the end they they're just wild or like what are your thoughts on um mental health meditation
00:18:37
Speaker
Well, those things are like definitely they have a place like I think they're great. And depending on the class I've got, I'll do those things more with some than others. But yeah, they're definitely very good. We talk about having the right energy level for certain things like if you go out and you're about to play gym, you need to be able to find ways of bringing your energy level up.
00:18:57
Speaker
out of regulating that. Like if you're feeling a bit sleepy, like how are you going to snap out of it? We'll come up with strategies for that, but also with strategies like you just described, like a breathing strategy is good for when you come in from gym class and you're about to walk through a hallway where other classes are going on and things, you know, and you've got to just bring that down.
00:19:13
Speaker
Yeah. So even just sort of making them pause for a minute, you know, rather than telling them, you can just explain like we're coming in, we're in a hallway, there's a bunch of classes going on, like, what do you think is the kindest way to move through the hallway from here? And if you've provided them with the right tools and the right words, most of them will say it's better to move along with calm energy now.
00:19:35
Speaker
which they'll know you know in my class they know that means just bringing your voice down you don't have to walk silently you know there's no need for that sort of thing but we do just walk quietly we can talk to each other we just got to outside they've been shouting right like it's been a gym class it's been on a field they've been having a call to each other so bringing it down so like you say like this sort of meditative type approach can be helpful in that certainly a lot of teachers are using
00:20:01
Speaker
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00:20:32
Speaker
You know, Megan and I went to a school barbecue the other day. They're all having this around this time of like, okay, I don't know what to do with the kids, but you know, let's just, we're all excited to get the rig out of here and just like enjoy summer. Like from the, everyone, you know, including the parents, like I want my kids home. So they're having the time in their lives, you know, until they bugged me to the point where I'm like, let's put them in camp. And like, you know what I mean? Like there is a kind of like, okay, well let's have fun, but let's also, you know,
00:20:59
Speaker
But we're just sitting there outside enjoying, I think, ice cream truck. It pulled up to the back of the school.
00:21:07
Speaker
And like kids are playing out there basketball. I'm like, it's so loud. It's so loud in the school, so loud in the classrooms. There's gotta be like a audio tour, you decibel level that is harmful, right? Like I'm like, how, how is this not harmful on the ears? And I, and I, and I said to Megan, I was like, you know what? Like, uh, I first knew of like the piece that I could get from harmful high decibels when I had like Bose noise canceling, not the ones, not the buds that I have, Justin, but the ones that go like these ones, right?
00:21:37
Speaker
And I would just flick it on when I was in a Milton Spore Center swimming pool, like, because it's loud in the swimming pool, right? And I'd flick it on and be like, oh my God, it's peace. So I mean, like, what's your experience with that? Like, is the school, it's too loud, right? Like, it's in certain spots?
00:21:57
Speaker
It can get that way. It can get that way for sure. I mean, there are little things like that. We don't often realize that we're doing that can pump kids energy levels. I mean, even the way you, you walk through the hallway, I feel like, okay, we're heading to music class now and you march off quickly down the hallway. Well, they're all going to come behind you with that energy. Right. Like trying to catch up that this is going to be the energy you create, but feel like, okay, we're going down. Now you wait for the line to be calm. You walk very, very casually.
00:22:25
Speaker
down that itself just creates this sort of calm atmosphere. So a school can get kind of noisy and crazy. But there's definitely things you can do to mitigate that where it's not needed or where it's detrimental. And you mentioned something just now you mentioned just now that you you said that you loved art. Yeah, school. I mean, really, did you like art when you were at school?
00:22:50
Speaker
Um, I did. I did. I think, I think everybody innately loves art and to draw, but the talent is never truly developed or, or built upon. Right. It seems like it's, um, kind of a lost endeavor for most. Certainly in a lot of places. See when you said that earlier, I'm like, well, I love dark growing up too. And I still do love it. I am not like.
00:23:17
Speaker
you know, I couldn't turn out a Mona Lisa. I couldn't turn out a beautiful landscape. Like I have a little niche style of art that I do and it's cartoony style. But I did grow up loving art. And I think like most teachers will say this, like when your kids come into your class, if you say to them, it's time for math, you'll get a few groans. And there'll be a few groans that you can't hear, but you can see in their eyes and face like, oh, it's math. If you say to a class, it's time for art.
00:23:43
Speaker
It, everybody pretty much unanimously loves it. And I think it's because like, if you, if, yeah, if you think back and I don't know, Ruby, do you have, do you have kids? Personal question. Yeah, right. So, so we'll all be able to relate on this being dads, because the moment your child brings you a piece of art, it doesn't matter what it looks like. You're like, this is amazing. This is beautiful. You did this? What?
00:24:12
Speaker
I had no idea you were an artist. You know what, this is going up on the fridge. And everyone who comes in the house is going to tell you how good your bit of art is and how beautiful. The kid goes away. The three of us as children walk off thinking, wow, that was cool. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed what came at the end of that. So I'm going to go do some more. Yeah. And then, you know, of course, practice just makes you better. So a child goes off and keeps drawing and drawing. They come back pretty good. I mean, like Ruiz said, you know, there's
00:24:40
Speaker
later on, like, do we develop the arts? Do we put enough emphasis on them to churn out these, you know, that's definitely questionable. But at that level, they're getting this positive feedback. Now, for most of them,
00:24:54
Speaker
when they've handed somebody a piece of math, somebody might have just gone straight to like, yeah, it's wrong. You know, straight up, you got the wrong answer there. So you can see you've got the opposite negative. And with a piece of writing, it can be maybe more nuanced, like why, you know, you did some good here, but you missed all your capitals and periods. Right.
00:25:15
Speaker
Again, it's just this critical approach that doesn't seem to come into art because it doesn't matter what that piece of art looks like. We tell them it's brilliant and we do genuinely love it. But we need to have that approach in all the subjects, like the first piece of math your child brings you. You've got to be like, you did this?
00:25:33
Speaker
You don't even care if the answer is right or wrong. You work hard. That's incredible. I had no idea. You try to figure it out how? That's phenomenal. If the answer is wrong, you're not even going to mention that. Praise is all on the effort and the fact that they did it. Stick that piece of math up on the fridge so that everyone comes in as to tell them what a brilliant piece of math that is.
00:25:55
Speaker
And this is something that's really important I have in the classroom. So when kids come to me and they're like, I know that some of them will turn up with a negative attitude to math or writing. So I get rid of all of those titles. I don't call them that. And I talk about us being creators all year long. And sometimes we're creating with lines and colors and shapes. That'd be like our approach to art, say. Other times we're creating things with numbers.
00:26:18
Speaker
We might be attempting to create a solution to a problem. We're going to use numbers or math type manipulatives, you know, which could be blocks, shapes, all sorts of things. And other times we're going to be creating with words. So then you can just praise their creative process. And again, focusing most of it on that effort, like you wrote this. I had no idea. You are an amazing writer, like all these positive affirmations that you are good at this.
00:26:44
Speaker
You know, if you can put that into all subjects, I mean, I see it, you know, by the end, not even by the end of the year, but a couple of months in, you have turned people around when it's free choice time. They're now saying, can I work on my writing? Right.
00:26:58
Speaker
And that's a big turnaround when they're starting to say that, whereas everyone normally in free time would be like, can I do some drawing? And I really think its roots are in those initial reactions. Wow. So it starts from the level of effort that you put in from drawing. And then because of the encouragement that you get, hey, if I'm not going to get encouraged from my effort in drawing,
00:27:20
Speaker
Why would I put in any effort into anything I don't like? Because I'm not getting the base level of encouragement that I need from art. And it starts from art and then just spreads like a flower from there because of the encouragement. That is amazing. That is exactly what happened. I had teachers that would make fun of my art in grade five and grade six. It was encouragement for effort and that's kind of turned it all around. What were you drawing?
00:27:50
Speaker
I was drawing like a lot of like, you know, Mortal Kombat, like blood dripping, fatality. I remember one day this, this teacher in grade five, he was like, he was like very deep voice. Like, I feel like he could like, you know, crush a wall just by winking at it. I don't know if he like bench pressed students or something, but he was like, you can draw, you can draw gore after school. I just remember that. Like, I'd like, like the moments you remember in your life, right?
00:28:18
Speaker
or you can draw fatality after but uh you know like as adults we we yeah we tend to focus or not not um identify the positives in situations right we always tend to pick out the negatives because human beings would gravitate towards negative it seems to be something that's uh you know in us but uh we don't see the positives of situations where we should be looking strictly at the positives positives first kind of building on those and uh
00:28:45
Speaker
I'm kind of putting the negatives at the back, like behind,
Fostering Positivity: Encouragement and Kindness
00:28:50
Speaker
right? At the positives at the forefront and negatives follow if you need to point them out. But yeah, positives should be.
00:28:58
Speaker
pointed out and built on as a base, as a baseline. Yeah. And I think you're right. Like we are perpetual fault finders, right? Like our instinct is to some, for some reason to look at the negatives and we have to make a conscious decision to turn that around. Like, Oh, I didn't come into teaching like this. Like this is all things I've discovered and felt along the way. But yeah, yeah, we, we've got to get out of that. Praise the effort. We can't ask kids to do any more than their best.
00:29:27
Speaker
And in order to do their best, they've got to feel encouraged. They've got to feel, you know, not a pressured environment, an environment where they're free to take risks and chances. And an environment that's full of choice, like your teacher, they're telling you, you know, you can't draw this stuff at home.
00:29:43
Speaker
Like no, like art should be free choice. And nowadays we've got so many avenues and so much technology that can be used. Like, you know, okay, like Father's Day is coming up. So you want to create a card for Father's Day? Like what are some ways you could find a really good card? Like, you know, okay, I could go online and I could look for YouTube videos. Yeah. I could Google it.
00:30:02
Speaker
I can ask a friend, I could create something from my own imagination. I know that my dad likes soccer, so I could make a book, you know, all these things rather than saying we're all going to make this one Father's Day card, you know, and that's it. You've got to have this pre-choice. Same with writing, you know.
00:30:21
Speaker
like you can teach students about adventurous words or even like you know punctuation capitals periods but when they go off to practice it write whatever you want write a story about what you want tell me about your weekend anything you know go and write a
00:30:38
Speaker
I don't know, a paragraph about an animal that you're interested in, you know, go look up some facts about it. Like as long as they're writing, they're practicing those skills rather than just saying, okay, today we're all going to write a letter to so-and-so, or today we're going to write, you know? So instead of having that framework, just, yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah, no, I'm sorry. Go ahead. You're just, you're just, you're just trying to make it more fun.
00:31:06
Speaker
Right. You're just trying to make it as much fun as you can while you're in here. You know, we're going to practice all these skills, having as much fun as we can, being kind to each other.
00:31:16
Speaker
which again is another point I guess we'll come on to in a bit. That's a big deal that you said is not in curriculum really and that we have to be teaching. But yes, this fun environment, you know, an environment is focused on effort which you can control. You've got a lot more control over your effort than you do your current grades.
00:31:36
Speaker
this idea of a growth mindset, you know, kids understanding, the more you practice, the better you get at whatever it is. Like Logan and you and I as people at Skateboard, like that's innate in that, like you practice. And we go around and we point at people and be like, Oh my God, that's great. And we're all doing that. And now you see the other day, there was a kid that is showing up now in the morning because he wants to be with these
00:32:00
Speaker
you know old old men with midlife crises or that's me pointing out the bad or whatever but we encourage each other it's a positive group it's it's like it's not about because there obviously is a problem with skateboarding where
00:32:14
Speaker
People don't clap unless it's like, oh, that's actually really good on like an Olympic level or whatever it is, right? But if you're just like learning to Ollie and stuff like that, it's the level of effort that's put in for that person in the stage in their life that they need at the time and shouldn't be compared to like whatever at whatever stage of life or growth or whatever. It's the level that you're trying and the
00:32:38
Speaker
or not even trying, even if you're not trying, it's just being encouraged to try or just being encouraged. Encouragement can go such a long way. What you're doing with the students with that, how would parents listening do that with their own kids at home? To encourage effort, just whatever they want to do, encourage them along that path?
00:33:05
Speaker
Yeah. And I think like there's definitely a lot of, um, you know, what's that cool? We're like, like we as parents were like, well, I was a really good, you know, football player in school. So I really want my child to be a good football player or hockey or whatever the example might be. And I think there's definitely this thing of recognizing that they find their own way. And the moment you spot a glimmer of interest in them, you just praise it and see where it goes. I could really like that you're into this new thing. Like tell me a bit about it.
00:33:32
Speaker
Oh, you know, you've spent a good, rather than saying how good you've got at it. Talk about the time they've spent on it. You're really impressed by the effort they've put in there. Like, why are you spent all evening working on that? Like, great job. And like you said, that whole skate groups kind of got it. Cause we're all at very different levels and everybody's very supportive of each other. It's an incredibly positive environment. And I think the child that you're talking about,
00:33:55
Speaker
Cause he turns up and like you said, he's, he's with all these sort of old men to him, but he loves it. It's a good environment to be in. And I believe his mom even said the other weekend, how much she likes him coming out with us because we provide this safe space, which has been like,
00:34:13
Speaker
created with no rules or anything. It's just what happens when you put a bunch of kind people together, you get that environment, which is why we go back now to the roots where you've got to teach those kids how to be kind. You've got to learn it early on. And along with, like I said, along with effort, kindness is the next thing that, you know, gets taught level with it, not the ones above the other.
00:34:36
Speaker
But, you know, teaching kids a very early age sort of, you know, what a compliment looks like or even just asking them instead of telling them to be quiet. You can, if you sit at the front and you say, OK, well, I'm here and I'm about to read a book to you, what's the kindest thing you can do right now?
00:34:54
Speaker
I'm like, they know, like they're like, Oh, I can sit here and listen to you and I can look like I'm interested. I can look at you. Like, do you know what I mean? Like there's all these things they know. So asking them what's the kindest thing you can do right now is a great go-to question in class. Um, but also teaching them like, you know, okay, so there are compliments. So what does a company initially, initially when they start throwing compliments out, like some people would be like, that's not a very good compliment. It's not genuine, you know, because that's where they start, where they start to be like, you know, I really like your until you make it.
00:35:24
Speaker
Yeah, I really like your socks and they're just plain white socks that you wear every day, you know, but they're starting, right? That's the first stepping stone. You go, oh my God, you just noticed my socks? Like, that's so kind of you. Thank you. And they walk away. I got to see your socks, man. The way that you say socks is like so good. It was like, there's got to be something up with socks. Like, did you buy like socks.com? Because I'm like, man, like,
00:35:47
Speaker
yeah it starts with something simple like man you got really sweet socks and and then they're like they're like me yeah and then it just blooms for there and then yeah these old things like and then you look down and they're like there's holes in them and stuff and they're just like man those yeah man those are rad like thanks man
00:36:08
Speaker
But like you say, yeah, you fake it till you make it, but also like you appreciate that effort. That kid just tried to say something nice to you. You just tried to put a smile on your face and they're learning that it looks, it feels good for them too. They're learning from the early stage that actually when I'm nice to you, I go away with a smile on my own face.
00:36:31
Speaker
Right. You know, so we've got to look out for those moments, but we've also got to explicitly teach them, you know, with that constant reminder of what's the kindest thing we can do right now, you know, and we'll have like daily circles where we talk about differences, for example, is is big, right, a big topic right now that we're talking about, you know, differences in people that you can see visual differences, you know, no hair, hair, skin color,
00:36:57
Speaker
Body types all this sort of stuff is getting talked about but delivered through the lens of kindness Like so what's every every difference? It's like what is amazing about this difference, you know What is amazing about not having any hair or what is amazing about your skin color? But all through this lens Kids are very very receptive to it. It's it's grown-ups people have grown up without that Avenue in we've become like
00:37:24
Speaker
Well, not everybody, but a lot of people become, like we just said, these perpetual fault finders. Like you can come up with a very negative, kind of the right word, but negative sort of attitude and a skeptical sort of approach to things, you know? Yeah, right.
00:37:41
Speaker
And the fake it till you make it part is maybe not giving yourself enough love. Like the way that I say that it's just it's a catchphrase. But really, it's you're trying your very best to do something that you're not natural at. And it's and you're not different than others. We're all inherently, you know, majority
00:38:01
Speaker
you know of humanities like that innate kind of negative focused where if you as soon as you start down that optimism path it's it grows and it's infectious and as long as you continue to remind yourself that
00:38:16
Speaker
you need to keep on this path and you're doing a good job and you know people start noticing like hey man like I really appreciate and it starts as the fake right because it seems almost ingenuine but then as you develop the your your your
00:38:32
Speaker
you know, the gray matter in your brain that will help with that, right? With empathy and love and kindness, you actually do find you can see these with a more clear lens of like, these are the things that they're doing that I appreciate and you couldn't see it without it.
00:38:50
Speaker
So, you know, go to a mountain for like 10 years in Tibet and meditate and you'll come back, you know, pretty much blissfully enlightened. But just prefrontal cortex growing your empathy can be practiced with being optimistic and complementing and encouraging.
00:39:12
Speaker
and over time that will grow and it and it's infectious and they say that you know when two people are fighting you can't like you know you can't fight fire with fire right um but you can say you know if you've you know fought fire with water or like you know two people are fighting you're like
00:39:30
Speaker
Man, well, you don't want to say you have nice socks. That could be like, at that point, it's like, okay, them to fight mois, you know, but be like, it's like, you know what, you deserve better than, you know, this conversation and us, you know, I respect you and care about you much more than maybe I say, like you basically just go right to kindness and that diffuses everything. I mean, as soon as you like, yeah.
00:39:58
Speaker
Yeah, it all depends, Logan. Who are you fighting with here? Is it? Yeah, I'm thinking about a spouse or another. No, no, no, no, no. You get a wife. Yeah, yeah. No, I was just thinking about a public. Right. You know, at the skate park and and Justin, it wasn't the person that, you know, you were mentioning that the kiddo is like a teenager that was super. He comes late at night at
00:40:24
Speaker
And I just told him that we skate in the mornings and he started showing up once in a while.
00:40:30
Speaker
It was all from encouraging him and going there. And I feel like every time I'm there, especially in the evenings, I've like slowly stopped trying to listen to music so much and slowly stopped thinking so much about myself when I'm skateboarding. For me, I'm like thinking, hey, I'm a big buff beefcake in the gym. I'm running on a treadmill. I'm focused on my gains. I want a pound of protein shakes after and I don't, whatever. But then basically that morphed into
00:40:58
Speaker
I'm just going to skate around. I can watch people just encourage it. Just looking at someone and giving them your full attention is enough encouragement that it's like, hey, but not adding something to it. I know as soon as you look at an in-scientific experimentation, if you look at it, you've changed the experimentation at that point just by giving it your attention.
00:41:25
Speaker
But, you know, in this case, it's fine. I mean, you're not experimenting. You're basically giving them love through your awareness for them, like, but not adding something on top where you're like, looking at, like, I'm not looking at you, skateboard Justin, be like, I hope he really falls right now. Fall, fall, fall.
00:41:43
Speaker
Like I'm like I'm like I just basically without adding anything I just give fully almost meditate on giving that person No meditating would be doing like it's just the awareness gently placed with love on that person like unconditionally and that itself helps just Looking people in the eye and it's like if you're if you're just going on and just you don't notice people that's
00:42:11
Speaker
It's much better to encourage and be less self-centered. Before I go off on the rant here, I wanted to ask your opinion on self-love and confidence. So what are some things that students, adults, anyone can do is to generate confidence through self-love. A lot of people are self-deprecating mentally where they're saying like, no, I suck. Why did I try that? Damn.
00:42:40
Speaker
Stupid you know what I mean like that's self demotivating that that inner narrative So the only thing that I've done and I can't I don't have the you know spare cycles to like sit in my car for You know an hour at lunch and meditate as much as I did when I was you know younger, but it was called meta which is
00:43:00
Speaker
You just focus, you kind of like close your eyes and you review things that you did that day and you encourage yourself. Like it's almost like yourself looking at yourself. It's like, you know what? That was really nice. I'm proud of that moment today where I, I could have said something, but I held back because I care about that person or whatever it was. So other than that, like I really have no, you know, you know, I guess tools in the toolbox and I wanted to get your opinion on anything about self-love and confidence.
00:43:30
Speaker
I think you, I think you sort of touched on two important things that you started out saying about, you've got to fake it to make it, which in a way is just saying that, you know, anything we start with typically not very good at when we first started, right? If we are, it's because we've had practice in something similar. So, you know, even if you're just sort of faking it in the compliments, the kindness thing, that's like how it starts.
Building Confidence: 'Faking It to Make It'
00:43:53
Speaker
You know, you could say the same about sort of.
00:43:55
Speaker
If you go out and start playing tennis tomorrow, well in the beginning you're kind of faking it in a way because you're just turning up at the tennis court like you're a tennis player, but you don't really know what you're doing. What gets you better is ultimately that you keep turning up and you keep practicing and having that sort of mindset, that whole growth mindset about, yeah, the more I practice anything, the better I will get. And then there's, there's the component of like, okay, well,
00:44:17
Speaker
If you and I both take up tennis tomorrow and you practice for 15 minutes a day and I practice for an hour a day, I think we're all in agreement that eventually I'll end up being a better tennis player. And then there's other things that come into play, right? Like the quality of your practice. Well, is your 15 minutes with like, you know, one of the Williams sisters, like maybe that's going to break it pretty good 15 minutes. So there are other factors, but it's basics for children. It's just really, you know, comes down to the amount of time that they put into something.
00:44:46
Speaker
So that fake it to make it relating that to the fact that it is a controllable practice. We're going to start out faking it, but it's eventually going to come a skill set that we have. And then, um, you know, in classes as, as, as best as I can, trying to teach people or students to be kind to themselves, like they're really good at complimenting each other, but we'll also have times where we'll go round and we'll, those that are comfortable enough, we'll say something about ourselves that we like.
00:45:13
Speaker
And we'll try to end the week with a question like that, you know, like, what is something that you like about yourself? And like this week we're doing, I think I mentioned, but visible and invisible differences. So students at the end of the week, we're talking about what is a difference, either one that we can see in you or one that we can't see in you that you really like about yourself.
00:45:32
Speaker
And eight-year-old children, they're amazing. I mean, they'll sit there and they'll say things like, you know, oh, I really like, you know, that I have a faith. I have a religion, you know, really like that. And, you know, two children later, like someone will say the same thing. They're completely different religions quite possibly. Do you know what I mean? But there's no angst. There's no separation among them. There's actually a commonality like, oh, you said you like your faith. And I said, I like my faith. We have that in common.
00:45:59
Speaker
you know not looking at the negative at that age, not looking at the differences and maybe, maybe we are sort of perpetual fault finders and maybe we are often adults slightly cynical, maybe because we didn't have this as we were growing up, maybe because we didn't have this teaching, we weren't able to set those habits in early on. Instead it was always people pointing things out that were wrong with your writing.
00:46:22
Speaker
or the four math questions that weren't right, you know, as opposed to the 10 that were like, maybe we were sort of trained at an early age. I mean, who knows? I mean, this is beyond my skill set too. That was definitely, I mean, I remember being in the gym and climbing a rope and there were kids couldn't make it to the top and teachers, the phys ed teacher would basically tell them that,
00:46:45
Speaker
You know, Bob can make it to the top. Why can't you make it to the top? And it, I'm sure it doesn't feel good. Right. Um, but yeah, they used to hit kids with the rulers, right? Like, I mean, it's come a long way of like, yeah, the gym teachers, I remember are just like, all right, we're going to talk about dirty stuff and then you guys are going to hit the weights. And if you can't get that rope burn of like, it's a little kind of like, but I would say like.
00:47:12
Speaker
I didn't learn, I didn't have the much, I don't want to pigeonhole anyone, but yeah, the education system or humanity has come such a far away, right? And you're at the forefront of that part for education. So if you were superintendent over, let's say, a series of schools, and you were able to, not
00:47:35
Speaker
pushdown seems like a hierarchical old style of saying it, but if you're able to encourage people to have those same benefits, the widespreadness of that
00:47:47
Speaker
What we all need to have bestowed in our kids that isn't inherently innate by birth is such a huge opportunity. You're going to continue to do more and more better things at bigger scales. The world needs you, Justin. The world needs to clone Justin's. If you have a series of machines that you can patent over the weekend with
00:48:18
Speaker
Well, I should probably point out that although it's me you've got sitting here in front of you, the good news is that there are loads of teachers out there teaching like this now. You know, this is like a growing community of educators that are all at different levels of this, myself included, like, you know, I hope in five years time from now, I'll be better at this than I am right now, that there'll be more things I've discovered in my program and I'm getting better at.
00:48:43
Speaker
But yeah there are lots of people out there doing this sort of thing now and the kindness lens in particular there's so much for that like educators that you can follow on instagram and various other social media platforms are doing like a great job of making that their focus because.
00:49:00
Speaker
A lot of people will say like, oh yeah, I do teach about kindness in my class, but the real question is, but do you teach about it every day? Do you use the word kind like 20, 30 times a day in one way or another? Like how do we be kind that right? But that was really kind what you just did. It's got to be like a central part of your program.
Kindness as an Educational Pillar
00:49:20
Speaker
You know, the most important thing we can do as educators is turn out good human beings. Absolutely. It's got to be the priority. Absolutely. And so you have to have this like part where it's just an integral part. You're not just throwing it around here and there a couple of times a week. Your kids need to realize that this is everything. Everything we do is through this lens of kindness. Even like when you go to work, like, oh, I've asked you to do this, come up with a creative piece of writing. Like what's the kindest thing you can do right now?
00:49:49
Speaker
Kindest thing I can do right now is try my best for the next 20 minutes, right? Like the two suddenly go hand in hand, the trying your best piece to be in kind. And, and also explaining the kids that when you're being kind.
00:50:05
Speaker
Like a lot of this Logan you sort of talked about earlier, like even their little skate group, like people are actively kind and children need to realize that. Like they'll sometimes, an example might be children playing outside and somebody's walking around at recess on their own. And you're not sure if they want to be on their own or if they would actually like to be in a group, but they're not quite brave enough or not feeling confident enough to come up and ask.
00:50:29
Speaker
So a lot of people might be like, well, being kind is not excluding someone. So I didn't exclude that person because I didn't tell them they can't come and play. But kids need to learn about adults too sometimes, but need to learn that. Yeah. But being kind is the active part. You have to actively be kind. You have to look around for people like that. And then you have to go and ask them and they might be like,
00:50:48
Speaker
Oh, God, thanks for asking. Actually, I'm just hanging out on my own. I just need some downtime. Even little kids are learning to self-regulate when they're exhausted from the busyness of something. They will often walk around with a friend at recess for some downtime. But being actively kind. OK, you weren't unkind. You didn't exclude anybody. Were you kind this way? Is there anyone sitting here in front of me that at recess, you went and asked someone to come and play with you? Initially, three hands go up. You keep asking that question often enough.
00:51:18
Speaker
eventually a lot of hands start going up because they're like okay and it's a habit it's like you'll fake it to make it like yeah it's just a habit you know if you get into the habit of going out there and looking for people that are left out or you know on their own or sit other situations like that you know looking around the classroom for somebody who's looking a bit confused and looks like they could do with a bit of help on their work like the classroom has to be a collaborative place you know it can't be like you have to do everything on your own like you cultivate this
00:51:45
Speaker
this caring environment where, yeah, look out for someone who looks like they're struggling. And if I haven't spotted as the teacher, like you go help them, like all of this, but this active kindness bit, the power of it being a choice is a big deal for me. I think kids are naturally kind. I think that they're born with it. They just need that encouragement. Unlike adults who lose that as they get older, right? Because we become cynical.
00:52:10
Speaker
And that vanishes, but kids, they're naturally like that. They just need that push. Right. And then we need to like maintain it for as long as we can, because I don't know what's going on in high schools. You know, I don't know how much of this I get the impression, not as much. Like I said, I get the impression that this is a sort of wave that is starting to come through elementary schools for sure.
00:52:32
Speaker
But, you know, what happens to these guys when they go to secondary school, is this going to be nurture? I mean, it has to be, it should be, um, it should be nurtured all the way through so that we're finally, when you leave school, you're leaving as this person who is educated in being as kind as you can out there and trying your best in all that you do. Right. Right. A decent human being benefits of society.
00:52:59
Speaker
Right. And you think about it like, who do you like to work with? Well, you like to work with nice, kind people.
00:53:05
Speaker
help make your day pleasant and fun. You know, the grades? Well, I don't know. Like, how is it? It's important? I don't know. I mean, I'd rather work with somebody with lower grades and a really great personality, kind, fun to be around. Yeah. Makes me feel good. I can't wait to get you over here for like, I'm not sure if you got plans tonight, Justin, but we'd love to release heading over. But if you, if you want to come by for a drink or whatever, but I
00:53:33
Speaker
or I know it's short notice, but I would love to show you this thing that's on my. Actually, I'll probably show you now. But my dad, before he passed, he like frame this thing for me and it's some artwork. I'm not sure if you can see that. So like basically just a couple of different things. Right. And then what he does is he he framed the the marks of the teacher like in the criticism. Right. And then some of the some of the stuff is like
00:54:03
Speaker
It's the very, very heavily critiquing the art. And then I remember my dad was like, yeah, that teacher grading that was pretty harsh. Like those look great. Right. And I remember like my dad was a big proponent of encouragement, like without my.
00:54:20
Speaker
Without my mom pushing me to be more regimented and work hard and without my dad giving me the big heart that I have today, he was just all love and almost blinded by love.
00:54:39
Speaker
like that's all that mattered and my mom was like work but because of that I'm like none of that mattered but it's like grading art is like it's like at the end of the day it's just easy like did you did are you proud of it like an ornament actually saying that is like it's so difficult to like not hurt so all you have to do is continue to try until you like get to the point like
00:55:01
Speaker
Um, I know really we talked about how like, you know, you wake up in the morning and if you can just get to bed and then not hurt anyone is basically impossible because you'll say something or something like it's all about minimizing harm. But then even if you add.
00:55:15
Speaker
I mean like even if you weren't kind to anyone, if you just went around minimizing harm, that is so kind on its own and completely underrated that you chose not to do that. You chose not to say that thing or you chose to include someone.
00:55:32
Speaker
I was at the skate park a couple nights ago, and you know what I've started doing with inclusion, like you're talking about Justin, is not a lot of people play games of skate with me because I don't miss a lot of the flat tricks, right? I don't miss-
00:55:49
Speaker
Yeah, well, I get I get why that they won't invite the pool shark to play pool with them in a competition. That's like, you know, you know, I or whatever. I just I'm consistent. I'm I'm consistent at the tricks I can do. Yeah. And then and then basically so I was playing a game skate with this one person. There was only a couple of people at the park.
00:56:12
Speaker
And then I was like, I invited the other two. And the way that I asked them kind of mimicked how my son asks, like on a very kind of like, you know, you know, young level. And I basically go up to these teenagers like 19, like 20, like maybe, you know, 21. I'm like,
00:56:31
Speaker
I'm like, hey, would you like to play a game Escape with me and I say it like in a kid's voice like almost like this is my true like I couldn't say it there but it was like a true genuine like, you know the way that you would say that something like that, right and And yeah, it was like it was like yeah, I'll play like I'm like it's like he's and then they realized they're like, oh crap They're like I'm gonna lose. Oh, it's like well, it's it's about
00:56:55
Speaker
And I said, it's about just trying things new and like, you know, because I don't really step outside of my comfort zone unless I'm put into a position where I have to. And that's why I love playing that because I can't do certain things. So I'm like, I got to get other people to do it.
00:57:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's like we're all big kids, right? And if you can go up to another big kid and say, like, you know what? I would love to this weekend. Like, go up to a random adult and say, hey, would you like to be friends with me? Like, I think that is so, that is in our soul. And bringing that love out is like
00:57:37
Speaker
Like if we were taught this kindness that you're teaching to the kids, inherently over generations, that's probably how adults would communicate with each other once we get this negative, you know, lizard brain, you know, fight or flight out, you know. I'd love to think so.
00:57:55
Speaker
I love to think that's where it ends up with that. Yeah, just a much because you do sometimes like you for people avoid eye contact walking by each other a lot. Yeah. Right. People have often had negative experiences of walking by people and something unpleasant happening.
00:58:12
Speaker
And, you know, we want to try to reduce that as much as we can. And definitely, you know, there are some, you know, hardships that, you know, we haven't touched on, you know, but definitely there are, you know, like a tough question, which I don't even really know the answer to, but people ask me a lot, like, what's the kindest thing to do when someone's being incredibly unkind to you? You know, and then there is an element where you have to be kind to yourself in that situation and you have to be
00:58:38
Speaker
confident, but remove yourself from it. There's all these different strategies and nuances where it does get complex. But I think because we're sort of talking at it through a lens of actively teaching kindness, actively creating a space in which people can have fun and try their best.
00:58:56
Speaker
And just I guess the umbrella over that is that all of these things go under the umbrella of mental health. They're good for all of our minds. It's much more fun being a teacher in that situation. I know it's more fun being a student in that situation. Yeah. So like you say, like, you know, the more we can encourage people in and I think like your game of skate, it sort of speaks to that example, though, that
00:59:21
Speaker
We've got to try not to get too hung up on the outcome and it's that enjoy the process, you know, enjoy the journey, not the destination like that one. It's kind of like, well, if we can enjoy just skateboarding together and not worry so much about who's going to win that game, do you know what I mean? But just enjoy the fact, oh, so and so just invited me over. Yeah, it'd be great. I'll come and do that.
00:59:43
Speaker
You know, again, it's, you know, like you're an actively kind person, Logan, like at the park, you really make an effort to be inclusive and engage people in conversation. So.
00:59:54
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you. I went through this where if I stop, it just all goes back to default. And if I'm not actively practicing kindness, compassion and caring, if you're not completely thinking about it all the time, like you talked about, does it all have to be like the other teacher? Does it all have to be kind all the time?
01:00:13
Speaker
Yes, it does because as soon as you stop and it's happened to me before where I've like stopped It's like four months of like right back to where I don't want to be in life, right? So you have to always Continue it you have to like what is um, I remember the one of the best insights from like the two hours of you know meditation I did in my car for like probably like seven or six years was
01:00:40
Speaker
every time you speak there is so much like what was the intent that you were saying that like when you when you chose to say you know Alex when you told to say this to Sally like what was your intention like when you said that like what did you want to get out of that like what was your underlying and and and a lot of it if if left to their own
01:01:02
Speaker
You know means is is self serving and you know whatever but but not in kids i mean as you get you know there you get kind of harder overtime unless you encourage it and you moisten your heart and you kind of like you get less rigid and you get more you know lucid.
01:01:18
Speaker
You have to just know what is my intent of saying that? It's like, oh, my intent here is awful. I need to stop this immediately and having that ability. Why am I doing this? To get that or to make them feel like that? No, I'm not even going to say that at all. It's just being aware of your intention.
01:01:38
Speaker
Oh yeah it's a habit right like two two students fighting over there who i want to sit there and i want to sit there and they both got to the chair at the same time and that's another thing about the sort of taking the pressure off in the classroom is having that option where you can sit anywhere.
01:01:51
Speaker
that you want, you know, having lots of range. You can sit in a group over here, or if you're having trouble focusing, there's some individual seats over there. If you want to sit with a friend, there's paired seats over there. But you know, two students who get to the chair at the same time and, you know, little push in and shove in like each one wants the seat. And if you just stop them and say, what's the kindest thing to do right now? It will, I guarantee most of the time it will flip flop into, you have the seat. No, you have the seat. No, no, you have the seat. Like it just takes you to stop.
01:02:21
Speaker
And ask yourself, like we get caught up, you know, if you actually stop and say, what's the kindest way to get through this next little 30 second decision or whatever? Usually they actually know.
01:02:33
Speaker
You know, what's the kindest thing that we can do here? It's like, that's a great mantra, right? Yeah. It can be a next tattoo. Yes. I was, I got to get like, I know that you have a sleeve and, you know, Megan's like, oh, you've lost weight. So when are you going to get all tatted up so you can get like, you know, I'm like, yeah, let's do it. What do you want me to get first? I'm like, because I wanted to do it once I got to the ideal, you know, you know, body weight or, you know, muscular mass of like whatever before I,
01:03:01
Speaker
tattooed on like a circle and then it stretches out to be like a, you know, a hexagon or whatever it is, right? Because you don't want to like, you know, you want to like get to the, your blank canvas and then paint, not like, you know, paint a flag and then roll it up to, you know, whatever analogies are messed up. But I will say that, uh, no idea.
01:03:24
Speaker
really. Thank you. Oh, you're so amazing. And, you know, Ruby and I met because we're we care about each other so much. And we just mutually love and respect each other. And as soon as he's on a call, or we're on calls together,
01:03:42
Speaker
It's like I'm a kid again and we're just like, what fun can we have today? And it's just like if you surround yourself with positive people and you try, you'll be positive too and other people will come for the journey. And you're kind of leading that journey in the education system and we're leading it on the
01:04:03
Speaker
in the skate park and really now you're eating it in tons of areas, work, home, in religion, everywhere. So, Justin, wrapping up here, the Troubled Socks is on all social media platforms? Well, we're on Instagram and we're on YouTube. We do have a website in the making probably coming out in the fall with a new song as well. And really, you know, the Troubled Socks, yeah, to wrap it all up, I mean,
01:04:29
Speaker
Is there any better way to learn a message than through a song? I mean, especially when you're young, I remember all the songs, you know, that I listened to lyrics that I, songs I listened to in my teens and early teens even, you know, but I can't remember the words sometimes the songs I've written early on.
01:04:48
Speaker
they're somehow ingrained. They really have a big impact early on. So if kids can be singing, you know, each and every day, all about kindness and listening to songs about kindness, then surely that's got to help with that final sort of stamp on the envelope sort of thing. You know, final touch. Yeah. Let's put it into a song. Awesome. Yeah. Like, uh, I think, uh, Monday, really we'll, um, when we talk to our, you know,
01:05:15
Speaker
our group there, we'll just, you know, instead of, you know, giving them the encouragement with words, you and I will do one of those like harmonica duets. And they'll be like, and then at the end of it, they're gonna, they're gonna be like, wow, those guys are great. And I got motivated too. And it was
01:05:33
Speaker
It was a pretty badass song too. It's like, okay, well, and then if you get on Spotify too, let us know because we'll put that in the description. It would be good to push your kindness out to as many people as possible. I'll put all the links to Justin at Troubled Socks in the description. Thank you very much. We'd love to have you back on. Thanks so much.
01:06:00
Speaker
I really enjoyed that whole hour of talking. It was really good, so thanks very much for having me on. It's really nice meeting you, Rui. I hope we get to meet you in person at some point. Absolutely. All right.