The Happiness Algorithm
James Roast
My guest has spent more than ten years in teaching and education. She’s seen first hand the struggles, pressures and demands that both teachers and children face. She’s seen how quickly and easily children can become disengaged when faced with a challenging task; how they feel they CAN’T do something, simply because it’s more difficult to achieve. Sadly, she’s observed how anxious and overwhelmed children have become when faced with the ever-increasing demands from the curriculum and from society as a whole. The feelings that arise from the pressure to conform, to do what everyone else is doing, and the overriding desire to ‘fit in’.
My guest witnessed children giving up too quickly. Beating themselves up because they made a mistake and got things wrong. Their confidence diminishing because they did not get the correct score or they are not part of the ‘in-crowd’.
My guest says that because of these pressures, children lose trust in themselves… they’re unwilling to “have a go”, and as one child said to her, “my worries make me feel as if I’m a tortoise stuck in a shell.”
This sadness spurred my guest on to develop POWER THOUGHTS an organisation specifically designed to help children arrest their negativity and anxiety when it comes to learning.
POWER THOUGHTS is a teaching, coaching and mindfulness-based service which is aimed at empowering children to tap into the ‘power’ of their minds. Sessions teach them how to become confident, resilient, and robust, developing a ‘can-do’ attitude that allows them to flourish both in and out of the classroom setting.
I was delighted to share a conversation with Natalie Costa.
