Tag: Daily Stoic

Joy – 27th January 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Said for loaning me 100 baht so I could buy coffee.

It is a joy to be hidden…..but disaster not to be found.

DW Winnicott

To-do list

  • More exam preparation ✅
  • Typhoon game for revision
  • Review each hour at night
  • Think before speaking – do not complain ½
  • No Facebook at work ✅

Spent free time at work today finishing the final exam questions. That’s me prepared until the end of April.

I challenged myself today with the question – ‘what can you do to surprise your partner?’ After a little thought I realised I should book somewhere nice for us to go for our tenth wedding anniversary. I’m really happy with myself about that. It will be a fantastic time.

My challenge for each hour of today:
6am – stretch, meditate, shower, eat, five points challenge
7am – drove to work, prepared extra worksheets
8am – got coffee and did some reading from Daily Stoic*
9am – worked more on the IEC exam, went to pee many times
10am – continued on exams and got another coffee
11am – finished exam paper and printed, messaged Jim and dropped off
12pm – ate lunch and read some more Daily Stoic
1pm – watched Coursera videos and failed the quiz
2pm – fixed set up in library just in time for the only lesson of the day
3pm – rushed through the lesson, Jim returned exams for updates
4pm – fixed exam papers and dropped off again, drove home
5pm – finished reading A Chinese Life
6pm – watched some TV, and looked at Facebook for the first time
7pm – ate dinner and discussed holiday plans with Amy
8pm – here in bed, writing this and will read next

*What do you remember reading from Daily Stoic today? If you can’t remember then I think I didn’t really take in what I was reading.

In confusion, a purpose in life, the choice, the problem – 20th January 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Morning ritual (habits)
– read Daily Stoic 365
– movement – the body should be treated more rigorously, that it may not be disobedient to the mind.
– mindfulness – meditation or stream-of-consciousness writing
– mastery – one person likes tending to his horse, another to his farm; I like to daily monitor my self-improvement.

What experiences can you invest in?
– go to school in the holidays and talk to the kids there
– arrange once-a-month free Friday learning in our classroom

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for my new pillow. It seems to be doing the trick for my dodgy neck.

Make up your bed each morning. Studies show this simple act can make all the difference in your day.

ABC article

To-do list

  • More Science of Well Being Coursera ✅
  • Prepare/check next week’s lessons ✅
  • Get photo from when teaching for TLC ✅
  • Next read-to-lead step ✅
  • At home – continue dream decade sheet ✅

Today I found out that I will be put back to CRPAO in Mathayom (high school) next semester. Joe (TLC) said that it was because I refused to do their (Anuban’s) work on the weekend back at the beginning of the semester but I’m not sure if that’s true. I feel like Joe has other agendas that I don’t know about, and that’s ok, it’s just hard to place my trust in him totally.

Anyway, it’s something that is out of the way now, I don’t have to think about it anymore. I can start coming up with work ideas well ahead of time.

Although it’s not startling news, I reacted well. It’s not in my control where they would like me to work. In the past, I can imagine being upset at what could be considered a rejection from Anuban. I know I’m OK, I know I’m a good enough teacher so I have no need to feel down about these events.

I enjoyed my lessons today as they were very simple. I will miss some of these kids and would love to watch them grow. I guess that’s part of this job.

My self-control was not really tested today. The kids were their usual rowdy selves but I didn’t shout to strain my voice. I don’t recall complaining today either though it is still hard for me to recognise.

Tomorrow I will talk briefly with Kru Noon and let her know I won’t be there next semester – maybe she knows already. I’d like to find something to give her as a gift, though I’m not really sure what.

Tomorrow is the first day of English ‘camp’ which should be pretty cruisy for us. Hopefully, I’ll get some free time back in the classroom as there are always many things I want to read and learn about.

The bigger things – 16th December 2019

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Today I asked Kru Tam how she thought I was doing at my job. She gave me positive feedback saying she could tell how much I cared for the students to learn. She did imply that sometimes I have to pull back a little – I think that is more related to my expectations than to my lessons.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the beautiful sunrise I see every morning before school. It’s a reminder of the bigger things, the slow, slow movement of the universe. Nothing we can do but get on with it.

To-do list

  • Most important * Be mentally prepared for the toughest classes of the week.
  • Try to write email to Aaron during school hours – subject: books and kids.
  • Clear all the Daily Stoic reading windows.
  • Congratulate the kids on good work and good thinking.
  • Compliment one of the other teachers.
  • Follow up with Andrew about contact with Indra.
  • Clear some emails.
  • Study Thai for 30 minutes.

Did it list

  • 30 squats and 30 weightless shoulder press
  • 30 minutes study Thai – mostly prep
  • Maintained calm and happiness through two of the three tough classes today
  • I forgive myself for losing it for a second in that last class. How to stop from getting into that situation again? Maybe need to make my lessons more practical. I’m hoping the ClassDojo ideas lessons work out well for those classes.
  • Asked Kru Tam for feedback on my performance – she said she could feel that I was really keen to help the students.
  • She also advised me to try to give them more time and maybe make things a little easier.
  • Sorted some more files for TCRAH
  • Have an idea for TCRAH – to share the music files with a friend and get them to comment on the music, then incorporate that into the actual show.
  • Read some more Daily Stoic articles and closed a few more Chrome tabs
  • Unsubscribed from a blog – content was ok but I’m at the point of having to choose the ones I like best.

I got a headache, like a pillow – 12th December 2019

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

If you got nothing to talk about then there’s always the weather.  Over the last couple of years though, the weather has become a major conversation for most people.  Extremes are getting hit everywhere.  And now having said that……

It’s not just a surprise to me that it’s so cold here in North Thailand at the moment, even the locals say they’ve never felt anything like it.  We all probably forgot what it was like last year.  It’s a bit of a shock to the system though and apparently, this ‘winter’ cold will be over within the week.  It’s actually a nice temperature but I can’t enjoy it because everyone got sick and thought it best to share it with me, so I’ve been rugged up and sleeping it off for what feels way too long.  Hanging out daily with hundreds of sick kids doesn’t help much either.

Another annoying thing is that the temperature had just become appropriate to crack open the bottle of Malt Whiskey I’d been sitting on since last year.  After a couple of nights of enjoyment, the sickness took hold.  Maybe it’s related?  When it’s not school holidays I’ve pretty much stopped drinking now, so I’m a bit out of practice.  This has had some positive health effects in that I’ve lost a little bit of weight without having to do any exercise.  I would like to do some exercise though but……I’m fucking sick.

Anyway, in between working and coughing I’m also in the middle of planning a ten-day or so South East Asia tour for Worlds Dirtiest Sport from France, which is basically Kevin from Trumans Water and his one-man band.  I’m very excited about this.  It’s a great excuse for me to get to see some other parts of Southeast Asia that I haven’t visited yet, to enjoy watching Kevin play each night and to discover the local scenes and bands there.  As well as catching up with some old (and newer) friends.

Whilst doing this I also have to arrange myself a new UK passport, as that is what my Thai visa is attached to.  I got this Australian passport that I’ve never used and not sure when I’ll be able to!  This will mean having to make two quick trips to the British Embassy in Chiang Mai on working weekdays.  This is my opportunity to use the word palaver.

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those days

Dealing with the moving targets of Thai bureaucracy has hardened me somewhat to the bullshit bureaucracy I had to deal with in Australia and the UK with all the visas, passports and information requirements. This time should be a cinch.  Famous last words.

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these days

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to be around the kids at school. Even if they are shitbags they never fail to make me smile many times a day. I can go home with those smiles and forget about how little they actually learned.

Did it lists

“You may not wake up tomorrow”

What did I do well today?
Where were my discipline and self-control tested? Where did I do good?
What did I do bad and why did this occur? Furthermore, how can I improve?

  • Wrote in gratitude journal.
  • Understood more about my students.
  • Prepped next week’s regular class worksheets.
  • Downloaded Daily Stoic Introduction and saved to Drive.
  • Cleared a bunch of emails.
  • Added more books to ‘to read’ list.
  • Finished another lesson plan.
  • Contacted Indra and the venues in Kota Kinabalu.
  • Sorted bookshelves a little.
  • Helped Amy with some planning for students.
  • Read Mark Manson article.
  • Posted gratitude to new friends on FB.