Where does courage come from and how can we cultivate it in our learning communities?

By Rachel Musson

Where does courage come from? If I said "cold-water, hugging people and humming", you'd probably think I was trying too hard to answer the question. And yet these are three secret ingredients to strengthen our resilience and enable us to find the courage that lies within us all - courage we're all going to need moving forward.

I had the pleasure of spending a day this week with 45 Deputy Headteachers from across the country at the The Society of Heads annual conference, where we were exploring how to have courageous conversations about our complex world - especially with children.

One of the barriers many people face right now - not just teachers - is having enough emotional capacity to even begin to look up and face the big issues happening around us - both locally and globally. Many folks are feeling very depleted, run down and exhausted - and when in this state, it's sometimes hard to even look at the news; never mind face up to its consequences.

Which is why we spent a lot of time yesterday talking about the vagus nerve. If you've not met yours yet, it's the longest nerve in the body, running from the base of the lower cortex and running through many of our internal organs. It's talked about a lot these days by psychologists and educators, as Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory is revealing just how significant role this nerve has on our central nervous systems and our capacity to get out of bed in the morning and face the world.

In a high-stressed, overwhelming environment, our nervous systems are in constant overdrive, rendering our parasympathetic systems unable to kick back in and calm us back down. The growing crises in our communities and growing pressures around us are leaving many folks in a highly agitated state which can then quickly switch into emotional shut-down, overwhelm or numbness. This is simply our nervous system being unable to cope.

Hence the invitation into some nervous-system 'hacks' - simple ways to strengthen the vagus nerve, calm the nervous system and resource ourselves to have strength, courage and resilience to face the world fully. For when we look the world in the face we find the strength to move through the mess into a much healthier place and space.

Here's a few quick tips for activating the vagus nerve and helping to feel more resourced (NB: they're all magnificent!):

🌱 Cold water immersion
🌱 Humming
🌱 Singing
🌱 Hugging
🌱 Being in nature

We are all going to need as much resourcing and resilience as we can muster to face the world as it shifts around us, and so bringing these actions into our daily lives is a beautiful way to strengthen our own courage and feel connected and joyful at the same time.

Thanks to those Deputy Heads who hummed with me yesterday and who stand today with a little more courage in their hearts and resourcing tools in their pockets.