Red Light or Green Light Thinking

Red Light or Green Light Thinking

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Kristin: All right, our next segment is "All About You." We've saved the best for last by taking time to offer some resiliency strategies that can help in your everyday work. Gail Joseph is here with some strategies to share with us.

Dawn: Hi, Gail.

Gail Joseph: Hi, Dawn. Kristin: Hi, Gail.

Gail: Hi, Kristin. It's nice to be here again. Dawn: We're so glad you're here.

Gail: Oh, good. [laughter] All right, so I have a great strategy. This is one that I use often. And so it really just starts with a question, which is, are you stuck at a red light? So, it's an opportunity to kind of reflect on how you're thinking about certain situations in your life. So, one of the ideas is that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all connected. So, I know we know that intuitively, but we actually have a lot of research that also supports that idea that the way that we're feeling about something can influence the way we're thinking about something, which can influence the way that we continue to feel about it, which might influence the way we behave. Right? So, one thought to have is, am I thinking about this in a red light or a green light way?

So, let me think about a classroom example. So, we've all been classroom teachers. We've all had observations and some feedback from observations. So, let's say that we just had an observation, maybe using some instrument that gave us some feedback, where our supervisor or our coach gave us some feedback, and some of it was positive, but some of it suggested there was room for improvement. All right? And so, great opportunity for red light or green light thinking. Because if you're stuck at a red light, you might think, I'm a terrible teacher.

Dawn: Right, you feel defeated.

Gail: Yes, exactly. That's going to influence how you're going to feel. I'm feeling defeated. And how might you behave? Forget it, I'm not even going to try. Right? I was trying my best, and I still got that feedback. Right? Whereas green light thinking might be, all right, so I did some things well, and I have some areas to improve. All right, so how might I feel? I might feel all right, right? I might feel a little bit better than —

Kristin: I might be able to listen to that positive feedback a little bit more, too, and really focus on that a little bit more.

Gail: Because you're thinking in that and feeling a little bit more hopeful. So, what did I do well? How can I get more of that going on? And then how might I behave is maybe to ask for some support or reflect on and think about how I can improve. So again, very different behaviors, same situation prompted it, but it really is us thinking in a green light way. And I think this comes into play a lot when we're in the classroom and a child engages in some behavior that we find challenging, right? So, we can be in the classroom, and somebody can spit on our face. That's happened to me before.

Kristin: Yes, yes.

Gail: And that's an opportunity, again, for red light or green light thinking. So, red light is, you know, ugh, this kid's a monster, this is disgusting, right, I'm mad, I'm angry, and I'm going to see if I can get this kid out of my classroom. Right? That's a horrible situation. Whereas green light could be, all right, that wasn't very pleasant, but I think he might need some attention. Or he might not want to do the task that I'm asking him to do. Right? So how am I feeling? I'm feeling a little bit more in control in that situation. I'm feeling like I can be a little bit more helpful. And how I might behave is to adjust my strategies with that child. So, red light/green light thinking. And every time now that you're driving in a car and you get stopped at a red light, just use that as an opportunity to reflect and think, am I stuck at a red light with anything that's going on right now?

Dawn: That's so helpful because then I have some hope, right? I can think of something that helps me be more resilient.

Gail: That's right.

Kristin: And remembering that, I like how you said that thoughts are going to affect my behavior, and so, my thinking is the first thing that I can kind of switch or think about that easy, easy visual of red light/green light thinking.

Gail: Yes, exactly.

Dawn: And I can have some green light thinkers in my life.

Gail: You can have some — yeah, you could have green light thinkers. Kristin: Surround yourself with green light thinkers.

Dawn: Right.

Kristin: That's great.

Dawn: Thank you, Gail.

Gail: You're welcome.