Attitude of Gratitude...

"An attitude of gratitude makes everything better!" Straight from the mouth of one of my second grade students this week when doing a lesson on mindful smelling. Interesting, huh? We were talking about the smell of flowers and how that smell makes us feel. She blurted out, without raising her hand, that the smell makes her feel grateful...and then she proceeded to tell us about the attitude of gratitude. Love it! This was the best "blurt" all week. :)

It was especially timely to have this lesson and this particular student reminder because that very morning started off with a bang. Angry parent phone message, of course. That put me in a bit of a funk, so this reminder could not have come at a better time. Isn't it funny how life does that? It throws things our way right when we need them. I thought it also fitting that the above image was in my inbox that day too!

Now, let's get down and dirty about gratitude. Why do we forget to be grateful so easily? There are plenty of good-natured, kind-hearted and wonderful humans out there who OFTEN forget their gratitude pants! I am going to do my very best to be grateful more today than I was yesterday. And then, the next day even more. What if we all chose to do that? Oh, I can see a school climate movement in my imagination future!

Today I am grateful that our district plans a spring break. Next week I will be grateful to sleep past 4am each day! What are you grateful for?

The spirit of a child...

My little buddy and I shared a special treat today at the cafe in town. Since he met his attendance goal, he chose to have lunch at the cafe as a reward! A treat for me too! 

As we sat and talked, while waiting for our food, he asked several similar types of questions. It went something like this: "Would you rather be a stop sign or a store?" "Would you like to be a horse or another wild animal?" "Are you a car or a train?" And then this was followed by other simple statements like this: "Wanna play tic tac toe?" "My favorite food is shrimp." "I'm gonna have cake!" "I bet those people on the sidewalk are coming in here!" And then something like this: "My belly hurts. I think I slept too much." "I'm gonna eat everything." Followed by, "my family is gonna love the leftovers!" :)

As he sat and chattered away, I could not help but reflect on the simplicity of it all. What a treat to be reminded that it truly is the little things in this life that make our world. If we can see the beauty in the little things around us or even in simple questions, then we have really lived. I think we should all take a little kid to lunch once in a while to be reminded of this very fact. 

Here's to that next lunch date! 

When you're feeling too busy to reflect...

If you had to write an advertisement... TODAY!

I have this elementary lesson that walks the students through writing their own advertisement for a good friend. They have to post an "ad" that clearly defines what a good friend is and what they would look for in such a person. Sometimes the kids do not really understand what I am asking for. Sometimes they use terms like "athletic" and "cool" as what they are looking for... and then we dig deeper. Loyalty. Honesty. Open-minded. Positive. Joyful. Hard-working. These are some of the words that surface through our discussion.

Today, I was asked to give some ideas on what I would include in an advertisement for my school. If I were attempting to show all that my school has to offer, in a nutshell, what would that include? Wow. Trying to capture the culture, the history, the energy and the feel of this environment is certainly a task! It made me step back and focus only on the positives. As school counselors, we often work in the trenches trying to improve upon some of the negatives, which drives some of our focus inevitably onto the negative. I loved this inadvertent shift in attention. I consider myself a positive person, but I definitely needed this!

Today, a group of teachers got together to provide lunch for us! Today, we had a positive meeting all about how to make the culture more positive! Today, I made time for lunch with colleagues! Today, my Kindergartners were attentive and engaged! Today, my therapy dog was extra cuddly with a sad student! Today, my coffee tastes extra good! Today, today is a good day!

Wheew. All in just today! Now, let's get to writing that advertisement...

Misunderstanding, with a twist...

Instead of explaining anything, sometimes it is just better to listen. Maybe, most of the time. I am afraid that, all too often, we do not actually listen to others. Most of us listen by thinking about what to say next... but when it comes down to it, we need to retreat to the basics. Listening deeply, intently and with the open-mindedness to hear all things, even those we do not want to hear.

Miscommunication is common. So common, in fact, that we are willing to settle for it on a daily basis. Why do we do this to ourselves? Often, I find myself asking why a student or colleague hasn't talked about their issue with those involved. Often, the answer has to do with fear. We have become humans who don't communicate effectively because we fear confrontations. Hmm... 

I guess I need to go back and re-read the book, Courageous Conversations. Or look back at this website: https://courageousconversation.com/ 

Time to do some learning. Cheers to Friday!

This day... today is the day.

Though I didn't think about it completely, I guess I should not have been surprised when I ran into some very stressed, confused and emotional teachers and students today. At first, I wondered what was going on, and then one person came to apologize. She, so graciously and emotionally explained that today was difficult on a number of levels, "and then there's the whole inauguration thing going on too. It's really hard for me." This person went on to explain a few situations in her life where she had been sexually harassed by males, and then she reflected on how she would be feeling today if (on top of being female) she was Latina or African American or disabled, etc.

What a chilling reminder that there are many people feeling many different feelings today. Whether you're happy or upset about the events happening in our country right now, I think it is important to remember that we are all in this together. I say it all the time but, "we are all on the same team!" So maybe some of us won't be watching the inauguration proceedings today, but we can do other positive things to move forward. And maybe we will be watching, which will hopefully lead to much contemplation about what good we can do for others. Uniting and standing together for the common good of all... now that sounds like something I can get behind.

Something to ponder for those not watching today...

Excitement. And love.

Speaking of excitement! Winnie (my therapy dog) came back today after a long break to have her NINE puppies. Talk about excitement.... the kids and Winnie were beyond themselves. Notice the blurry tail in the picture below. She has not stopped wagging her tail all day! When we got out of the car, she sprinted to the front door of the school. When we got in the building, she sprinted to my office, saying hello to anyone she found. Then, because it was too early for people to be in the halls, she sat at the door howling until someone showed their face. Her excitement certainly rubbed off on me! What a good way to end the week.

Now, what if we all got this excited about coming to work? What would the day look like? Really. Take a minute to think about the hilarity of it all! Makes me laugh out loud. Yet, when you really step back to think about it, it would probably transform a lot of days and even the culture within the building. I love the quote above about kids loving excitement, but staying where there is love. Here's to starting the day off with excitement and following it up with a whole lot of LOVE.