At our last Leadership Matters session in May, we began studying The Mindful School Leader Practices to Transform Your Leadership and School by Valerie Brown and Kirsten Olson. The authors explain the necessity and “Why” for working toward becoming a more mindful person and leader. They also give a plethora of strategies for a leader to implement, to practice being more mindful and thus much more productive, settled, peaceful, and focused!
At our morning session, Debbie gave every Leadership Matters participant a gratitude journal. I vowed to begin journaling in it on a daily basis! So far so good! I can’t wait to show my Leadership Matters friends at our June session! I have always wanted to journal and finally found the right time in the morning to do it, while the coffee is brewing. The authors of the Mindful School Leader suggest that by writing each day about gratitude and thinking about gratitude, you will have a much more peaceful and focused day and remain positive and energized for everything that will come your way.
Kim Cameron in his book, Positive Leadership Strategies for Extraordinary Performance espouses the necessity of creating a culture of gratitude in the workplace. Gratitude has been found to have a huge effect on individual and group performance. Emmons (2003) led a study that had some students keep “gratitude journals,” writing down on a daily or weekly basis positive occurrences in their lives, another group of students wrote down frustrating or negative occurrences in their lives, while the other group wrote neutral occurrences in their journals.
The students who kept gratitude journals as compared to the other groups, experienced less headaches and colds, felt better about themselves and their lives, participated in more helping behaviors, were more alert, positive and upbeat about the week ahead, and these students were tardy less often and performed better on class work. Gratitude had an impact on classroom performance as well as on their personal lives. Further, Emmons (2003) found that expressions of gratitude by one person to another tended to motivate the receiver to pass it on and express gratitude himself or herself!
Guess what? That happened to me! Mr. Positive here sent a text to my brother but inadvertently put in the wrong number. The person wrote back to say, “Who is Glenn?” I promptly responded by apologizing to the unknown text recipient and let him or her know that I had made a mistake on the number, as I wanted to text my brother. His or her response surprised me! “Well at most our phones are working properly J“ I responded, “JLove your positive attitude! The sun will come out tomorrow! (It had been raining that day)” He or she responded, “You kidding? Sun? Your smile is the sun. Wear it, and you’ll always have it every tomorrow! J” I responded, “Good reminder! Thank you! Wearing my smile right now!” He or she finished by texting, “I’m sure then that anyone near you can feel the warmth. Now see what you started? Thank you.”
Not only was I able to pass on some gratitude to the unknown texter, but also I received a delightful amount of positive vibes and gratitude right back. I loved how he or she saw light and positivity in even a dark and dreary rainy day. Now I know that if I smile, the sun will always be out!
As you finish this last stretch toward the finish line and the ending of school. Remember the old song, “You’ve got to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the affirmative and don’t mess with Mr. In-between! SMILE! Remember if you wear it, the sun will always come out tomorrow!
At our morning session, Debbie gave every Leadership Matters participant a gratitude journal. I vowed to begin journaling in it on a daily basis! So far so good! I can’t wait to show my Leadership Matters friends at our June session! I have always wanted to journal and finally found the right time in the morning to do it, while the coffee is brewing. The authors of the Mindful School Leader suggest that by writing each day about gratitude and thinking about gratitude, you will have a much more peaceful and focused day and remain positive and energized for everything that will come your way.
Kim Cameron in his book, Positive Leadership Strategies for Extraordinary Performance espouses the necessity of creating a culture of gratitude in the workplace. Gratitude has been found to have a huge effect on individual and group performance. Emmons (2003) led a study that had some students keep “gratitude journals,” writing down on a daily or weekly basis positive occurrences in their lives, another group of students wrote down frustrating or negative occurrences in their lives, while the other group wrote neutral occurrences in their journals.
The students who kept gratitude journals as compared to the other groups, experienced less headaches and colds, felt better about themselves and their lives, participated in more helping behaviors, were more alert, positive and upbeat about the week ahead, and these students were tardy less often and performed better on class work. Gratitude had an impact on classroom performance as well as on their personal lives. Further, Emmons (2003) found that expressions of gratitude by one person to another tended to motivate the receiver to pass it on and express gratitude himself or herself!
Guess what? That happened to me! Mr. Positive here sent a text to my brother but inadvertently put in the wrong number. The person wrote back to say, “Who is Glenn?” I promptly responded by apologizing to the unknown text recipient and let him or her know that I had made a mistake on the number, as I wanted to text my brother. His or her response surprised me! “Well at most our phones are working properly J“ I responded, “JLove your positive attitude! The sun will come out tomorrow! (It had been raining that day)” He or she responded, “You kidding? Sun? Your smile is the sun. Wear it, and you’ll always have it every tomorrow! J” I responded, “Good reminder! Thank you! Wearing my smile right now!” He or she finished by texting, “I’m sure then that anyone near you can feel the warmth. Now see what you started? Thank you.”
Not only was I able to pass on some gratitude to the unknown texter, but also I received a delightful amount of positive vibes and gratitude right back. I loved how he or she saw light and positivity in even a dark and dreary rainy day. Now I know that if I smile, the sun will always be out!
As you finish this last stretch toward the finish line and the ending of school. Remember the old song, “You’ve got to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the affirmative and don’t mess with Mr. In-between! SMILE! Remember if you wear it, the sun will always come out tomorrow!
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