Giving Thanks!

        As my 8th graders know, I am a huge Jon Gordon fan. We spend part of the year reading pieces of his best-selling book "The Energy Bus" to help us learn the rules and tips to live a positive and healthier life. But as we approach Thanksgiving, Jon Gordon has more great advice and information for us via his weekly newsletter/blog. Our 6th graders even read through an older version of this blog in class. I have placed a link to this blog post below, but a couple of most interesting pieces of information I liked....

 *You cannot experience Gratitude and Stress at the same time. So if you are thinking of things you are thankful and grateful for, you cannot be stressed at that moment!

 *Feelings of gratitude help your body to produce endorphins which, in turn, can help you experience more positive feelings and can help you fight off depression and sadness.

 *And after reading about his idea of a Gratitude Walk, I challenged students to take a Gratitude Walk once a day when they go from one class to the next.


 We wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe and joyous Thanksgiving Break. Please read Jon Gordon's weekly newsletter entry this week about the Power of a Thank You (and if you have a Twitter account, follow Jon Gordon on Twitter...always great inspirational quotes and information from him on that platform1)

Writing Those Thank You Notes Can Help.....You!

 


      Well, Christmas and the Holidays are over and 2013 is here. And soon it will be back to school and the march towards summer will begin. Even if you have already made that New Year's Resolution, maybe you have room to make another. Challenge yourself and your family to write thank you notes this year and say thank you to those who have helped. I know my kids have been busy writing lots of thank you notes the past week or so. They were very blessed and got many gifts from many people. I think each child got a gift from about 10 different people. But with 4 kids, times 10 gifts, that means 40 thank you notes have to be written this week. AACK!! But we have a system and we keep the notes short and to the point, but still make them very sincere. And most importantly, our children know how important these thank you notes are. It shows the people that gave them gifts that they are appreciated, they are cared about, and they are loved. But I have also been helping my own kids learn how writing thank you notes can help them. It can reduce their stress, can make them appreciate life more, and can help them later in life, maybe even get them their job. A thank you note got me my first job at Carlisle! But if you still aren't sure and don't believe me, here are some great links to click on to read more about the power of a thank you and why learning this skill at a young age can really benefit both you and the person you thank now and later in life. Happy 2013 and Thank You for reading and following this blog.

Jon Gordon's Thank You Research and Thank you Ideas click here!

Parenting Pink blog's thoughts on Writing Thank Yous click here!

Tanveer Naseer's Business thoughts on Thank Yous click here!

Happy New Year! Are Your Thank You Notes Done Yet?

Happy New Year to all! As I spent my Sunday, writing my own thank you notes and helping my 3 kids write their thank you notes, I thought of my middle school Life Skills' students who have all spent some time learning how to write a good, short, and sincere thank you note and why these notes are so important to do. We talked about how they can make us feel better (many studies prove that showing gratitude actually helps our own self in many ways, see my link below), they can help our relationships grow, they could help us land a job, and they help the people in our lives have better lives....which comes back to help us too! So, if you have been enjoying lots of great presents, ate some great food, or had some really good conversations with people you love, drop them a quick email, phone call, or even a "hand-written" thank you note to show your gratitude for what they have done. And again, Happy New Year!

Blog post about the effects of showing Gratitude