Gratitude

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.” - Cicero

Gratitude is almost universally accepted as an important virtue and is actively promoted by most world religions. One of the first tenants of politeness taught to children is saying “thank you”, yet how many of us truly understand the impact that active gratitude can have on our daily lives?

When we exercise gratitude, we become happier, less stressed, less depressed, and better at social relationships. Gratitude is a very effective way of coping. 

What are you grateful for?

Resources:   

Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410-421. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410

Tips: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/urban-mindfulness/200911/thanksgiving-gratitude-5-tips-practice

Other Exercises: http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/maheu/ten-gratitude-exercises/

Feb. 9th Class

This week in class, we had the chance to write about our own sources of joy and think about how we express joy and help others to express joy. The answers were varied and interesting. We noticed that helping others express their joy uses a different set of skills than simple self-expression. Both require courage and energy. One person felt joy when another person encouraged her to make a list of reasons to be happy. Another felt joy when someone showed awareness, noticing her and responding to her individuality. One person felt joy when a friend went out of her way to share good news. Many of us feel happy when our emotions are validated, when someone shows appreciation to us, or when we feel listened to.

Activity:

Use the five types of intimacy as a framework for brainstorming ways to express joy.

Physical: smile, hug someone, dance, sing

Intellectual: talk about why you are happy, write a note to a friend

Social: invite someone to share a happy moment

Emotional: share joyful feelings, emote

Spiritual: be uplifted (nature, excellence, etc.), gratitude

Make a personal list – how do you express joy? How do you help others to express their joy?

Take Home:

Choose items from your list of how you express joy and help others express joy to practice this week.

Communicating Joy

When a baby smiles at you, what do you do? Have you ever held a conversation entirely in reciprocated smiles and joyful sounds? All of us respond to the people around us. When someone close to us laughs in delight or exuberance, we tend to laugh too. When someone cries, we often feel sad.

Just for fun:

http://www.laughingbabies.org/

Has anyone ever given you the gift of joy? How did they do it?

This week, we’ll be talking about sharing the joy we have.

Temple Grandin

I decided to write my “book report” on Temple Grandin. Ms. Grandin was diagnosed with autism as a young girl and grew up surrounded by people who didn’t understand her thinking or her behavior. Even thought she was constantly teased, she chose to work with mentors and teachers who believed in her abilities and taught her with creativity and patience. She excelled in science and not only graduated from college, but went on to earn her Ph.D. and become a professor. Ms. Grandin’s unique neurology makes her very sensitive to sensory cues like sound and touch. She is also a very visual thinker, processing and remembering information in “movie” format. These unique characteristics help her to understand how animals respond to their environment. She has designed humane animal-handling equipment which is now used all over the world and was named a fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. By being aware of both the difficulties and the benefits of having autism, Ms. Grandin has become an important part of autism advocacy efforts.

When I think about the persistence it takes to tackle the opportunities of attending college, getting an advanced degree (not to mention, two), exerting influence on the cattle industry (especially as a woman and outsider), and playing a major advocacy role, I am amazed at Ms. Grandin’s ability. The most inspiring thing to me, however, is that she found a way to take the things about her others might classify as a disorder or disease and used them to succeed. I have weaknesses too. Is it possible that I can find a way to make them useful and then persist in using them to benefit others?

Persistence - Feb 2nd Class

One of the greatest feelings is overcoming, accomplishing, achieving – especially when the journey to accomplishment was long and hard. Today we talked about how to keep going, especially when the going is tough…

According to the research:

Training, social support, and rewards are effective ways of increasing persistence when they foster a sense of competence and self-determination which increase intrinsic motivation.

• ·         Effort Training – effort training can increase subsequent persistence, even at tasks not directly related to the training (Eisenberger et al. 1994)
• ·         Social Support – social support fosters a sense of self-determination, which in turn predicts better academic persistence (Vallerand, Fortier, & Guay, 1997)
• ·         Rewards – salient, anticipated rewards shape the experience of performing the task, so that the person comes to see the self as performing the task only for the sake of the reward, and persistence may drop off sharply after the reward is no longer available. In contrast, if the reward is presented or structured in a way that conveys positive feedback about competence, thereby enhancing the task’s symbolic value for the self, it can increase intrinsic motivation and hence persistence (Harackiewicz, Manderlink, & Sansone, 1984). 

Activity:

In order to persist in the face of a difficult task, a person must both value the goal and believe in his/her ability to eventually achieve it (Carver & Scheier, 2003). Think of something you are currently struggling with and find ways to remind yourself why you value accomplishing your goal and think of how you might be able to increase your competence in at least one helpful way.

Take Home:

Write a book report – yep, that’s what I said, a book report! Find ten people who have persisted in something difficult and found success. Then pick one of them and write about what they accomplished, how they overcame obstacles, etc. Bring your book report to class.

Here is my list:

• ·         Ruby Bridges : Faced anti-desegregation mobs with courage and never gave up
• ·         Greg Mortensen : Promoting peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan by helping local populations build and maintain schools
• ·         Annie Sullivan : Worked through her own disabilities to teach Helen Keller, a child who was both deaf and blind
• ·         Michael Pollan : Helping people think about what they eat
• ·         Theodore Seuss Geisel : And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was rejected by 27 publishers and was finally published by a friend with only a little success, now Dr. Seuss has had over 200 million copies of his books sold in 15 languages
• ·         Graca Machel : Fighting for freedom, education, and the rights of refugees
• ·         Corrie Ten Boom : Helped Jews escape the horrors of the holocaust and then managed to survive being in a concentration camp herself
• ·         Orville and Wilber Wright : Worked for years to perfect their design for a flying machine
• ·         Temple Grandin : Became a Ph.D. and a professor in spite of having autism
• ·         Chen Shu-chu : Vegetable vendor in backwater Taiwan, just keeps giving to those in need