Today is full of endless possibilities. Never give up. Never give in. The world is full of opportunities. Live in the possible TODAY. BE YOURSELF Be the possible. Love every minute of life and the possibilities within the moments.
Live with NO regrets only of what is possible.
Make things happen.
If life knocks YOU down, pick yourself UP. Look for the possibilities.
Live really live. Breathe.
Live your LIFE the way YOU want to as if everything is possible.
You are in control of your own life. You choose which path you will take and the possibilities are the ones you choose for yourself. Live LOVE Laugh. Always have HOPE and believe in the possible.
Hope is essential.
Smiling is always more attractive than frowning when you think of all that is possible.
The smallest good deed is always better than the grandest good intention.
I was privileged to attend the Born 2 Lead B2L Conference in Calgary this week thanks to the generosity of Ildi Wiley with students from Bishop Carroll High School.
Why do we still need to empower young women? There are so many reasons. I will highlight a few.
According to the Parkland Institute , (Catalyst A think tank )
In Alberta
8% of women sit on boards (the national average is 14%)
it will take 228 years to close the gender gap
in 1976, the wage gap was 62%,in 2015 it is 63%
women make up 2/3 of all part-time workers
In the New Soft War on Women Caryl Rivers and Rosalind Barnett highlights several reasons why we need to empower woman , including an Indiana University study that says over a lifetime of work women with a bachelors degree will earn a third less ( some 700,000) less than a man with the same degree. Do we need to empower young women?
Yes indeed we do! We need to have mentorship and role modelling for young people . Our young women need to know that they can rise up and take on leadership roles.
The Born 2 Lead conference is one way young women can begin to find these mentorship opportunities. Young women can look forward to another conference next year as this year was the first in Calgary.
No matter what your start in life doesn’t mean it has to be your finish YOU CAN LEAD
There are women all around you that care about you and your wellbeing
In order to act like a leader think like a leader , say yes to something that you would usually say no to because you were afraid of failing.
What anyone says about you good or bad doesn’t matter Barb Stegemann
No one can take your joy from you ever Barb Stegemann
Emotional capital is worth more than anything Barb Stegemann
Viktor Frankl’s book Man Search for Meaning is loved by many women including me. Young people need to read this book.
Think about what you want to be one year , two years , three years from now . How will you get there?
Technological skills do matter to the business world
Digital Citizenship is important and a message given at this conference. Yes, I was so happy to see them mention just how important it is when getting and keeping a job! See more here.
When young women go into the workforce they should understand what a good linked in profile looks like
Young women need to build their employability traits through networking, service learning, volunteering and work experience
You have to be your own champion. It is ok to share your strengths with others
Never under estimate your ability to be resilient to rise above the nay sayers
“Each of us carries within a secret yearning-a yearning that as time and life march on, often becomes a secret sorrow. That yearning will be different for each of us; it is the most deep longed for expression of self. Only to the degree that each of us are able to bring forth our own heart’s core will our lives be fulfilled, truly worthwhile.”
Lighting the Torch The Kinder Method of Life Planning 2006 George Kinder and Susan Galvan
I wish for ever young woman and actually every youth I work with that they are able to bring forth their own heart’s core and live a fulfilled life.
So young women know that you are Born to Lead. Rise up and do it! I know you can.
Hello #etmooc ers. It has been almost three years since we began our journey together and I cannot express my gratitude effectively for the help you have provided me over the past three years.
Suffice it to say for now I am a better educator and person because of all the help and support you have given to me.
The real reason for this post is to mobilize you to connect, reconnect and share others great work to the hashtag #etmooc in anticipation of our three year anniversary of this amazing PLN and network of people.
I’ve been thinking about flow a lot lately. Maybe it comes with getting older. I like to be in the flow state more often these days.
According to Milhaly Csikszentmilhalyi, in his national bestseller flow, a joyful life is an individual creation one that cannot be copied from a recipe. I have always worked at creating a joyful life. My version of one to be sure and I want to instill in my students that they can create a joyful life as well (their version of one). I want to focus on their strengths so that they too can find what brings them flow.
“Psychology must be concerned with human strength as with weakness” says Seligman. I would say we definitely need to look at our young people’s strengths and help them discover their hidden strengths so that they can be more free to enter into states of flow. As Martin Seligman says we should be interested in building the best things in life as we are in repairing the worst. “We need to be concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling and with nurturing high talent as we are with healing pathology.” Below you can take a deeper look at what he has to say.
I find that too many people focus on the disease model of the past. Some describe students as their disorder instead of looking at all their strengths. I still hear words being said when describing students that don’t look at the whole person. Language matters and we need to take the lead when it comes to describing , healing and helping students.
I believe we need to find our own flow states so we can help students find theirs. I love what Csiksezentmihalyi says,
” contrary to what we usually believe, the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times – although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile” .
During flow you can’t feel anything , time stops. That is what happens to me when my mind is being stretched . That is the way I feel when I create. Creating for me is therapeutic. It is healing , it is magical. I love that my mind goes to this space and that is freeing.
I can achieve this through artistic endeavours ( a newfound passion in the last three years), by playing lacrosse and by doing what I love to do … helping. I often find joy in the process of everyday living , but through creating I have found the flow state like never before. Sometimes 15 hours feels like 5 minutes.
In chapter 5 of Martin Seligman’s Flourish he makes a poignant point . If you ask any of us what we want for our children it is not things like achievement, success and literacy at the top of the list. It is more important things like happiness, love, balance. More to do with the well-being of the child. Yes, we all want our young people to achieve, but we also want them to thrive and be well.That’s why School Counsellors are so important. We do what we love to do and help students to achieve while looking at the whole young person. We help teach students to be well.
We can also help students to find a flow state , to be grateful and to recognize that it is their beliefs about adversity , not the adversity itself that leads to their feelings of worthlessness etc.
So for today I say get your flow on … and go with the flow …
“Please Help Me”
Please come into my life –
but don’t try to take over.
Please help me think-
but don’t try to think for me.
Please help me to find a better way –
but don’t expect me to do it your way.
Please help me – even if I’m wrong
Help me to stand again –
but don’t carry me.
Please help me to move forward again
even if we move forward in different directions.
And – last of all –
If you can’t help me to be what I want to be,
then please don’t hurt me by trying to make me
what you expect me to be.
~ Bud Hadfield
Bud Hadfield was the founder of the multimillion-dollar Kwik Kopy printing. He failed at nine business ventures before he found success at his first printing shop.
As a School Counsellor I think this is a powerful message that we all need to heed when it comes to the young people we serve.
Counsellor Talk : Creative Collaborative Connections 