Discovery News
Week of January 5
Weekly News
(Dec. 22 Holiday Party at LaCasita's / Dec. 23 Ugly Sweater Day / Dec. 24-Jan.4 Holiday Break)
Monday-Staff MeetingTuesday
Wednesday- Northside Band Tour 9:50-10:35
Climate Committee Meeting
Thursday
Friday
Positive Thoughts...
Ten Forms of Positivity
- Joy – There is a spring in your step. You feel playful and you want to jump in and get involved. What brings you joy?
- Gratitude – opens your heart and carries the urge to give back, to do something good in return, either for the person who helped you or for someone else. Gratitude’s evil twin in indebtedness. Gratitude is not mindless manners or tit-for-tat reciprocity. True gratitude is heartfelt and unscripted. Pay it forward by showing gratitude to three new people. When was the last time you felt grateful – not polite or indebted, but truly and openly grateful?
- Serenity – makes you want to sit back and soak it in. “I need to do this more often.”
- Interest – This calls for more focused attention. There is an intense pull for you to explore, take in new ideas and to learn more
- Hope – comes into play when your circumstances are dire – things are not going well for you or there’s uncertainty about how things will turn out. Hope, in desperate situations is “fearing the worst but yearning for better.” Possibilities exist. Hope sustains you. It motivates you to tap into your own capabilities to turn things around. Lionel Tiger – hope is the antidote to our big human forebrains. We envision our own futures and in so doing all possible calamities. Without hope, our uniquely human ability to forecast our inevitable death and demise would eave us in motionless despair. With hope, we become energized to do as much as we can to make a good life for ourselves and for others. Was it hope that motivated you to read this book?
- Pride – is one of the so-called “self-conscious emotions.” Its evil cousins are shame and guilt. These are painful feelings come when we are blamed for something bad. Pride is the opposite: we’re “to blame” for something good. Pride has been called one of the seven deadly sins. Unchecked, pride becomes hubris. You feel pride when you’re praiseworthy and guilt when you are blameworthy. What makes you proud? What has pride inspired you to do?
- Amusement – Social scientists describe this as “nonserious social incongruity.” Amusement is social. Surprises are only amusing if they are embedded within safe contexts, not if they are dangerous or threatening. Shared laughter signals that you find your current situation to be safe and lighthearted. When was the last time you laughed?
- Inspiration - feeling inspired rivets your attention, warms your heart, and draws you in. It creates the urge to do your best so that you can reach your own higher ground. Along with gratitude and awe, inspiration is considered on of the self-transcendent emotions. Can you think of a time when you made the choice to be inspired?
- Awe – you literally feel overwhelmed by greatness. You feel small and humble. Awe makes you stop in your tracks. Awe mixes with fear when we’ve witnessed a tornado or see the World Trade Center towers collapse. Awe, like gratitude and inspiration, is a self-transcendent emotion. It compels us to see ourselves as part of something much larger. What has transfixed you with awe?
- Love – is a many splendored thing because it is not a single kind of Positivity. It’s all of the above, encompassing the feelings. What transforms these other forms of Positivity into love is their context. As your relationship builds and perhaps surpasses your expectations, it brings great joy. You begin to share your hopes and dreams for your future together. As the relationship becomes more solid, you sink back into the cozy serenity that comes with the security of mutual love. You’re grateful for the joys your beloved brings into your life, as proud of the achievements as you are of your own, inspired by their good qualities, and perhaps I awe of the forces of the universe that brought you two together. These intimate relationships might best be viewed as the products of recurrent surges of love. It raises our oxytocin and progesterone levels, biological responses linked with lifelong bonds, trust, and intimacy. Think of a time when you felt love surge within you.
Thinking Makes It So.
Whether you experience Positivity or not depends vitally on how you think. Positive emotions, like all emotions, arise from how you interpret events and ideas as they unfold. Our minds can be overstuffed with worries, doubts, and demand. We all have the power to turn Positivity on and off for ourselves.
Ask yourself:
- What’s right about my current circumstances?
- What makes me lucky to be here?
- What aspect of my current circumstances might I view as a gift to be treasure?
- How does it benefit me or others?
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to:
Denise Maybury 12/28
Geri Swanson 12/29
Carol Musielewicz 1/1
Nancy Fors 1/1
Kari Macho 1/2
Joanna Boos 1/10
Alison Auer 1/10
Upcoming events
1/17 Martin Luther King Day