I’ll be educated by my teachers and empowered by my teachers with the tools to be successful within my community and throughout the country.
I apply myself daily.
I study.
I ask questions when I don’t understand.
When I’m confronted with a problem or a conflict I think before I react.
I ignore all negative influences in the classroom and throughout my school day.
I am extremely proud to be the next generation of Christian leaders.
I accept responsibility and I love the challenge.
Peace!
What I would change:
I would not say “empowered by my teachers.” This says the power is the teachers to give. It’s not. The teacher can offer the knowledge. It is up to us whether or not we take the knowledge and how we apply it today and in the future.
Here is an example of what I would say instead of the “empowered by my teachers” line:
“God will bring me teachers who know what I need to know and who know how to help me learn what will help me the most. By continually learning, I will have the tools to be successful in my community and throughout my country.
I will appreciate my teachers for all they do for me.
I love my empowered positive mindset”
I absolutely adore that he ends with Peace and the power with which he says it.
This can be modified to suit any religion or to be non-religious.
The approach the solution to employee engagement has been taking is misguided. Ask yourself why engagement numbers are down to 30% levels according to recent Gallup surveys. Harvard Business Review (HBR) recently surveyed 20,000 employees worldwide and half of them feel disrespected by their bosses.
If you’ve ever watched Criminal Minds or countless other shows, you know that it is not the intent of the communicator but the reception/perception of the receiver that determines the message that is communicated. Someone who feels disrespected frequently (by teachers, family, friends, society) will not feel respected because the boss is careful about how he or she communicates. Often, these individuals do not respect themselves so they certainly don’t expect others to respect them. They want it–absolutely they want it. They want someone to come along and give them respect and magically make them feel better. They don’t know that they can’t feel respect until they respect and like themselves. They allow a negative string of self-doubt to tarnish their existence.
Until they respect themselves they can’t feel the respect others show them. Ask anyone you know who has made amazing progress in their life what made the difference for them. They will tell you that it was when they changed their perception about them self. People treat us as we expect to be treated. We give off clues and when we do not respect ourselves we might as well have a neon sign floating above our heads letting others know. It is obvious to anyone who does respect them self. It’s obvious because they know what they are willing to tolerate and what they are not willing to tolerate.
I had my own journey where I went from not feeling worthy and not thinking I was good enough. When I changed my own view of myself, the way everyone else treated me changed. I mean everyone. From bosses/employers, to significant others, my children, my parents, and even the clerk at the grocery store. It felt magical. When I changed me, the non-verbal clues I sent that others read (often unconsciously) changed.
Few people in our society truly feel worthy of self-respect. They have negative voices in their heads constantly criticizing themselves. Or maybe, like me, they were taught they had to earn respect but never given a way to calculate when that task was complete. If you have to “earn it” how do you know when you’ve done accomplished it? I had long since earned a lot of things before I began believing I had earned them. When I changed my belief from “I have to work hard and prove myself before I can have that (respect, executive promotion, six-figure salary, nice house, etc.) to I have earned this and I deserve this, it all came. In the space of two years my entire life changed and all those things I had been striving to prove myself worthy of came quickly and easily.
I’m not special. I’ve seen other people change their beliefs about their self and their life changes, too. I help people make this transition and I see the changes they experience as a result. No, I am not special, but I am worthy. Everyone else is worthy too, but so many just don’t know it.
You have to believe you deserve respect. So many don’t. I wish everyone could learn to respect themselves. You have friends who don’t, maybe you don’t either.
You know the friend, the one who is amazing and inspires you,yet when you compliment they wave your accolades aside as if their accomplishments are nothing or flawed. I’m not talking modesty here. You know him or her. The one who truly does not believe they are worthy of the praise you’ve giving them. That businesses continue attempting to make this about the manager and about changing the manager baffles me. It is the employee who needs to learn they are valuable and worthy of respect so they can actually receive it. Until they do, they have an energetic wall up that blocks them from perceiving the respect they are shown.
Helping employees value and respect themselves will enable them to receive the respect their boss feels toward them. It will also make the bosses respect more authentic because how you treat yourself is usually reflected in how others treat you.
It is possible to decide how you will treat others and treat them that well regardless of how they feel toward themselves but that takes a lot of work and few people consciously make that choice. I saw a video earlier today that reflects how few consciously make that choice. First, a disclaimer, I do not believe that clothes make the person, but in many cases the person who does not respect themselves does not dress well–it is an indicator of how the person perceives him or herself. It’s not always true–sometimes people dress especially well to cover up insecure feelings–but it is true often enough that many people will make assumptions about a person based on their attire. And sometimes, the very secure will dress for comfort because they are not seeking approval from others. Now, for the video:
It’s clear in the literature across the ages, from the greatest thinkers of all time to scientific literature being produced in the best Universities of the 21st Century. You have to respect yourself first.
Working on management has limited returns for employee engagement because it treats a symptom, not the root cause of the problem.
Give employees the knowledge and skills they need to increase their self-respect.
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I said it before I read the research that demonstrates that our beliefs about aging impact how we age.
Understanding that my personal beliefs about aging affect how I age, I have deliberately looked for examples of what is possible. They’re easy to find when you expect them. I don’t have to look any further than the people in my life to find incredible examples of individuals living well long after most people would expect them to be weak, sickly, and physically compromised.
I came across this beautiful example of an 86-year old lady gymnast today and wanted to share it.
As you expand your belief about how well you can do in your 70’s and beyond, you set yourself up for a better experience. Research shows that how we think we’ll do at certain ages has a tremendous impact on how we actually do at those ages.
Essentially, your beliefs about aging are self-fulfilling prophesies. There is a placebo (or nocebo) effect from your beliefs about aging.
If you dread old age, if you see it as a negative time of life you are setting yourself up for a harder time than you have to have. One of the things we can do at Happiness 1st Institute is help you develop beliefs about aging that allow you not to take the unwanted options.
Who do you know that inspires you to enjoy life longer?
People say to me that there is too much pain in the world for peace to ever come. I know the beauty that resides within each of us and that deep within our heart of hearts we all want to live in harmony.
Our differences are not so much about what we want. Our disagreements are about the best method of achieving common goals.
If we would get to know one another on deeper levels this would be easier to see. With a common goal the disagreements evaporate. If I chose to take one path and someone else chooses another path to the same goal, no disagreement has to exist.
I am blessed to call a wonderful example of someone who has overcome hatred, anger, and fear, my friend. She has a heart that loves and works for greater peace in the world. Her name is Nomanono Isaacs. She is the author of Escaping Apartheid: A Letter to My Mother.
You can hear some of her stirring words in this video:
If you doubt that individuals can find peace because they’ve lived harsh lives, suffered painful loses, and are holding onto anger and resentment, read her book and ask yourself if she can be as she is after what she lived, who could not.
Nomanono is unique and special not because she has a greater capacity to find the love and peace within than others have, but because she allows herself to fulfill more of her potential in that regard. If she can do it, so can others. They simply have to make the effort and open their hearts and minds to the path that will allow them to heal and to feel better.
Are you making excuses to be less than you could be? Why? Are you ready to stop?
If you want help along your way to putting peace in your heart, tune in to our weekly services (or attend them when offered in person). We know the way and are happy to help you increase the peace in the world by putting it in your own heart.
Sometimes, when someone comes into a conversation I’m having halfway through, they think I’m crazy or that the world I visualize will never exist but generally, if I can begin at the beginning with someone whose mind is not so closed to possibilities that a crow bar is needed to open it up enough for a breath of fresh air to blow through, I can lead them, step-by-step through the very logical steps to the point where they can see it too.
For quite a while after I realized that I had figured out each step and that there were no more missing bridges between what we know and a world beyond what most believe we could ever create I questioned why it was me. Like always, when I ask a question continuously, the answer comes. I remember the excitement I felt, to the core of my Being, when I saw an Einstein quote, “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” Now, I’d always thought of Einstein as a genius of the greatest magnitude and revered his mind. When I saw this quote, it resonated with me because it said exactly what I felt about myself. I had a burning question, “What makes humans thrive?” that I sought clear answers to for more than a decade. Each piece of the puzzle gave me greater clarity and created many related questions that I sought answers to.
I had not seen my journey as allowing my inner, curious child to explore. I had seen it as more important and more serious than that because the journey began by knowing how much difference resilience could make in a life and a keen desire to help others become more resilient. When I began this journey I had no idea that the same root cause would improve every area of life or the far reaching consequences it could have not just for individuals, but also for society. If I had, I am sure I would have thought myself incapable of finding the answers or helping the world see the light of truth. But a funny thing happens when you learn things that will help someone else, your motivation to give that information to others, to help them thrive more becomes an insatiable desire–a desire of the best kind–because when I satisfy my desire I help others.
I came across this little video today and for those who can’t imagine the world I am sure is possible, I hope it might help you see that it may be more possible than you realize today. There is a saying that when the student is ready the teacher appears. I want to help everyone, especially those who aren’t thriving, but until the student is ready I can’t help. What is required to be ready? A willingness to ask “What if…” and “Could this be true?” instead of a mind that is closed to the possibilities.
What we believe about our ability to heal affects whether or not we actually heal. What begins in the mind, happens in the body.
Feeling as if someone cares makes a difference.
Listen to the statistics for optimists. At Happiness 1st Institute, we give you tools that enable you to become an optimist and sustain optimistic mindsets even during stressful situations.
Natural self-repair mechanisms do not work when we are stressed.
The emotional guidance system is what Dr. Rankin refers to as the Inner Pilot Light. We teach our students how to correctly interpret its messages.
During trauma, whether it is personal or happens to a community or a nation, stress reduction is very important. However, western therapy depends on a relationship of trust between a therapist and the patient. During a widespread traumatic event (such as 9/11) there is not time to develop that trust and even when therapists are available, they may not be the first choice of those who would benefit from stress reduction.
This video discusses an alternative method, a method taught at AWES International Educational Institute and provided to patients by AWES International Member Companies.
Although this is a dose dependent method of stress reduction, its passive nature makes it effective quickly in a crisis situation. Building resilience in advance prepares individuals to handle bad situations.
I am honored to serve with Dr. Ken Carter on the Board of Directors of AWES International (Academy for Wellness, Education, and Services).
I was watching these video’s where he was featured on an episode of Dr. on Call. During the show he spoke about how stress interferes with the healing process and he always begins healing with stress reduction.
If you’ve read our other posts or used our services, you know that Happiness 1st Institute provides training in stress reduction that are not dose dependent because once the techniques become habits the response individuals have to life simply do not generate as much stress.
Dr. Carter’s techniques are very helpful for immediate relief by those who are stressed. We also recommend learning practical techniques that lower the level of daily stress.
In TRUE Prevention–Optimum Health: Remember Galileo I describe The Galileo Effect as the tendency to cling to old ideas until the overwhelming weight of evidence pointing to the inability of old assumptions to provide adequate support in light of new information finally makes us change our prior assumptions.
A great deal of what most of us believe is based on assumptions. In school we are often taught that information based on assumptions is factual. The “factual” information I was taught in school that is now known to be wrong would fill several dictionary size books. Yet, we continue to cling to and argue for the truth of what we were taught without questioning the assumptions the “facts” were built upon.
Although this video is far more scientific and cerebral than I try to be in my classes and books, I love the way he explains how our perceptions and assumptions about the world change when we expand our concepts. Some of you may find the entire video interesting or even fascinating and exciting but I encourage everyone to watch the early part through where Thad describes changing how many dimensions we use to view the world. It is the best description I’ve seen of overcoming The Galileo Effect in a contemporary discussion.
It is the same type of shift that I encourage, in another arena, a shift that expands our perception of the root of things that make humans thrive. If you watch Thad’s TED-X talk through to the end where he describes all the mysteries the shift in perspective solves, that is the same type of clarity that is gained when we change our perceptions about the root cause of human thriving.
We live in such a magnificent time–a time when the body of knowledge that contributes to human thriving is increasing at an amazing rate of speed and the potential for greater thriving around the world has never been as great, yet tomorrow it will be even more.
