Something to bring into classes and do personally.

I don’t normally go for New Year’s resolutions, I’m one of those people that is normally in bed by 11pm so rarely even sees in the New Year, and besides I’m a teacher, so all my calendars and diaries are academic anyway but last year a storyteller posted the image below on Facebook and I thought it was an interesting idea, so I gave it a go.

I thought this a really nice thing to do for a bit of positivity at the end of the year, so 2022 was giving it a go to see if I’d keep it up. Since we were coming out of the pandemic, new jobs, new college, new CPD courses to be done… why not?

And there’s mine.

Having opened it again now and read the wee notes for the first time since I wrote them, some of them dating back to early January 2022, I can highly recommend everyone giving this a go.

I took a few pastoral care / mental health courses earlier in the year and these ideas were brought up too in the group sessions – some people opening them weekly privately, some people opening them in groups at the end of each month, or the option I went for which was at the end of the year.  It’s a great way to have a warm fuzzy feeling inside at the end of the year which isn’t the mulled wine or heart burn, while remembering nice, little moments in the last 365 days that you may have forgot.

Seriously, give it a go.  Depending on how much you put into your jar, find a regular time to open it and check. 

Some teachers I know do this in classes too.  They get students to write positive things about each other on little slips of paper and once per class, open them so everyone gets a compliment from time to time. 

Little slips of gratitude, you’d be surprised what you find on those paper slips sometimes, it can rightly brighten someone’s day.