At TLU we prepare students for lives of leadership and service, so it's no surprise that two of the most important questions floating in the air on campus are: How can I lead? And, how can I serve? These may sound like easy questions, but they are not. They are, in fact, the parent questions begetting a whole passel of questions with the same DNA. Am I being called to lead or to serve? Is it appropriate for me to lead or to serve in this particular situation? What is the best way to lead? To serve? And so on.
Despite the inherent complexities here, and maybe because of them, I believe that these questions are at the heart of your work as a college student. Yes, this is a writing class. Yes, you are studying to get a degree of some sort. But I want to suggest that it won't matter what kind of writer you become or what kind of degree you get, if you never explore a life in which you are called to a purpose much larger than these things.
In a community of faith like TLU, we can examine what it means to live life with a higher purpose in mind. We can strive to understand how God is calling us to share our talents and interests with the world. Maybe you don't align yourself with a particular faith life. Even so, I would suggest that there are virtues planted within you as part of your nature, like seeds waiting to bring forth something good for others. What might they yield?
In this final post, I invite you to consider the bigger picture. Do you feel that there is a higher purpose for your life? Why or why not? How does this purpose shape your daily life?
Or, consider the strengths that were identified by the VIA Strengths Assessment. In what ways to you see these qualities allowing you to lead or to serve others?
Thank you for the attention you have given to your blog this semester. I hope it has helped you sort out the highs and lows of your first semester at TLU. I look forward to reading your ideas soon.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
On Gratitude
With Thanksgiving break approaching, but a yawning chasm full of work to be done beforehand, it might be useful to take a closer took at gratitude as a mental game mainstay.
In recent years, gratitude has become one of the darlings of positive psychologists. It has received a lot of attention. Some have suggested that we are in the midst of a World Gratitude Movement. Has it come to this? Has the world grown so ungrateful that we need a movement to help us remember to be thankful?
What's so great about being grateful anyway? Studies conducted by Dr. Robert Emmons at UC-Davis have suggested that "consciously cultivating an attitude of gratitude builds up a sort of psychological immune system that can cushion us when we fall" ("How Gratitude Can Help..."). This might be especially helpful as the semester wraps up just as cold and flu season kicks in. You body and your mind will be put to the test in coming weeks. Emmons findings point out that "grateful people are more resilient to stress, whether minor everyday hassles or major personal upheavals" ("How Gratitude Can Help..."), and we know from Mary Steinhardt's Krost talk that being resilient means we can bounce back from adversity. ("Facing Failure...").
In his TED talk, "The Happy Secret to Better Work," Shawn Achor reports that people who kept a gratitude journal reported higher levels of well-being. All they had to do was write down three things they were grateful for each day. Can a gratitude journal improve your experience as a student? Can it help you crush your next exam? While researchers conduct studies to find out, the only way for you to know is to try it for yourself.
Write a blog post in which you discuss the role of gratitude in your life. Do you experience feelings of gratitude on the daily? Why or why not? Based on your own experiences, do you think gratitude can help you have more success in college?
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In recent years, gratitude has become one of the darlings of positive psychologists. It has received a lot of attention. Some have suggested that we are in the midst of a World Gratitude Movement. Has it come to this? Has the world grown so ungrateful that we need a movement to help us remember to be thankful?
What's so great about being grateful anyway? Studies conducted by Dr. Robert Emmons at UC-Davis have suggested that "consciously cultivating an attitude of gratitude builds up a sort of psychological immune system that can cushion us when we fall" ("How Gratitude Can Help..."). This might be especially helpful as the semester wraps up just as cold and flu season kicks in. You body and your mind will be put to the test in coming weeks. Emmons findings point out that "grateful people are more resilient to stress, whether minor everyday hassles or major personal upheavals" ("How Gratitude Can Help..."), and we know from Mary Steinhardt's Krost talk that being resilient means we can bounce back from adversity. ("Facing Failure...").
In his TED talk, "The Happy Secret to Better Work," Shawn Achor reports that people who kept a gratitude journal reported higher levels of well-being. All they had to do was write down three things they were grateful for each day. Can a gratitude journal improve your experience as a student? Can it help you crush your next exam? While researchers conduct studies to find out, the only way for you to know is to try it for yourself.
Write a blog post in which you discuss the role of gratitude in your life. Do you experience feelings of gratitude on the daily? Why or why not? Based on your own experiences, do you think gratitude can help you have more success in college?
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Works Cited
Achor, Shawn. "The Happy Secret to Better Work." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. TED, Feb.
2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html>.
Emmons, Robert. “How
Gratitude Can Help You Through Hard Times.”
Greater Good: the Science of a Meaningful Life. the Greater Good Science
Center, UC-Berkeley, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
<http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_stops_gratitude>.
Steinhardt, Mary. "Facing Failure with Resilience."
Texas Lutheran University, Krost Symposium. Jackson Auditorium, Seguin. 3 Oct.
2013. Lecture.
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