Надежда Никифоровна Рогожина, проректор по международным программам, зав. кафедрой лингвистики и межъязыковой коммуникации Самарского муниципального университета Наяновой, кандидат педагогических наук, доцент.
Директор негосударственного учреждения дополнительного образования “World Class-Samara”.
Dear Reader,
Today I am going to talk to you about holidays which give us the chance to express our gratitude for many good things in life. Of course, these are Thanksgiving and Christmas (remember “giving thanks” for Christmas joys from the song by Steve Wonder?) in the first place.
I was reminded about it in an article in Monday Motivating Moments, by Mary Rau Foster. I told you in one of my earlier columns about this web site and the role it played in my going to Niagara-on-the Lake (Canada) for the Heartwarming conference. I think this article is worth being published for the School English readers.
Mary’s new book “Motivating Moments” makes a great holiday gift for you, your family and your friends. This 211 page book, with illustrations, is a guaranteed morale booster, as well as thought provoking and inspirational.
This is my Thanks to all the people who ever did anything good to me (or not yet but maybe will!). Thank you!
Nadezhda
Gratitude
“Some people may have more material possessions than others. Many people have better health and a longer life expectancy than those around them and, in many cases, people experience more happiness and peace of mind than others may have.
Many people find it difficult to find anything in or about their lives for which they may be grateful. It may be that their current state of mind prevents them from seeing that which they do have because they are focusing on what they don’t have. With that comes sadness and a sense of hopelessness for many.
When we stop and reflect upon our lives and really look for what is important, we will find more than we think is possible. Let the cornucopia visually represent what we do have that is spilling over and for which we can be grateful. Perhaps, one of the problems that we encounter is that we have so much good in our lives that we can’t see it, because we take it for granted.
I offer this challenge to you, take one hour out of your life and make a list of the areas in your life for which you should be grateful. Keep the list in some convenient location and everyday, for 30 days, look at the list and express your gratitude for the many blessings in your life.
At the end of those 30 days, reflect back on the changes that you experienced, and the good that came to you, or that you discovered, simply because you adopted an attitude of gratitude.”
Надежда Никифоровна Рогожина, проректор по международным программам, зав. кафедрой лингвистики и межъязыковой коммуникации Самарского муниципального университета Наяновой, кандидат педагогических наук, доцент.
