Story by: Keyra Fitch and Kaitlynn Sorenson
“As you give of yourself to others, it will come back tenfold,” said Professional Business teacher, Mr. Erickson, when talking about random acts of kindness. As members of the Growl, we thought that we would test Erickson's theory, and see our impact on the people around us as we spread positivity. This got us thinking, how exactly could we positively impact the lives of others? We decided that we could do little things to help brighten someone's day, everyday for a week. Whether this is complimenting our teachers, helping a sibling with homework, or simply holding the door open for someone.
We researched different acts of kindness to do each day of the week. All of these tasks are incredibly easy for anyone to accomplish. We held doors open for people, complimented the students and staff here at Thunderridge, made it our priority to say please and thank you, and made dinner one night for our families. Since Mr. Erickson was the person who inspired us to do these acts of kindness, we decided to say thanks for his positive impact on the TR community by writing him a short letter and giving him a cool new tapestry to add to his collection. It is such a rewarding feeling to make the people you love and even strangers happy, knowing that you are responsible for the smile on their face.
Mr. Erickson recommended that we watch the Ted Talk “The happiness advantage”. The video was eye opening, showing exactly how much a positive mindset can influence you.
Shawn Achor, an American corporate trainer, says, “The lens through which you view the world is the lens which shapes your reality, and if you can change your lens you can change your happiness.”
If you have a positive mindset you are more likely to have a positive life. He believes that there are five small tasks you can accomplish everyday for 21 days that will help you achieve the happiness you're looking for. Start with saying three gratitudes, take a step back and be thankful for everything you have in your life. Next is journaling, exercise, and meditation to help you feel healthy and happy both mentally and physically. Finally, random acts of kindness can complete this path towards happiness. Doing these things will help you find the power to be positive in the moment. Stop dwelling on the past and focusing on the future, and just concentrate on being happy in the moment.
As we went through the week we helped our friends study for upcoming tests, complimented as many people as we could, and made dinner for our families on busy nights! It's a satisfying feeling knowing you can make a difference in someone's day. If you know your parents are having a long stressful day at work, help out and make dinner one night! Do what you can for others and they will want to help you too.
It was extremely rewarding to make our families, friends, and even some strangers, happier this week. And we wanted to repay Mr. Erickson, who goes out his way everyday to positively influence the students and staff of ThunderRidge. His dedication to helping everyone see the important things in life is outstanding and we thought he deserved some recognition. We wrote him a letter of thanks and got him a cool new tapestry for his room. When we surprised him with the gift he shouted, “Whatever! So cool! I’m going to go home and tell my wife the school loves me, the love is coming back around!” It felt so good to be able to make him proud of our random act of kindness and to make his day. We also loved that we got to add something to his super cool room, full of treasures. It was a gratifying feeling to make Mr. Erickson so happy and everyone should get a chance to feel like that. Simply making someone else happy spreads the joy to yourself. As a Thunderridge grizzly you can take the same steps to better your life and those around you. Spread the happiness and good vibes as much as you can!
We researched different acts of kindness to do each day of the week. All of these tasks are incredibly easy for anyone to accomplish. We held doors open for people, complimented the students and staff here at Thunderridge, made it our priority to say please and thank you, and made dinner one night for our families. Since Mr. Erickson was the person who inspired us to do these acts of kindness, we decided to say thanks for his positive impact on the TR community by writing him a short letter and giving him a cool new tapestry to add to his collection. It is such a rewarding feeling to make the people you love and even strangers happy, knowing that you are responsible for the smile on their face.
Mr. Erickson recommended that we watch the Ted Talk “The happiness advantage”. The video was eye opening, showing exactly how much a positive mindset can influence you.
Shawn Achor, an American corporate trainer, says, “The lens through which you view the world is the lens which shapes your reality, and if you can change your lens you can change your happiness.”
If you have a positive mindset you are more likely to have a positive life. He believes that there are five small tasks you can accomplish everyday for 21 days that will help you achieve the happiness you're looking for. Start with saying three gratitudes, take a step back and be thankful for everything you have in your life. Next is journaling, exercise, and meditation to help you feel healthy and happy both mentally and physically. Finally, random acts of kindness can complete this path towards happiness. Doing these things will help you find the power to be positive in the moment. Stop dwelling on the past and focusing on the future, and just concentrate on being happy in the moment.
As we went through the week we helped our friends study for upcoming tests, complimented as many people as we could, and made dinner for our families on busy nights! It's a satisfying feeling knowing you can make a difference in someone's day. If you know your parents are having a long stressful day at work, help out and make dinner one night! Do what you can for others and they will want to help you too.
It was extremely rewarding to make our families, friends, and even some strangers, happier this week. And we wanted to repay Mr. Erickson, who goes out his way everyday to positively influence the students and staff of ThunderRidge. His dedication to helping everyone see the important things in life is outstanding and we thought he deserved some recognition. We wrote him a letter of thanks and got him a cool new tapestry for his room. When we surprised him with the gift he shouted, “Whatever! So cool! I’m going to go home and tell my wife the school loves me, the love is coming back around!” It felt so good to be able to make him proud of our random act of kindness and to make his day. We also loved that we got to add something to his super cool room, full of treasures. It was a gratifying feeling to make Mr. Erickson so happy and everyone should get a chance to feel like that. Simply making someone else happy spreads the joy to yourself. As a Thunderridge grizzly you can take the same steps to better your life and those around you. Spread the happiness and good vibes as much as you can!