TBright

           This week's segment, pertaining to negativity, positivity, and productivity interested me when health risks were mentioned. Don't forget, I'm old! Negative aspects, such as bad bosses, not feeling appreciated, wasting educational money, and seeming negative around students and co-workers made me glad I'm at East Central. Really, we're alright! On the positive side, one fact that jumped out at me was " EVERY MOMENT MATTERS ". You never know when something you do or say will fill someone's bucket. An atmosphere of recognition and praise will absolutely make you feel better about your job, you are more productive, and students buy into your teaching schemes more readily. A full bucket keeps positive emotions coming; therefore, lengthening lives and enriching student's learning.    pp. 27 - 64.      

               The first chapter in this book deals with negativity. An example of U S soldiers who were prisoners of war in Korea described POW's with " Give up-itis". Everything in this camp was geared toward extreme negativity by it's captors. This resulted in 38% of POW deaths. Negativity often raises it's ugly head in our lives. I've experienced this with my job when things wern't going well elsewhere. But, then I run into someone with a good positive attitude and nice things to say. This makes me feel better. The book describes this as the "DIPPER AND BUCKET THEORY". We feel great when our bucket is full. When we use the dipper to fill others' buckets, by saying or doing positive things, we fill our own bucket. But if we dip from others' bucket by doing things to decrease positive emotions, we hurt ourselves. Trying to stay upbeat and positive does rub off on others and makes you feel good at the same time. AGAIN, NO BIG SECRET !           pp. 1-26.