Gratitude Folder

TOA - Peace in my world.

A few months ago, I attended  a retreat in beautiful Oxley, Ontario.  It was a wonderful two days of learning and reflecting on the year that had passed.  Our board chaplaincy lead, the wonderful Cindy Waddick, related our work in school improvement to the retreat's goal of spiritual & personal improvement.  She developed a theory of action that mirrored the one we had been working on  all year so we teachers, who use way too much 'eduspeak,' could relate!  :)

Yum! And caffeine!

During our time on retreat, we spent time thinking about things that we often take for granted that we are grateful for. So if you are grateful for coffee - also think about being grateful for the clean water that was used to make it, for the electricity workers who are responsible for getting the whole grid working, for the truck driver that transported the coffee, for the worker who picked the bean... you get the idea.

When she spoke of gratitude like that - it makes you realize how interdependent we are.

We were asked to make a list, but me being who I am, traipsed off with my iPhone rather than a pen and paper... the result, instead of a list - I ended up with  a series of photos and videos.


I took a video of the wind... I am grateful for oxygen which is made in the leaves of plants using sunlight and water. I am grateful for the cells of leaves, and the chemicals in those leaves.  I am grateful for evolution.  I am grateful for warmth that causes the air to move.  I am grateful for our world.  I am grateful for God's creation and for our Faith.

I compiled a number of photos at the retreat house that day, but have kept up my gratitude folder and add to it periodically.

Here are some of the photos from that day as well as some that I have added in over the past year.

What are you grateful for?

New Thinking Needed!

Einstein says, We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

Image source:openclipart.org

What problems will today's students need to tackle in their futures?

What new thinking will students and educators in today's school systems need to develop to prepare them for the task?