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Shaping Youth Development And Growth Through Art

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Shaping Youth Development And Growth Through Art

By: Precious Mills

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 5th April 2019)-On Saturday afternoons, Sue Woodard assembles at Mr. X Shiggidy Shack located on the Frigate Bay strip for her Kreative Kids session which is an art painting class for children.

In an exclusive interview, she informed that classes have been in operation for just over two years to date and was initially carried out at Olivia’s at South Friar’s Bay before the business place closed.

It is in such a forum that children learn about shading, blending and how to construct. Additionally, they do basic shapes like triangle and circle which are then used to create figures such as fish and boats using acrylic paint.

Woodard, who originally hails from the US, highlighted that the source of inspiration and exposure came from Donna Leonhardt, another American, who visited the island during the winter season and did painting at South Friars on the beach which attracted many tourists coming off the cruise ships.

Having taken classes with Leonhardt, it was upon thinking that ‘Well, children deserve to have a painting classes also” which led to the start-up of Kreative Kids.

Originally Woodard wanted to become an artist and so she took a commercial art course in college in her homeland. Her life, however, took a different turn and she ended up becoming a registered nurse as she did not complete the art course.

Nonetheless, she considers her interest of desiring to pursue a college degree in art as a “good background” regarding her present status.

After remarrying, Woodard and her husband ended up in St.Kitts and got into a catering business specialised in baking tall column wedding cakes. Some individuals would be familiar with the couple going back to the days of Wednesday nights Karaoke hosted at former business place Sugars in Frigate Bay.

In speaking about the environment of the Kreative Kids session, she talked the benefits of the youngsters’ participation which includes problem solving skills and boost in pride.

“First thing, in art, you can’t make a mistake. If something goes wrong, I ask them to slow down and take a look to see how we can fix it.”

In that seemingly error scenario, the youngsters are encouraged to change a shape into something else or quickly wipe off the paint if it is still wet.

“As part of a problem solving skills, we encourage them to carry in real life to look for a solution instead of a problem in saying ‘the world is coming to an end’,” Woodard commented further.

She shared that “one of the kids in my class has a talent show coming up and is going to show it, and so there is the bolster pride of going to showcase these things.”

Woodard also conducts adult classes. 

She has made an observation that as people grown older, they tend lose confidence in their creative ability.

“It’s a funny thing in adults” she expressed before pointing out that if a study done among little children asked if they were creative, about 95% would say ‘Yes’ and for those in grade four then about 50% will say ‘Yes’ while in high school some 25% will say ‘Yes’.

According to Woodard, “By the time they graduate high school, only 5% will feel creative at times maybe because a teacher has said something to them.”

At present, she credits Leonhardt for still being a “wonderful source of information and construct.”

Currently, Woodard is doing a one year online course in Art Therapy, and she has gotten requests to work with children with autism at a centre in St.Kitts.

As understood from her, art is an outlet that can assist those children to develop and assimilate into society.

Woodard pointed out that typically autistic children would need more work as it relates to socialisation  and that “art us a good way  to bring out the quiet parts of a person.”

“A part of the brain and heart realize more things [and can expand] a lot in art therapy. It (art) helps to overcome fears, gives a sense of accomplishment and have fun,” she added.

Woodard can be contacted at 1-869-762-3967.

Occupational Safety and Health

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Occupational Safety and Health

By: Joseph Jones

Workers (People), we have lived in this old world so long that we may have stopped to noticing how much stress we feel over world conditions. Similarly, people like me who live near the airport may no longer notice the noise and those who live near a garbage dump may no longer notice the smell.

Hello! Take away all those negative factors (an element that contributes to a result). What relief! What will replace the stresses we feel now? THE AWARENESS. Does not the word ‘awareness’. Does not that word impact your mindset? Workers, we need to meditate on what we read; it is very important and that is why I write every week on this topic.

Hear this: At times, very powerful forces tried to keep us down but the St.Kitts-Nevis Trades & Labour Union, very sincerely, stood up to such opposition. For many of us today, money is the big issue. We are focused on accumulating wealth or holding on to what we have. For this union, the biggest issue is better working conditions-health and safety, and personal accomplishments.

As I continue to write, my eyes have seen the needs of you (the workers) in these difficult times.

Mark you, moving forward would be difficult and would require uncomfortable work, perhaps even facing family problems or finding ourselves in unexpected places; places we never planned nor wanted to be. We may be drowning in debt or to prevent by physical barriers or suffering under the weight of consequences at the workplace (to accept whatever result from one’s action) whether you find yourselves in a prison or palace.

My advice to you all is to forget what lies behind and press forward. The past is no barrier to moving forward with occupational safety and health.

Before I close let me say two (2) things: Use all safety devices when necessary safety equipment is more effective before an accident occurs than afterwards, and to you the electricians, in handling any circuit known to be ‘alive’, whenever possible use only one hand. It is best to keep the other hand behind the back. The most dangerous shocks are those from hand to hand.

Continue reading these weekly articles.

‘Small but tallawah’ Praise For New Primary School Champions

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‘Small but tallawah’ Praise For New Primary School Champions

By: Spokesman Newsroom

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 29th March 2019)-‘Small but tallawah’ was quite applicable for team Dieppe Bay Primary School for its victory in securing the 2019 Rams Primary School Championships back-to back athletic days (Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th March) at the Kim Collins Athletic Stadium in Bird Rock.

Athletes of the winning school dashed away with 9 Gold medals, 5 Silver medals, and 4 Bronze medals beating 16 other schools including the three-peat competitors Dr. William Connor Primary.

This media house understands that Dieppe Bay Primary which has school population of about 93 student- with an athletic squad of about 30 members-was an underdog team compared to the bigger schools.

Following in second position was Cayon Primary School with 7 Gold medals, 10 Silver medals, and 8 Bronze medals and taking the third spot- the Dr. William Connor Primary School with 6 Gold medals, 9 Silver medals, and 8 Bronze medals.

The other results are as follows:

George Moody Stuart Primary School – 6 Gold; 2 Silver; 1 Bronze.

Sandy Point Primary School – 5 Gold; 8 Silver; 6 Bronze.

St. Paul’s Primary School – 4 Gold; 4 Silver; 2 Bronze.

Tucker Clarke Primary School – 4 Gold; 3 Silver; 4 Bronze.

Beach Allen Primary School – 4 Gold; 1 Silver; 4 Bronze.

Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School – 3 Gold; 0 Silver; 3 Bronze.

Tyrell Williams Primary School – 2 Gold; 6 Silver; 5 Bronze.

Estridge Primary School – 2 Gold; 0 Silver; 0 Bronze.

Saddlers Primary School – 1 Gold; 2 Silver; 4 Bronze.

Edgar T Morris Primary – 1 Gold; 0 Silver; 0 Bronze.

Newton Ground Primary School – 0 Gold; 4 Silver; 2 Bronze.

Irishtown Primary School – 0 Gold; 1 Silver; 0 Bronze.

Deane- Glasford Primary School – 0 Gold; 0 Silver; 1 Bronze.

Immaculate Conception Catholic Primary School – 0 Gold; 0 Silver; 1 Bronze.

Eco-friendly Group Snorkel In Frigate Bay

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Eco-friendly Group Snorkel In Frigate Bay

By: Precious Mills

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 29th March 2019)-It took over fifteen (15) minutes of on-the-spot snorkelling lessons but that was part of the plan as a group of eco-friendly enthusiasts assembled at Timothy Beach in Frigate Bay over the past weekend as part of an ongoing Environmental Sustainability and Conservation Leadership Training experience being conducted in St. Kitts-Nevis.

For over an hour, the group which consisted of over 10 individuals including Environmental Science students from the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) and marine conservation officers explored the water world. 

This reporter was part of the outing also.

Fishes and other sea creatures spotted included damsel, grunt, parrot fish, butterfly and sea urchins as well as corals like the brain and finger as well as the fire coral which snorkellers were advised to stay away from since it gives a harmful sting.

Watersports company, Beach Addiction St.Kitts-Nevis, provided snorkelling gear that day.

Lead facilitator of the Leadership Training Luis Cruz, a Ross University professor and Researcher of Human Behaviour in positive ways concerning conservation and environmental sustainability, informed this reporter that during a second workshop by way of a round table discussion held on Wednesday 6th March, while sharing experiences, it was discovered that when it comes to swimming and snorkelling “the majority (of panelists) have never done it.”

As a result, the snorkelling outing was put together.

“Experience is what shapes our decisions later on. What we experience especially emotional and very positive, it gets engrained in the nervous system and that can help us to make better decisions along the way so this is how this all came about,” Cruz commented.

He continued: “I think today went outstanding. I saw so many smiles after the beginning when people were a little apprehensive and somewhat scared. The water was a little cold at first but just the sun and the feel of the water and looking underneath [the sea), it’s a whole new world, and once we open our minds to that world, it’s like ‘I’m ready to go for it’.”

A stakeholders engagement session, scheduled for Thursday 11th April, is expected to see a tour of The Narrows with a snorkelling stop at Shitten’s Bay which Cruz said will be an “appreciative inquiry” type of activity.

 “We are engaging a lot of stakeholders throughout the island from hotels to businesses, developers, people from the government, and what they are going to be doing is asking questions…,” he said.

As gathered, conservation likes and dislikes relative to St. Kitts-Nevis will also be discussed.

“The idea is to keep a very positive environment to figure out what it is that we all value because when we find common goals and common values, it is really easy to set up programmes and planning for other projects to  tackle those things we have in common,,” Cruz added.

Here is what others had to say about last weekend’s snorkelling activity.

Marine Conservation Officer Locksley Edwards

“It was a learning experience for them (first time snorkellers) and a good opportunity for me to be in the water and teach them as well so all in all I think it was a success; today ended pretty well. I think this adds to the green (environment) awareness because most of the team members are youths who didn’t know that so much stuff existed so it adds to the awareness that they can now move out into the community and be more aware of the fact that what we do on land because once you do a lot of pollution –like garbage- whether the hotels and restaurants etc; whatever we do on land always ends up in the ocean so now we have more ecofriendly people and awareness within our youth especially to move forward in life as we  go about dealing with climate changes . Once, the youths are more into green awareness, ecofriendly way of thinking then we can have a better community, better country and better world overall.”

Project Coordinator- Conservation and Environmental Sustainability (Contractor) at Ross University – Sheryl Bass 

 “This was my first go at snorkelling; I’ve tried swimming but snorkelling was the first time. I thought it was awesome. It look a little getting used to the breathing rhythm but with the help of really, really good support such as Locksley and Luis and Catalina (Luis’ wife), it became a breeze. I truly enjoyed the experience, and this is something that I’d like to do many times. It is a relaxing experience and more of us as Kittitians need to try the water much more and enjoy what we have right around us.”

Owner and Senior National Instructor of Beach Addiction St.Kitts-Nevis Nicholas Dupre

“It was great. You could see for a lot of people it was their first time but hopefully this experience has opened up a world for them so that they could come and explore and see what else is out there. The ocean is our playground and is right at our doorsteps so we should all…..explore it. I think it’s really important [to have these outings] because when you’re snorkelling and you see all the plastic and other stuff also when we’re sailing in the water, we see plastic that are blowing off of the Strip and into the water and it has an effect on the sea life so it’s good to know what we’re trying to protect.”

27 nurses now fully trained and certified in Paediatric Cancer Care

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27 nurses now fully trained and certified in Paediatric Cancer Care

Bridgetown, Barbados, February 01, 2019 – Twenty-seven nurses drawn from five countries across the region have all successfully completed specialised training in the care of children with cancer and other blood disorders.

The nurses all successfully completed the Paediatric Haematology/Oncology Nursing Diploma Programme at the University of the West Indies School of Nursing in Trinidad, with the last cohort finishing last April.

Twenty-six of the 27 nurses from Barbados, The Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who completed the specialised one-year programme, were part of SickKids-Caribbean Initiative.

In 2013, with the support of SickKids Foundation the SickKids-Caribbean Initiative (SCI), a partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI), Ministries of Health, hospitals and institutions in six Caribbean countries was established. This partnership focuses on building sustainable local capacity to diagnose, treat, and manage paediatric cancers and blood disorders.

Regional bank CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank also came on board with the initiative pledging USD$1 million over a seven-year period (2014 – 2020) through its charitable arm, FirstCaribbean International Comtrust Foundation. As nurse training partner, the bank funded the full training for all but one of the 27 nurses.    

“We are truly proud to be a partner with SCI and to support the life-changing work they have been doing across the region to ensure that hundreds of children diagnosed with cancers or blood disorders have access to the very best care delivered by trained professionals,” said Colette Delaney, Chair of the FirstCaribbean International ComTrust Foundation and Chief Executive Officer of CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank.

“The work of the dedicated doctors and nurses of SCI have greatly improved the outcomes and enhanced the quality of care and quality of life for so many of our most vulnerable citizens – our children,” Ms. Delaney added.

Officials of SickKids recently paid a courtesy call on Ms. Delaney where they updated her on the great strides which have been made in the treatment and management of paediatric cancer cases across the region.

To date the SCI has significantly improved the diagnosis and care of scores of children across the region. In Jamaica and St. Lucia alone 57, 790 newborn sickle cell disease screening tests were conducted.

In addition, seven telemedicine centres were established, 302 consultations have taken place, 179 specialized diagnostic tests were done on patients newly diagnosed with leukemia, 528 patients were registered in local oncology databases, 21 lectures held on the work of SCI and three doctors trained under the Haematology/Oncology fellowship programme.

The initiative has also added to the library of regional medical literature and resources with the completion of five supportive care guidelines and five clinical care guidelines documents. Seven custom built local data bases were established in SCI partner hospitals to record and track patients and seven local data managers hired and trained in those territories.

Occupational Safety and Health

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Occupational Safety and Health

By: Joseph Jones

Workers (People) whenever, I write on this topic of occupational safety and health, I am aware not only of it being very complex in the challenges it poses but also and very particularly, the interest which the subject arouses (emotion to awaken) you  at the workplaces coupled with your realities.

Workers, listen to me as well as the St. Kitts-Nevis Trades & Labour Union. You have to believe and be committed to your health and safety and this will come from unity and integration of all workers (people).

Hello! My writings and language clearly reveal that this Union will not rest until this topic is obtained in St. Kitts-Nevis and at all the workplaces and you the workers should not have it any other way.

Let me move on. I have been asked by a very good friend and worker to give him a run down about the topic of ‘Noise’. As many of you are aware, I have already covered this topic in previous articles but since he is continually requesting this of me then here I go again.

Noise is described as unwanted sound. In addition to causing annoyance, it may interfere with working efficiency by inducing stress and disturbing concentration especially where the work is difficult and highly-skilled. It may be the cause of accidents and in particular, it may damage hearing. Also, listen this my friend: Hearing is an important sense which helps us establish contact with our surroundings. If we lose our hearing or have it reduced then we find it difficult to understand normal speech, difficulty in understanding what supervisors and workmates say, and in understanding sound signals, you may also suffer from a feeling of isolation (alone) due to not being able to participate in discussions during conversations with workmates during time off. It is a handicap (physically and mentally disabled). People who have this problem need more rest and relaxation than normal because you are suffering from reduced hearing/deafness must often use ALL your energy to do your job.

*Note Well* I am making it emphatically clear again- Pneumatic drills that operate by compressed air give rise to a very high level of noise. Apart from that, they also vibrate so strongly that they affect the blood circulation and injure muscles and joints. You hear that my friend? These are some challenges before us, so I am saying to you: Don’t be weighed in the balance and found wanting.

Thanking you.

England Squad Share Gifts After Beating West Indies

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England Squad Share Gifts After Beating West Indies

By: Spokesman Newsroom

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 15th March 2019)-With giveaways of cricket gear from members of team England following the T20 International series which concluded at Warner Park in St. Kitts earlier this week, cricket fans and enthusiasts were somewhat part of the celebration having received gifts compliments of the winning squad who defeated the West Indies.

Hands stretched over the fence near the players pavilion area painted a contrast picture of the disappointing remarks made by many fans about the Caribbean team’s disappointing play on Caribbean soil as many spectators -including locals and residents- drew close to get their hands on shoes and wicket keeping pads among other items as game souvenirs.

On Sunday 10th March, England continued its winning ways against West Indies by eight wickets in the third and final match 3-0 with 57 balls to spare.

Two days before on Friday 8th March, West Indies got the second lowest-ever total in a T20 international, dismissed for 45 with the end result of losing by 137 runs.

West Indies Captain Jason Holder on Sunday in speaking to reporters said in part: “We arguably let ourselves down in the ODI series but England still played some very good cricket as well, and the T20 series just wasn’t ours. To be fair we were outplayed but overall I’m pretty pleased.”

 “We just weren’t good enough. We didn’t adjust to the wicket. I felt it was a bit two-paced and I felt England bowled a really hard length and asked us to hit them off their lengths, and we just didn’t adjust to what the wicket threw at us and we didn’t really play well,” he added.

ECCB Partners With Bitt In Digital Currency Project

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ECCB Partners With Bitt In Digital Currency Project

By: Precious Mills

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 15th March 2019)-“At the outset, I want to make it pellucidly clear that the ECCB does not intend to eliminate the use of cash.”

So said Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Timothy Antoine while speaking at the launch of an $8 million investment pilot project for the issuance of digital currency in partnership with financial company Bitt during a press conference held on Tuesday 12th March at the bank’s headquarters in Bird Rock, Basseterre.

“Cash has its convenience and will continue to play a very important role in our economy and that’s for the foreseeable future. That said, the ECCB is committed to reduce the region’s use of cash and cheque.”

Bitt, according to its company website (www.bitt.com), is a financial technology company that utilizes blockchain and distributed ledger technology to facilitate secure peer-to-peer transactions with seamless mobile money across a suite of Bitt’s Software and Mobile Applications.

In explaining the bank’s reasoning regarding such planned reduction of use of cash and cheque, Antoine informed that in the ECCU (Eastern Caribbean Currency Unit) about 80 percent of all payments are effected using cash for cheques.

“When we survey our payment landscape, we cannot help but conclude that payments are still too slow and too expensive. Many of us know only too well the high costs associated with certain banking services.”

Although a close analysis of the social costs of physical cash in the ECCU has not yet been carried out, Antoine commented that “it is indisputable that the cost of cash services including transporting, storing, insuring (and) securing are extremely high. [Invariably], these high costs are passed on to the consumer. A lot people may not recognize but that is what happens, and it is also our

[observation]

that many businesses do not recognize the true and full costs of cash services.”

“This reality, however means, and given the fact that the informal sector is so important in our region, means that informal sector bears a disproportionate burden in respect of the cost of cash,” he added.

In sharing the bank’s motivation in making this “bold move” of the digital currency project, the top ECCB official, in one aspect, pointed out that: “For our region to improve our development prospects and performance, we must expedite our digital transition. To that end, regulators and innovators must work together and this pilot exemplifies this collaboration. Bitt first approached the ECCB about two years ago with the idea of a digital EC dollar. As we continue thinking about the transformation of the ECCU we became intrigued by the possibility of a digital fiat currency for our region. At that time, we were finalising our strategic plan and we made a decision to test and learn more about this idea through a pilot.”

As understood, five months after the launch of the bank’s strategic plan, a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) was signed with BITT in March of last year to collaborate on this idea and so the journey to the pilot began.

According to Antoine “The decision of the ECCU to partner with BITT was premised on several considerations including our shared values in respect of innovation for development, our vision for digitally integrated region, Bitt’s capacity-technical and financial and BITT’s Caribbean identity-both in terms of its presence as well as its people.”

The pilot project, he outlined, will be executed in two phases with development and testing for about 12 months followed by a roll-out and implementation for six months.

“Throughout the 18 month period of the pilot, there will be education initiative to facilitate active public engagement throughout all member countries,” Anotine noted.

Additionally, he said the project will be deployed in about three countries based on interest expressed by participating institutions, institutional capacity as well as some type of geographic representation.

An institution from one of the islands in the Leeward and Windward region as well as indigenous bank and an international bank and a non-banking institution will be looked at; all of which will be required to have the supporting infrastructure.

Chief Executive Officer of Bitt Rawdon Adams remarked that “One of the reasons why we’re so happy to do with this collaboration with the ECCB…we recognise the kindred spirit, and financial technology is a tool to help us remove some structural impediments we see in this region.”

He continued: “Our company is from Barbados and I think that some of the issues that the Governor has identified are common to us as well and these are things around inclusion, limits on growth to a lesser extent in Barbados but disaster preparedness and resilience, how can we overcome these sorts of problems? So it turns up in our view and we built a company on this technology we think it represents a huge chance for us to build a significant company and also solve everyday problems for citizens in the Caribbean. Well, the best way to do it is to partner with a key institution such as the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank…”

Plans For Second Annual French Singing Contest Underway

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Plans For Second Annual French Singing Contest Underway

By: Precious Mills

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 15th March 2019)-Language learning and cultural exposure through music is a focus of the Alliance Française de St.Kitts and Nevis in its growing French singing competition and overall involvement in the community.

Such was highlighted on Wednesday 13th March, during the second annual press conference held at the institute’s premises located in Greenlands, Basseterre. The media briefing was held on the day that registration opened in preparation of finals to take place in May.

This time around for the competition, there will be a two separate finalists for both islands with the grand prizes of one return trip to Guadeloupe ( St.Kitts) and one return trip to Martinique (Nevis) for one person for the duration of one week with a host family.

Last year, Zareef Dias of the Verchilds High School on St.Kitts won a trip to Paris, France, and he is scheduled to travel come next month (April) at the convenience of his availability.

Last month (Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23rd   February), Alliance Française de St.Kitts and Nevis partnered with the College St. John Perse in Les Abymes in Guadeloupe for a student exchange programme to that French-speaking Caribbean island (Guadeloupe) for a period of five (5) days.

When quizzed about why music has been chosen in promoting the language to the public and students, Event Coordinator of the song competition Ophélie Beuscart had this to say whilst touching on the recent overseas trip: “The first day the students were a bit shy. They tried to communicate a little bit but it was difficult and that’s normal for the first day and the second day they all sang together and that’s the thing actually because that’s cultural thing; everybody likes music. Music is something universal so when people meet around an art-because it’s (music) is an art- I think it can be really interesting and it can be a really good motivation for the students.”

She also talked about the French culture as being “about something different and French is into that and that’s important that they get their motivation from that.”

Director of the Alliance Française de St.Kitts and Nevis Marine Moncaut, chimed in saying: “Yeah, music about breaking the language barrier. So they were singing ‘Hello Hello Hello’ [Hello by Kes] and afterwards they were singing some other songs, and in the trip they were a bit shy and we tried to encourage them and one of the way they were trying to be in contact was to share music so they were listening to some music…and they were trying to exchange through that. I guess it’s one social aspect out of the rest but yes music is talking; if the language is not talking, the music is doing the talking.

Speaking about the top competition prizes this year, she commented: “ As much as it might not look as shiny as the Eiffel Tower [in Paris], it is a very important point that we want to show is that collaboration and friendships, and you can discover many things around the common and Martinique and Guadeloupe are there, and when we started to organise this school exchange group in Guadeloupe  we saw the behaviour of our students; they really discovered a country  which is Caribbean with a different language so Caribbean enough to feel comfortable  -not completely lost- and French to learn to be immerse in a different  language atmospheres.”

Moncaut highlighted the importance of students being immerse into that French speaking atmosphere for conversational grooming “so that they get to oblige themselves to be in a position of speaking because that is what we are lacking a bit here…”

A school tour, organised by the Alliance Française, which kicked off on 13th March is expected to run until 29th March within the schools.

Individual participants of the High School students from all public and private educational institutions are welcomed to register at a cost of EC$10.

Other dates will see the collection of applications 1st – 5th April, pre-selections/eliminations: 15th – 28th April, as well as final concerts in St. Kitts and Nevis on 4th and 3rd May, respectively.

As disclosed by the organisers, a list of thirty (30) famous French songs have been selected to be judged based on a set of criteria including difficulty of the song, rhythm and French pronunciation.

Some Ways To Keep A Positive Attitude At Work So You Do Not Have To Feel Miserable

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Some Ways To Keep A Positive Attitude At Work So You Do Not Have To Feel Miserable

By: Batumba Tak

General Secretary

The St. Kitts-Nevis Trades & Labour Union

Some Ways To Keep A Positive Attitude At Work So You Do Not  Have To Feel Miserable

In the words of Pat Riley: “If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges.”

I can’t assure you that a positive attitude at the workplace will help you to get a promotion in the so-called corporate jobs. But when you keep a positive attitude at at the workplace, it will give you inner peace in terms of meeting goals and completing project in time.

However, in today’s article let us look at some ways to keep a positive attitude at work, so you don’t have to feel miserable.

We fully believe that everyone should befriend their co-workers. Most if not the majority of persons will agree with me that even if we have plenty of friends outside of the workplace, keeping very good relationships in the workplace can and do have a positive impact.

In fact, simple research has shown that a report from Glob force has found that employees who have quality relationships with their co-workers are more than likely to be engaged and happy at the workplace.

Let us now turn our attention to tune out. We ALL are quite aware that most employees’ moods are contagious, so if and when we find that there is negativity around us, we must try to separate ourselves from it and tune it out.

However, if our workplace allows us to bring headphones and listen to music while working, this can and more likely to have a calming and productive effect on ALL of us.

In addition, Nikki Martinez, Psy. D., LCPC Psychologist/ Life Coach also says that it lowers heart rate and increases focus by tuning out outside distractions as well.

We will now look at the importance of taking breaks. Martinez says that we must make sure that we take short breaks throughout the day. We fully believe that ALL workers are entitled to short breaks to help protect their health. For instance, a very brief walk or change in atmosphere can and will sure to make a very huge difference.

However, a recent study from Baylor University found that office workers, who take short, frequent breaks during the workday report higher job satisfaction, reduced emotional exhaustion, and greater efforts to take on their job responsibilities.

We shall now deal with problems professionally. Health Experts have always tried to assure us that no good ever comes from bottling up our negative feelings, so if there’s something that is not working at our workplace we must find away to resolve the problem in a professional manner before it eats away at our insides.

It is advice that we hit the problem head on and use it as an opportunity to work on our communication, and we may find that we hold less resentment.

Let us continue by looking at leaving the workplace for lunch. Martinez also suggest that we do not eat lunch at our desk, because “physically removing our self and changing our environment for a brief time can and will have the effect of a ‘reset’ on our day.

Thus, the Journal Environmental Science & Technology clearly states that if we can try to get outside because getting moving outside even for just five minutes can and will improve our mood as well as our self-esteem.

Finally, for today’s article, let us look at setting goals for ourselves. We know for a fact that sometimes all we need is a little bit of self-motivation.

For by creating goals for ourselves we can and will help to motivate us to work harder, as completing steps in our goals can and will help to give us the satisfaction that encourages us to keep working further.

However, according to today’s psychologist, feeling attached to our goals is very important, so if we aren’t pleased with our work responsibilities, we must come up with some on our own.

As time is of the utmost importance, we will have to stop here for today, but will continue from where we left off in our next article by looking at doing something nice.

As I close for today, I leave you with a quote by Dr. Reda Bedeir, a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, and a song by Sam Francis and Gary Francis.

“If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.” –  Reda Bedeir.

Reward

By: Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Fate used me meanly; but I looked at her and laughed,

That none might know how bitter was the cup I quaffed.

Along came joy, and paused beside me where I sat,

Saying, ‘I came to see what you were laughing at.’

I Can Because I Think I Can

Sam Francis and Gary Francis.

Success in life depends on me,

I have the right to choose,

It all depends on what I think,

And the thoughts I use,

Life is filled with obstacles,

I can overcome,

With the proper attitude,

I’ll conquer every one.

I can … because I think I can,

I can do it, you will see.

This world is filled with challenges,

And opportunity!

I can … because I think I can,

It’s my ‘attitude’ you see,

That determines my success,

All what I want to be!

This world can be a better place,

I’ll help to make it so,

As I help my fellow-man/woman,

My abilities will grow,

I will do my very best,

To serve with all my might,

I want to be successful,

By doing what is right!

I can … because I think I can,

I can do it, you will see,

This world is filled with challenges

And opportunity!

I can … because I think I can,

It’s my ‘attitude’ you see,

That determines my success,

At what I want to be!

I can … because I think I can,

I can do it, you will see,

This world is filled with challenges,

And opportunity!

I can … because I think I can,

It’s my ‘attitude’ you see,

That determines my success,

At what I want to be!

That determines my success,

At what I want to be!

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