At lunchtime on the day of the conference the lead Curriculum person asked me if I would give an affirmation to one of the staff, Joel, who would be presenting in the afternoon. I was honoured to offer Joel an affirmation for his presentation and for his work with the children.
My colleague Jennifer was planning a Team Building event for the Staff at her centre and in her careful and creative thinking about what she wanted to accomplish that evening, she asked me if I would write an affirmation for the staff. I offered to write them personal, individual affirmations....all 13 of them! Of course the event was a couple of days after my vacation so I took the list of names with me and gave careful thought to what I might say to each one.
I have known some of them for 11 years and some for only 11 months so it was challenging to be personal and professional and meaningful...on a 4x6 card! But I really enjoyed the exercise of visualizing each of the staff and their uniqueness and the work they do and who they are as people. It was a long but good process and as I sealed each one in an envelope I felt good.
This week Jennifer hosted the Game Show that was competitive and hilarious by all accounts. She then did a personal verbal affirmation to each staff present, each staff did an affirmation for someone on their team and read it to them and then they opened the ones from me.....I gather after all that there were alot of tears and hugging.
And since then as the week has gone on (and on and on....why does the first week back after a break drag on so?). I have received some lovely words and cards back from the staff that have greatly warmed my heart and renewed my spirit.
It didn't cost a penny to make those affirmations but I doubt there is anything more meaningful that I could have purchased or would have had as much of an impact.
Affirm someone today!
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