December 2010

Happy Holidays! This year I am trying something new in my gift giving. I was inspired by one of my favorite websites: Greater Good

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/raising_happiness/post/giving_the_gift_of_generosity/

After reading about the value of giving, I decided to purchase everyone on my list the opportunity to GIVE to any charitable organization of their choice. www.TisBest.com made it very easy to do my holiday shopping. I can't wait to hear who my family members decided to GIVE to. Give the gift of giving to the ones you love and become part of something very meaningful.

Below are some additional suggestions to deepen the meaning of this wonderful season:

• Holiday Volunteering
• Holiday Recipes
• Holiday Decorating
• Holiday Stories
• Holiday Cards
• Holiday Gift Making
• Holiday Movie Making/Watching

Holiday Fun
Following is a list of some sites with activities you can do with your children while they are on break from school.

• The Northpole; Celebrating the Spirit of Santa; Welcome to Clause; Merry-Christmas; These sites have games, recipe’s calendars, naughty/nice charts and more.
• This is the official NORAD Santa Tracking site.
• Hanukat; Torah Tots; Children’s Judaica - These sites have Hanukkah (Chanukah) activities
• Elf Yourself - This website allows kids and adults to upload pictures of their faces, which then become the faces on the bodies of animated elves.
• Disney’s family fun website – Christmas Activities
• Design your own Gingerbread House

Warmly, Tricia

Mistakes Can Be a Gift

Mistakes Can Be a Gift

"It is not our mistakes that define Who we are;

it is how we recover From those mistakes." Bo Bennet

1. Avoid being a perfectionist.

• A perfectionist is driven by “ fear of failure."

• Someone striving for excellence is driven by a "desire for success."

• Being afraid to make a mistake will create a mental barrier for taking risks.

2. Learn to apologize for hurting someone's feelings.

• Quickly admit when you are wrong.

• Explore what you can do to prevent the same problem from occurring again.

• A sincere apology can go a long way to restore trust.

3. Don't dwell on the mistake; move forward and let it go!

• Accept that the mistake was made and can't be changed.

• Think about what you can learn from the mistake; how to avoid it in the future?

4. Don't waste time trying to justify mistakes.

• Our natural instinct is to try to justify our actions.

• People are rarely interested in excuses.

5. Understand why the mistake pattern is repeating.

• Did it happen when you were angry? Do you need to work on anger management?

• Did it happen because you were overwhelmed? Would you benefit from learning new ways to relax?

• Did it happen because of a bad habit? Can you change the habit and avoid making the same mistake?

6. Discover that mistakes are opportunities to learn.

You can gain wisdom and self-confidence from analyzing mistakes.

You may discover a new strategy for the future

Even though you didn't get the exact result you wanted, at least you tried