WEEK #2’s free giveaway is SororityMom’s Thankful Journal
We started our Back-to-School celebration in time for House Directors who return to campus in early August. Opening up a sorority house after it’s been closed for the summer will require some attention, but not 100% of your time. There’s plenty of quiet and solitude in the big house before the young women arrive and the energy of Rush engulfs everyone.
You’ll want to spend some time filling in our series of helpful journals. That’s why we began our giveaway now — one a week for five weeks! You have a chance to get started on a new one each week.
Keeping track of gratitude
So for this last week of July, our focus is on gratitude and establishing a thankful attitude in advance. That can come in handy in the midst of any trying times you may encounter later. Setting the tone and practicing it will go a long way toward mantaining harmony among so many personalities coming together under one big roof.
Establishing Grace in the House
When new girls meet you, or you as a brand new House Director meet the girls, you can make it an experience of grace to establish those relationships. You are appreciated! You are thankful for them! They are about to experience an amazing year of personal growth. And so are you.
Grace — living in a thankful state — can bolster you when encountering it’s antithesis: entitlement. Quite the opposite mentality. Gratitude doesn’t exist in the ingrained belief that rewards are deserved. Existing in selfishness does not promote growth. You bringing grace and joy to daily living can support the needed shift.
You’re doing your best to be the adult who treats these young adults without judgement. If you can get a handle on why a certain behavior bothers you, than expressing more understanding or flexibilty can go a long way toward melting it. You can’t control the situation really. But we don’t have to expect our relationships with young people to be filled with constant, stressful power struggles. They may come into the house with a certain set of behaviors from dealing with things at home. But college is a fresh start.
Treating Staff Kindly
Demonstrating gratitude can soften or energize whatever emotions or attitudes need to be dealt with in the house. It’s all about relationships. Being aware and empathetic is what you offer to this group of girls are on their own for the first time, negotiating all new levels of relationships in a hurry. They don’t have anyone to fall back on. They may not arrive with many skills for this particular setting.
This is especially true with regards to how staff is treated. And even how you are intially treated, depending on how the young women perceive your position. There will be ups and downs. But expressing appreciation can become the norm. Don’t be put off by the need for growth in this area. Since you aren’t in the correcting- dispositions business, you get to lead by example.
Gratitude Involves Forgiveness
You’ll have LOTS of oppotunities to practice forgiveness, too. Don’t struggle over their problems and attitudes that they need to grow out of. Accept that these teenagers are in the process of growing up. The under-21 crowd has plenty on their plates. So when you can, forgive freely without hanging on to graceless moments.
Here’s a simple, yet effective Hawai’ian practice that can get you back into equilibrium with yourself quickly:
It’s called Ho’oponopono (hoe-oh-po-no-po-no) — Tool for Forgiveness
These four Hawaiian affirmations are used together to heal relationships with yourself and others.
Repeat these words to yourself in any order as many times as you want/need until you feel an emotional release. You need to say all of them, which may have sticking points at first:
- I love you
- Please forgive me
- I’m sorry
- Thank you (I appreciate you)
If you’ve spent any time in Hawai’i you know how gracious the people are. Grace just pours over you!
Gratitude is A Proven Anti-Aging Tool
If you’ve taken any personal growth seminars or listened to podcasts, or read any of the gazillion books out there on the subject of gratitude, or tuned into Oprah, you know it’s important to your well-being. That’s why we thought a Thankful Journal was a helpful tool to offer House Directors.
This is a free download when you click the link here. Please be aware that the journal is set up for 30 days, 5 weeks, so longer months are accounted for. You fill in the specific dates. You are welcome to make as many copies as you’d like to have enough for the year.
Reflecting on and embodying grace is an anti-aging tool. This quote from Sophia Loren, the legendary example in her 80s, exemplifies this:
“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talent, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”
Loren also takes a nap every day. Another anti-aging secret!
Being a sorority House Director is your laboratory to put all this into daily practice.
Get SororityMom’s Thankful Journal. FREE this week only!
New to the job? Get prepared for the next few weeks by reading The Sorority House Director’s Survival Guide. Only at SororityMom.com’s shop!
