For a variety of reasons, my students collectively endured a terrible week. The enter class complaining of illnesses, stress, disillusionment, and a litany of disappointments. And what about the week’s news that started with a college admission scandal and ended with another mass shooting?
On Fridays like these, I always use the same Name Game: “Say your name and offer one piece of good news, no matter how small.”
The mood lifts. The gratitude flows in trickles that soon washes over us. We recall that it’s someone’s birthday. We cheer for a job interview granted. We even feel happy over two pennies found on the sidewalk. We celebrate enough that we realize that there’s always a small something going right when everything else goes wrong.