We learned a lot at the ACA Northland Workshop!
Me and Jolly
Ally Here! Joe and I had the privilege of attending the Northland Workshop, that is put on by the Northland branch of the American Camp Association. There we got to see camping legend Jolly Corley give a
presentation on reflection and gave us wonderful way to structure looking back at the 2023 summer and how to take real meaning from it. While that applies to us here in the camping world, I think it is also a very important thing to do for everyone as we get closer and closer to a new year.
Hosted at beautiful Camp Koronis
In the Spirit of Thanksgiving!
The first step of Jolly’s process of reflection was to start with what we are grateful for. Before focusing on any negatives, Jolly had us think about what we truly were thankful we had this summer and in our lives in general. I thought this would be a very timely thing to do so close to this Thanksgiving Holiday. She had us start by writing down three people we are grateful for.
BUT it didn’t stop there…
Jolly gave us some time to then send a video message to one of these people. We had to quickly tell them that we were grateful for them and why, all in less than 2 minutes! Jolly had us think about how long that actually took, and how possible would it be do one every week? Less than 2 minutes every week , is a little over an hour for a full year. Very do-able to send more gratification out into the world! I sent one to my best friend, who is a great support during the busy camp
Jolly’s reflection book
season and throughout the year. I was surprised by the sincere response and how much my friend had appreciated the gesture. It is definitely I want to incorporate into my weekly routine, maybe you can too!
Need more convincing?
I loved this article from Manhattan Mental Health…
“Cultivating gratitude keeps us mentally resilient. In times of adversity and emotional turmoil, practicing gratitude acts as a psychological booster, one that does not let us sink too low. Sooner or later things don’t go our way. Life often feels like it is out of our control – a feeling we can all relate to in the age of Covid-19. We can let ourselves feel down about this lack of control. But even in dark times, there is much too appreciate. Gratitude gives us something we can control: our thoughts. We don’t need good things to happen to us, all we need is to change the way we think about what happened. Shift what you pay attention to and you can uplift your thoughts and your moods. While we are stuck in our temporary worry, we forgot about all the other things we are lucky to have. By paying attention to the positive, we rebalance our thoughts and our feelings. Gratitude is a powerful tool that help us experience some joy even when we are going through a dark time.”
We all here at Camp Foley wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving season and hope you have been inspired to send some Gratitude to the special people in your life too! Want to build campers who are resilient and gaining grit this summer? Register today for Camp Foley!