Friday, April 24, 2009

YOU are the decisive element - you set the tone!

My friend Tara Brown just shared this quote with me, and I knew you would relate.
It's a great quote to use with teachers, youth workers, corporate employees, parents, children, youth... We all hold incredible power to impact the world around us. How will YOU impact your circles today?

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture, or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de –escalated, and a person humanized or dehumanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
- Goethe