Let’s RAISE the Bar

Over my many years of teaching, and through the many collaborative interactions with students, I have developed the acronym RAISE. First, because it signifies elevation, which I have always been a fan of evaluating students to new levels. Second, it acts as a reminder of the actions and behaviors that reflect a growth environment that I want to be a part of.

RAISE is a reflective tool for servant educators who mindfully desire to incorporate educational elements that go beyond teaching curriculum and support perpetuated growth of students personally.  It models what, we as servant educators, want to put out there to the world; behaviors, and actions that are created through “pass it on” positive role model mentorship. We have the power to RAISE the bar of education.

R—Respect

Respect encapsulates ways in which a person wants to be viewed or treated; revered, admired, etc. What do you admire about your students? Let them know. “I admire your dedication… I admire that you took the extra time…” Respect can be nurtured by pointing out what went well alongside what didn’t go so well. When students feel they are respected, they are more open to growth feedback as they know their esteem and worth is valued.

Student thought/reaction—oh yeah, I’m that good, the teacher said so. Yeah, maybe I can improve my writing a bit, but the teacher said it is a working progress and I just need to keep practicing; I can do that.

A—Appreciate

Appreciation is probably the easiest yet most overlooked action in the classroom. It is not outside of an educator’s realm to say “thank you for taking the time to provide inputs, your inputs really add to our learning… I appreciate that you share your perspectives…” not only does it add to the positive dynamic of learning, but it also strengthens the learning relationship between an educator and student

Student thought/reaction–oh my gosh, my teacher values me! I am so telling my parents that I am almost the teacher of the class.

I—Inspire

Nothing is more inspiring than developing a sense of wonder of what is yet to come. As field leaders, we often think we must tell our story of success to inspire students. However, we are just the tour guides of their journey. Creating a sense of self-inspiration through motivation, making them curious, and developing efficacy, inspiration becomes an array of possibilities.

Student thought/reaction—The teacher said my Lego model looked like a NASA rocket. Who’s to say I can’t build a rocket for real? I just might do that someday.

S—Support

From age zero to one hundred plus we want to know we are supported. Support becomes evident when an educator engages in helping solve an issue. Evidence of support is shown through a willingness to elaborate, collaborate and champion for a student. When students feel an educator has their back, they are less frustrated, and it reduces stress. The ultimate outcome is that the student feels more confident and secure asking for help. In the end, it generates a positive dynamic and environment of growth.

Student thought/reaction—I am so glad I can talk to my teacher; this was a rough week. I know the teacher will understand and has my back.

E—Energy

Yes, energy can be created online. An educator’s energy or lack thereof is contagious.  Students, of all ages, look to the educator to set the tone. Whether it is a blast out “welcome to the most amazing course you will ever take” message, or a hooking story at the beginning of class to include students’ thoughts and ideas; educators set the stage and the tone. The curriculum is but ink and paper, an energetic educator creates a vortex of wonder and hunger to learn.

Student thought/reaction—this is so fun. Who knew school could be fun, but I’m going to tell anyone; others would think I was weird for liking to go to school?

In all honesty, I am sure RAISE is not a new and novel concept in the classroom and there are many who are already practicing the actions. The intent here is to offer a positive additive to curriculum that not only supports growth learning but positively develops all students, or all ages, on their path throughout life.

About the author: Dr. Lynn Soots has been teaching psychology at the higher education level for over ten years. She is proud to integrate Positive Psychology applications in each of her courses to support growth and student goal attainment. She specializes in higher education online course-room design, adult learning, and diversity appreciation.

‘We are the Positive Psychology People’

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“Breathe.  It’s Just a Bad Day, Not a Bad Life” ~ unknown

Before Taking Positive Psychology my thoughts about the course were a little mixed.  I wondered if throughout the course we’d analyze how positive our mindset was and honestly, that scared me a little being the pessimistic person I am, but I was also curious to explore what was in it to help me.  At the close of the term, I am walking away with valuable insight on ways looking at the brighter side of each day.

Make Time to FLOW into Life

An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about FLOW.  The meaning of FLOW is exactly what you would imagine…if someone told me to visualize a picture in my mind of what flow meant, my vision would be that of water gently running downstream and the sound of the water soothing my mind.  While experiencing FLOW, your mind is free, you don’t think about what you’re doing…you just go with it. Having a positive mindset leads you to living a healthier lifestyle.  Everyone leads a busy life, but I found that it’s important that you make time for FLOW moments to be able to refresh and recharge your mind and your body.

Finding FLOW in Everyday Enjoyment

I’ve never thought about this before taking Positive Psychology and it wasn’t until we were asked to describe something that where we experienced FLOW that I was aware that simple activities that I enjoy such as baking or running provided me with a positive outcome.  Having to take the time to think about this made me realize that I had experienced it more than I thought.  Looking back, I see how I felt before FLOW, I thought about being in the moment and finally, the sense of satisfaction after completing a task, while leaving all of my troubles behind, made me realize how this made a positive impact on me.  While experiencing FLOW, you do just as my vision states…FLOW!  There is no level of skill, you don’t think about what you are doing, you don’t have a sense of time and the after effect is so refreshing!

Opening up to Creating a Healthier Life

Positive Psychology opened my eyes to being mindful of my thoughts and the little things that I can do to live a more positive, healthy life.  It has also given me the tools I need to be more optimistic.  I am in charge of my own thoughts, therefore, I have the power to create a positive and meaningful life.  Positive Psychology has reinforced that it takes small steps to achieve your goals and how those small steps are the driving force to strive harder toward bigger goals.  It has definitely taught me not to get caught up on cloudy days; look beyond those clouds and whether big or small, you’ll find amazing things!

About the author:  Dana Kuoha is a student at Chaminade University, pursuing her degree in Psychology.  She loves to spend time with family and hopes one day to go into counseling.

‘We are the Positive Psychology People’

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Finding Mindfulness and Purposeful Self-love

Judging by the name, I thought Positive Psychology would be focused on happiness and how to achieve that state of mind. I thought the emphasis would be given to behaviors and methods to accomplish happiness. I didn’t expect to go through the class and participate first hand using the methodologies of Positive Psychology. Of course, the class wasn’t only about finding happiness but about having a healthy mind ,using tactics to reach that point using FLOW, mindfulness, and purposeful self-love.

Accepting our Perfect Self

Listening to Caira Lee’s Tedtalk was my Ah-Ha moment. I’ve struggled with body image issues for as long as I can remember. This is not the first time I learned about the concept of self-love but the way in which Lee delivered the message of radical self-love really impacted me. She calls it a radical action, a rebellion, an extreme act; which was mind-blowing to learn to assume that loving ourselves is something everybody should be doing already. She referred to a website called The body is not an Apology and after exploring the site I came across a question, what is body terrorism?

It was explained as the historical and contemporary violence associated with body hatred. The website’s mission is focused on healing and standing up for the devastating impact of hating our bodies and having others hate our bodies. This concept is not only applicable to women but to everyone on this earth. From the color of our skin to our sexual orientation to our gender to something as trivial as our fashion sense. We are to be self-love radicals, and do what we were taught not to do. Fat? Don’t need to diet, we are perfect in our bodies now. Wrinkles? Don’t need that wrinkle cream, we are perfect in our bodies now. Gay or lesbian? Nothing wrong with us, we are perfect in our bodies.

The site is an excellent resource for all who want to be aware of what self-love is and how to propagate the idea of self-love and the love and respect for one another. Being a parent of two girls I have thought about how am I going to approach this idea of beauty standards when it arises and this site has awesome articles on the topic. To conclude, I recently began practicing affirmations and truly focusing on how my body is amazing as it is, flaws, giggles, stretch marks and all. Thank you, Caira Lee and Professor Soots, for the incredible inspiration.

Self-love: From External Disapproval to Internal Approval

Some might think that self-love is superficial and vain but the reality is that the way in which we perceive ourselves reflects the way in which we behave in the world and how others treat us. What we see ourselves as is what we become and that is the energy we put out. Before starting the class, I didn’t consider myself to have low self-esteem. Of course, I wasn’t thinking of how great I was or how beautiful my body was. Definitely not. But I wasn’t beating down on my body either, so I thought I was okay. The thing is that my self-esteem issues are quiet and sneaky. Like the time my family and I went to the beach but I wouldn’t dare take off my sundress or when I looked at the grays in my hair and the bags under my eyes and looked at my reflection with disapproval.

This class, specifically this concept of self-love put those ideas into perspective. Who made me think that if my body is not toned and blemish free that I am not allowed to show it, or that I am not allowed to age or look tired? I listened to Jess Baker’s talk from the site The Militant Baker, and she gives shocking statistics on how badly we, especially women are affected by these unattainable standards and ideas. 95% of women are unhappy with their bodies which it’s not surprising that almost all models in stream media look nothing like the average American women.

It’s obvious that these ideas leave us feeling unworthy and inadequate. So we buy products and do things to become like those women in the magazines who on their own are unique but more so are almost always photo-shopped and enhanced. Not only that but we harm our mental health with negative talk. Thank goodness though for neuro-plasticity and the ability our brains have to rewire and think positively about ourselves. The journey of self-love is an ongoing one but the hardest part is to start, the rest will follow into place.

About the author:   Maria Kesel is a teacher-student at Chaminade University, mother of two, the chocolate-loving gal who enjoys the simple pleasures of life. Nature is her medicine and long hikes, beach days and waterfalls are the perfect prescriptions for those days when things don’t go as planned.

‘We are the Positive Psychology People’

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“Habits and Happiness importantly reminds us that, scientifically, happiness can be a choice if we change our behavior.”- Shawn Achor

Before Taking Positive Psychology my thoughts about the course were: I thought Positive Psychology would focus on all of the good feelings that we have, I didn’t understand that it would, in fact, make me think and understand my negative feelings and guide me to change these negative feelings or habits into positive ones.

Sorting through Triggers, Negative and Positive Habits

An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about positive and negative habits in Habits and Happiness by Braco. I found this book very useful in that it taught me about triggers that set me off in both positive and negative habits and ways I can go about changing bad habits and implementing good ones. The mind is such a powerful thing and if we can train our minds to think more positively then we can, in fact, live a more positive and healthy life.

Positive Psychology opened my eyes to understanding what triggers me to think and act the way that I do. I learned how to change my negative thought process and how to change bad habits into positive ones. Becoming a more positive person mentally and physically is something I feel I can achieve after taking this class.

About the Author: Aubrey DiLorenzo is a student at Chaminade University. She plans on getting her Bachelor of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education and hopes to become a kindergarten teacher one day. Aubrey is a mother of two girls and a wife to a United States Marine.

‘We are the Positive Psychology People”

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If I’m being honest, I wasn’t 100% willing to go back to college. I had taken a small hiatus in between classes, which was dearly needed. As a single mother, it was hard to take two classes at the same time, while balancing daily life with two children. When I failed my online course, I realized that I needed a break. However, similar to a shark, once I stop swimming, I die. Or in this case, throw away all of my hard work. So, I sucked it up and signed up for another online course. Positive psychology didn’t really stand out to me in any way. It was just another course I needed to take in order to qualify for my bachelor’s degree. While I wasn’t fully mentally prepared for this course, I sure am glad I took it.

Renewable Energy: FLOW

What really touched me the most during the past weeks was FLOW. It can be defined as a mental state of operation in which the person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In my opinion, FLOW can really do wonders regarding one’s mental state. Feeling down? Engage in an activity that encourages FLOW. Not feeling too hot? Engage in an activity that encourages FLOW. However, I can say that I was confused about what produced flow. I used to think that in order to experience FLOW, you had to do some sort of physical activity. In actuality, flow can be implemented into everyday living. FLOW can be experienced when surfing, reading, or just simply spending time with family.

Letting Vitality FLOW into your Life

This course helped me see that with a little adjustment one can implement FLOW into their daily life. One doesn’t have to break their back to attain FLOW. It may even be that one has already found FLOW in their lives, they just haven’t realized it yet. Many people have a busy schedule and many events going on to the point where it may seem as if the stress may swallow them whole. As a single mother with two children, my schedule is jam-packed with activities. Participating in FLOW may help with the stress load that one may face on a daily basis. What that means is that even though life may seem hard and complicated, there are things that I can do to destress and redirect my focus. It’s essential to take the time to decompress and gain a peace of mind.

About the Author: Sandy Cesar is a single mother trying to pursue a degree at Chaminade University. She hopes to become a psychologist and help people understand the way they process their thoughts. She loves to exercise and enjoys spending time with her children.

‘We are the Positive Psychology People’

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Upon taking this course, I thought it was a course teaching the positives of psychology.  I wondered, to myself,  there must be a course called Negative Psychology. I did not expect anything close to what I encountered this semester and I can say that this by far was my favorite course.

Creating Patterns of Positive Triggers

An Ah-Ha moment for me in the course was going through the book Habits of Happiness by Braco Pobric. I enjoyed the book and I really like how practical and simple the actions and steps were to creating positive habits for yourself. One of the things that I would point out as a part of an Ah-HA moment would be about “triggers”. The book Habits of Happiness talks about “triggers” as a technique that one could use to create better and positive habits. For example, a trigger for me in the morning to get up is my alarm and when I sit up, that triggers me to turn on the news which then triggers me to brush my teeth.

As you can see, if we can recognize what those triggers are, we can use them to our advantage and create positive habits. This is something I have been struggling to create a better lifestyle that I can stick to. Now, now after going through the book, I am able to put into place meaningful habits. Now, I can set routines that I can be successful in and keep long term. I am also able to recognize and adjust when something is out of sync. This really is a huge growth spurt for myself as I better my future and well being.

Controlling Habits to Control Well-being

Positive Psychology has really opened my eyes to a different look on health and well-being overall. My actions and attitudes are actually a choice; I decide whether to be positive or negative.  Now, I understand that it is ultimately up to me to create that positive aspect. This soemthing I am grateful that I am able to learn new techniques that were foreign to me. I can apply in my daily life to move towards a healthier and positive life. I have gained a totally new mind that is better equipped for my well-being and to have a more positive outlook is a contagious blessing!

About the author: Andrew Fakatoka is a student studying in the Psychology program at Chaminade University. He enjoys mentoring and coaching the next generation and looks to bring the techniques he has acquired to better serve the youth.

‘We are the Positive Psychology People’

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Positive Tools: FLOW, Compassion, Self-love…

An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about positive psychology and compassion.  Compassion is an emotion and expression that you can share with many individuals if you choose too.  Compassion is a skill that I am still trying to master.  To have the art of compassion you can express yourself in so many different feelings and ways.  I learned about self-love or to love thyself regardless or any outcome, the problem you may face that there is always something you can make positive out of a bad situation.

Positive psychology has given me so many different tools that I can utilize in life such as FLOW.   According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a pioneer of the scientific study of happiness, flow is a type of intrinsic motivation of the mind.  In his words, “you do what you’re doing primarily because you like what you’re doing. To actually know how to have full involvement with an activity that you may desire or like such as singing, acting, teaching, counseling, painting, playing an instrument and working towards being good at it is having FLOW.  Most people don’t know how to find their flow or don’t work hard to continue their flow because others may want to persuade you that you’re not good enough and that you cannot do it but like Mihaly mentioned in his speech do it anyway.

Exploring and Finding Possibilities

Positive Psychology opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities and options. One goal is to find your happy place and indulge yourself in it—FLOW.  Finding and preacticing expression of love and compassion will definitely offer you a life full of happiness and success.  Positive psychology also taught me about wellness and how to take care of the well- being. This can be done by foucsing on myself through exercise and eating healthy.  From what I learnern, I chose to make myself a better person.  I have strated the habit of walking around my neighborhood for 20 minutes a day will increase my chances of well-being.  Discovering the meaning and spiritual engagement will allow me to know the true meaning of life.  Why do we exist and how can I make my life enjoyable and yet memorable.

Positive psychology teaches you about strengths and virtues and having a positive mindset.  It also teaches us about being optimistic, mindful, grateful for yourself and others. with the end result being more happiness.  Positive psychology is a science of happiness. I feel this course was designed for students who are interested in personal well-being, as in counseling, clinical psychology, psychiatry and life coaching. This course ultimately was one of my favorites  and it was very informative, informational, and  it actually was super fun.

About the Author: Tiffany Mascoto attends Chaminade University of Honolulu studying psychology.  Tiffany is a mother of two children ages 6 and 2.  Tiffany’s goal in life is to become a school principal or a counselor within the public education.  Tiffany loves to spend her time with family, friends and learning new things.

‘We are the Positive Psychology People’

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Before Taking Positive Psychology I was not sure what to expect. I thought the class would be about how to have a more positive attitude and outlook on life. This class taught me many great things from breaking bad habits, hope, temperament, and personality, to FLOW, emotional behavior, and creativity. Positive psychology pushed me to look more within myself to find the things that may need a bit more work.

An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about HABITS. I have found myself in quite the rut as of late, and to study and learn about changing habits was very POSITIVE for me. I learned that habits are more than just the things we do day in and day out. Habits are behaviors that take little to no thought process. For example, like brushing our teeth or taking the same route to and from work every day. Habits can be as easy to break as they are to keep, it is merely whether you want to change or not.

Make it a Habit to Engage in the Conversation

Habits and communication go hand in hand. There is a statement I have heard in the past, “keep your ears open and your mouth shut”. “Communication skills are essential for empathizing with others, for understanding their concerns, and for setting the stage for interpersonal problem solving” (Carr, A Pg. 175). I am sure we all have had or tried to have, a conversation with the type of person that likes to rule the conversation, constantly cutting you off, or wanting to interject their two sense. These types of bad habits can make communication nearly impossible. The text points out the importance of listening carefully and briefly summarizing what you have heard to be sure you understand.

Really Hearing Someone makes a Difference

My reason for choosing this topic is it is one that I have worked on with myself. Changing my habits with communication and actually hearing to understand and learn instead of just listening to what others are saying. As with many of the other topics I have learned from this class, habits and communication are topics I will share with others. Ensuring we keep the good habits and discard the bad and work daily to enhance our communication skills will make us all better in our day to day lives.

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” –Mother Theresa

About the author: Rebekah Leonard is a full-time student at Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is a retired Vet working on attaining her BS in Psychology. Following this achievement, she plans to pursue her Master’s in Psychology with a concentration in mental health. Her dream is to one day work with fellow female vets

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Before my journey started in Positive Psychology, I really was unsure of what to expect. Things crossed my mind like happiness and how to live a bubbly lifestyle. I was curious if this information was going to be beneficial to me, and my quest to become a high school teacher or counselor. I wanted my perception to be open and just take the class to see how I could promote a more positive lifestyle for myself and others around me. A huge turning point in this course for me is known as the concept of FLOW.

 Achieving FLOW Through What You Love

Alan Carr, the author of Positive Psychology, wrote, “FLOW is the subjective state that people report when they become engaged in controllable but challenging tasks or activities that require considerable skill and that is intrinsically motivating…” ¹ . This is such a fascinating concept that humans reach through diverse manners. For instance, someone can achieve flow through writing in a journal, a meaningful conversation, competing in a sporting event, or various visual art activities, which happens to be one of my areas where I reach flow. This brings me to a state of peace where I can express myself fully.

Painting Myself into the Picture of FLOW

Acrylic painting is my preferred medium. Seeing the colors mix and creating perfect shades becomes a challenge that I have to figure out. Discovering how to add color in order to create tints and shades on the canvas is methodical and a bit overwhelming at times. Finding something to spark an idea is such a painstaking process, but when you uncover something you feel like capturing in a picture, you want to invest your time and ambition creating that vision. I find it so inspiring watching someone else achieve their FLOW. Seeing passion and motivation at work inspires you to create your own vision and find your own flow within yourself. That is why this concept makes such an impact on me because all human beings find this feeling through many diverse areas.

There is a Place for FLOW in the Classroom

Becoming a teacher is what I have devoted the past five years of my life to, and being a teacher is what I am going to be devoting the rest of my life to. I plan to instill this concept in the minds and hearts of my students; it is not enough for me to just find flow in my life through what I am passionate about. Making it part of my teaching career to promote a positive outlook for all students will a huge part of how I teach. I want to encourage students to find their passions and find their FLOW. Even more rewarding will be to watch as they pursue this through whatever they choose.

¹Carr, A. (2011). Positive psychology: The science of happiness and human strengths. New York, NY: Routledge

About the Author: Tessa Hartness is a student at Chaminade University. She is studying Secondary Education Social Studies with a minor in Psychology. Tessa hopes to begin teaching within the next year and a half. She enjoys spending lots of quality time with her husband and wonderful dog, Hades.

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Before taking Positive Psychology I thought the class would be about methods to become more positive and to remain positive through many situations.  I felt this would be a great course for me to help identify ways to become positive in situations that I find difficult and to maintain my positivity when I feel weak.

Creating Habits and Finding the BoOST

Although I have been told that I am a very positive person, I know that it is just an image that I show others.  I feel discouraged more often than I admit. Personally, I wanted to find a way to improve this.  After starting this class, I realized, although we did cover methods to get and stay positive, there is so much more than I thought there would be.  We looked at how individuals operate and look at the world. There were think tank dicussions about importance of how habits make an impact on life and how having some pessimism is a good thing (only if it is to help us maintain realistic goals). We gave examples of how to increase our confidence levels through the FLOW process and how to boost self-esteem.  This class turned out to not only be more effective than I thought it would but that there is much more that goes into having positivity in life than I originally thought.

Positive Life – The Small Things Create the Whole

My Ah-Ha moment was learning about how much habits have an impact on my life.  I always knew that there were things I did, that I felt were not helping me stay positive. As well, there were things I wished I would do to help me get positive.  I just didn’t fully realize that these things were habits.  I also didn’t realize that there were things I could do that were not explicitly positive or negative in nature to help me improve my positivity—FLOW.

Earlier in the course, a topic that stood out to me was “New Year’s Resolutions”.  Everyone does them, but not everyone maintains them or is successful in them. From this, I learned that I must look at the smaller activities that I do hour-to-hour or day-to-day. This constant helps keep my motivation up. In turn, it helps me perform my activities that I want to become habits.  This will then help me achieve my overall goal and lessen the extent of hopelessness or defeat when I feel I’m not making the progress I hope to be making.

Positive Psychology opened my eyes to methods to keep my positivity up.  By making a change in my habits and attempting to pursue goals that I originally would have steered clear of because of a fear of failure, I can not only better myself, but become a positive influence for others.

About the author: Jennifer Fairlie is a student at Chaminade University as well as a Navy Reservist.  She loves music, singing, and racing.  In the future, she hopes to try building her own race car.

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