Climate Change
By Steve Gahagen
Climate change is at the center of conversations about the future and certainly a topic of intense political discussion. It may influence the kind of car you drive and purchases you plan to make. However, the climate I am thinking of today has nothing to do with your carbon footprint. When you walk into a room, how does the climate change? What climate do you bring to the relationships in your life?
Are you like a storm or a nice day? Does it feel like there are overhanging clouds or is it bright and sunny with birds singing? Is the room filled with energy or do you suck the life out of it? When you leave the room, how do people feel? We should honestly evaluate the climate we create when we walk into a room.
Some people are naturally gifted to this end. People with strengths of Positivity or Woo have the ability to create a positive and engaging environment by their contagious enthusiasm and energy. Though many of us may not find this as easy, we all can leverage our strengths to create a life-giving climate that inspires and breathes life into others.
In our Strengths Mentoring Clubs with students, we always begin group discussions with questions like these:
What are two things you’re grateful for?
Two recent successes?
Two positive words others would use to describe you?
In our culture, we are often tempted to focus on the negative or what we are lacking. These types of questions help us begin with the good and what we have. Anytime we focus on the wealth of what we possess instead of what is lacking, the climate becomes more positive. And we look at others more positively as well. Gratitude creates an abundance mentality rather than one of scarcity.
The words we speak to others are important and powerful. Words have the ability to give life or destroy. Through intentionally speaking words of affirmation to others, we are changing the climate of the room.
Are you a thermostat or a thermometer? When we’re a thermostat we see ourselves as change agents who can bring sunshine and life to the people we interact with every day.
Questions to Consider:
Share the names of three people you admire because of the positive energy and life they bring.
How would you describe the climate of key places in your life (home, work, etc.)?
How can you leverage your strengths to intentionally bring positive climate change into any room you enter?