Circle of Courage lV

Ok Everyone, we are down to the last need in the Circle. Gererosity. I love this definition....the habit of giving. wow. I would put that in another color font, if i could find that toolbar...

The habit of giving....is that really a need for our youth? Really? Here they are with unsafe homes or living conditions and anger and depression and poor social skills and lack of success in school, and more. Why would they need generosity?

Let me tell you about Tuesday nights at the Oasis Center Emergency Shelter. The youth staying in our shelter go play bingo with the "old people". That's right, they all play bingo together. And our youth help the elderly hear the numbers called and find them on their bingo cards. How does that make these youth feel?

If you said: important, helpful, and good about themselves, you are right.It is a simple thing that the youth can do and feel really good about.

Just as you ought to feel good. Because this year for you all is one of generosity. You are giving of your time and energy to help youth. I hope you feel good just as our youth do when they can help and give.

Generosity is not solely based on one's economic status, but instead, includes the individual's pure intentions of looking out for society's common good and giving from the heart.Generosity should reflect the individual's passion to help others.

I love that. Giving from the heart...passion to help.... And when we do that, miracles occur.

Till tomorrow,

LA

Independence Revisited

Hello Everyone!

Are you all watching basketball? I am a football fan, but I like to watch the basketball games when it gets near the Final Four. Vanderbilt and UT are out. Who should I watch and hope to win?

Independence. I thought I would look up what the orginators of the Circle of Courage say about this need.

Autonomy combined with responsibility and self-control; self-reliance; empowerment and controp over one's self and one's destiny.

WOW

Now I get it. Responsibility and self-control. That is a huge task.
Empowerment. We don't hear that word as much now as we used to. It was in our Oasis mission statement in the 80's.

How do we empower our youth?
How do we help them build self-control?
How do we help them build self-reliance?
How do we help them build a proper sense of responsibility?

(The Advancing Youth Development Training that SEN offers is great for helping us look at ways to meet this need in our youth.)

Good questions that need good answers....

And back to my other good question....

Which basketball game should I watch this weekend?

Have a good one!
LA

Circle of Courage lll

Hello all! Hello John and Jesse, if you are reading this.

Today we are going to look at the third need in the Circle of Courage: Independence.

Well all the images I can find for independence are of the 4th of July, the flag, the declaration of independence or the movie poster for Independence Day (I loved that movie). The wikapedia definition is about a country's independence.

When i put in "personal independence" i get this wierd site that has a cool personal growth twist.

So where is the definition of independence for a youth or person?

(I'm trying to write with a cat on my lap wanting to be petted)

Hey...a cat. That (ouch! he bit me) makes me think! Cats are known for being very independent. What is it about them that is? Well, they can take care of themselves. They know how to amuse themselves, clean themselves, get what they need, etc. Anyway...

What do our youth need to be independent? A lot of our street youth and those who have struggled with dysfunctional families are very independent when it comes to taking care of themselves and often their siblings too. Is that what we mean?

I think we need to look closer at this need tomorrow....

LA

Circle of Courage lll

Hello Everyone,

Today we will look at Mastery. What is mastery? This definition says, "possession of a consummate skill". What does consummate mean? Beats me. I need to look that up..."to realize, achieve, fulfill." So mastery means to have a skill. And be good at it. Like I can use this blog, but I would not say I have mastery over it. For example I lost the font colors toolbar and have no idea where it has gone or how to get it back.

Well, back to mastery as a need. What do young adults need to master? What skills? Certainly in this age, they need computer skills. I just read that the next generation will be "I" which stands for internet. Because these kids will never have experienced a world without the internet.

So computer skills are a must. What else? Life skills, social skills, personal skills, emotional skills, academic skills, decision-making skills, safety skills (like our safe exit work) and more.

It is hard to master something. I can do lots of things somewhat, but master few. For example, I have just begun tai chi class on Wednesday evenings which is why i am blogging so late. It is REALLY hard to learn. Each move has to be done just right with hands and feet and weight shifts, etc. It will take years to master this i think. But it helps me to remember how hard it is to learn new skills. It takes time and practice and support. Check out this You Tube of Tai Chi. I can do the first 3 steps and not so smooth like this dude.

Till tomorrow,
LA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLOWv8k78tw&feature=related

Circle of Courage ll

Hello!

We will talk about circle of Courage again today. The four needs. What do you think? Do you think that these four needs sum it all up? Let's see what they mean to be exact.

Belonging
This site tells us that belonging is one of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. If you have never seen Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, please look at this link. You will hear about it all your life. Essentially, Maslow put our needs in order. He created a theory of what needs we have and put them in order.

Basic human needs for food, sleep, shelter, etc. come first. All of you who work in street outreach know that.

Then safety. Providing shelter, safe exits for our youth, etc. comes next.

Then belonging which he defines as love and being part of a group. Maslow rates the need to belong before the next ones of self-esteem and individual potential.

So we know that our youth need to belong. And we know that they might belong to groups that are not going to help them develop in a positive, successful way.

Do you have any youth in your programs that are not getting this need met? Or are getting it met in a negative way? (Peer pressure is another huge influence on our teens who need to belong.)

What do you think?

How do we help our youth meet this need to belong in a positive way? Any ideas?

Till tomorrow,
LA

Circle of Courage

Hello Everyone,

I hope you had a good Easter weekend. It is cold here again today....40's. Brrrrrr. But the flowers are out and the trees are blooming, so it is really pretty.

Let's talk about Circle of Courage. This is a way of working with youth that was developed by 3 Native Americans. Go to the website to read more.

Notice the Circle of Courage at the top of this blog. Now even though it is used with youth, I think it can be used by adults too.

In fact, i want to use it with us first.

As you can see there are 4 areas:

Independence
Belonging
Mastery
Generosity

This philosophy states that youth (and I believe adults, too) have needs for each of these areas. That we have a need for each one of these. And we either meet our need positively, negatively or not at all.

The cool thing about this philosophy is that by looking at needs, there is no shame or criticism or judgment. We are all just meeting our needs the only way we know how.

For example, if a youth is a member of a gang, which need is he getting met? And is this a positive way to meet the need for belonging?

We love this model at Oasis. We will look at it more this week.

Think about it.

LA

What kind of community are we?

Hello Everyone,

Happy Spring. Today is the Vernal Equinox....the first day of Spring.

An equinox in astronomy is that moment in time (not a whole day) when the centre of the Sun can be observed to be directly above the Earth's equator, occurring around March 20 and September 23 each year.

And today in Nashville it is 70 degrees and sunny. Supposed to be freezing for Easter morning...oh well....the weather here changes rapidly.

So what kind of community are we? What kind of people are we?

Caring
Compassionate
Connecting
Fun
Lively
Intelligent
Patient
Forgiving
Creative
Generous
Serving

What else?

Optimistic
Hopeful
Cool
Good listeners
Approachable
Fair
Concerned
Young at heart

and even more.....

We are a great community of people and together we can make a difference. Together we can support each other when times get rough and together we can celebrate the great things that happen. And together we can learn.

I would like to start exploring some tools that we can learn...like Circle of Courage and Asset Building.

So stay tuned!

And please comment! What would you like to learn about?

Have a great Easter weekend!

LA

Community

Hi Everyone!


Our focus this week is community. And how cool that John has added the links to this blog that show us our community.

First of all....what is community? We love to use that word in our field. It is even in our mission statement here at Oasis Center.

To help youth grow, thrive and create positive change in their lives and in our community."
What does community mean? You know I am going to check wikepedia now...community

The definition there is:

A community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally with shared interests. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.

The word community is derived from the Latin communitas (meaning the same), which is in turn derived from communis, which means "common, public, shared by all or many"[1].

So what does all that mean? We share an environment...

SEN
Americorps
Youth work agencies
Youth

We share intent and beliefs as we work with youth to help them with safe exits and some tools to live more successfully. We are working with similar resources in our agencies. We share the resource of this blog and other positive inputs from SEN.

What else makes us a community?

And what are the benefits of community? Why is it more helpful to be a part of a group than alone?

This work is hard. It has its struggles and ups and downs. We need each other. We can encourage and help each other.

We welcome you to make use of this community blog for your needs. Is there anything you need to learn about? Anything you want to share?

This is your blog....your community.

A cyberspace on-line social networking community!

LA

What's up?

What's up? Yes, I bet all of you wondered where I have been. I hopped a plane to New Orleans ans celebrated St. Patrick's Day here. Yes I am stuck in the airport with a delayed flight. And yesterday the hotel's server was down.

New Orleans is still not operating up to speed. It is sad. It looks fine, but there are fewer service people around. Long waits in the restaurants because there are less waiters (waitresses). Fewer taxis. And the service isn't as competent.

I read that the homeless population is now 1 out of 25 people in New Orleans. wow. I don't know what street outreach programs they have here, but that is a ton of people who are needy. In the paper I saw that the books in the library branches were soggy and they were working on reopening. I never even thought of the libraries. This city talks and lives the devastation of Katrina.

I did a training on Saturday for our new staff here at Oasis and our interns too. I am reminded as I always am when I do these trainings how much I like people who love working with youth. We are great people!

So I think this next section of blogs will be about community. What is it? How to build it?

And yes, Jesse, I have photos and will upload them this week onto our blog. I want to have everyone's photos up....our community.

So send the photos! And be thinking of what makes community.

Till later,

LA

More heros

Thanks John, for that write-up about Stetson Kennedy. Wow. He certainly is a hero.

What makes a hero? How do we define hero? Does this person have to be famous?

Let's check....hero

hero (male) and heroine (female) came to refer to characters that, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self-sacrifice, that is, heroism, for some greater good, originally of martial courage or excellence but extended to more general moral excellence.

So someone who displays courage at the risk of their own comfort? Usually for the good?

Of course we have super-heros...those fantasy figures who have extra powers to save others. Those movies about superheros are really popular now....like Spiderman. Now that's a hero, right?

But what about us? We have power to help youth and make a difference in their lives. Seems powerful to me.

Who are some heros in our modern day world? I described some in the Secret Service Hero Game.

But more than that I wonder who your heros are....a family member? a teacher? a coach?

I have one and will share that next time. I don't know that she has done stuff for the "greater good". But she is my hero all the same.

So who is yours?

LA

My hero

Well I told you today that I would tell you about my hero.
I actually have 2. One is famous and the other is a youth.

The famous one is Rosa Parks. Her middle name is close to mine: Louise. I like the quote about her that says, "She was sweet and soft spoken, but made a statement that screamed so loud".

Rosa was active in civil rights before the bus incident. It is also interesting that she was already in the black section of the bus, but the law stated that she would have to give up her seat if there were more white people than seats and they needed the middle of the bus too. It was then that she didn't move. I love this quote too.

People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

Anyway, she reinforces my belief that one person CAN make a difference. Amazing.

I want to hear who your heros are. You might very well be a hero to others this year. Cool. Have you ever thought of yourself as a hero?

Till tomorrow,

LA

What next?

Well, I hope you will guess the Secret Service Heroes. I have decided not to give the answers in hopes that we will have some guesses by you all soon.

I would like this blog to be a place to get inspired and encouraged and build a sense of community. I know it is hard since we don't know each other and it takes more time out of our busy days/ evenings/ weekends.

What would you like to get from this blog?

I am constantly reminded of our american motto of "do it yourself". We just don't get much encouragement to ask for help or get support.

But I think we are losing out...missing out. It is the community that gives us a sense of not being alone....not having so much stress. It is what we give our youth...and we need it too.

So that is what i am hoping for this blog. A place where we can share, support and learn from each other....like learning who Bob Graham is...thanks John.

In fact I bet you all might have a hero that you know. Who is it?

I will share mine next time.

LA

Secret Service Hero #6

Hey Guys, I realized this weekend that I could not leave this person out!



And to John's comment about Bog Graham....I am sure he is great. My middle name is Graham. But tell us, John what is great about him?



Ok. On to the last hero:

This person is changing lives every day.

This person works for the domestic peace corps.

This person is helping our youth.

This person is giving a year of their life to serve others.

This person is committed to service.

This person values young people.

Who is this????

Anyone want to guess?

Try it!

LA

Secret Service Hero #5

Hello Everyone,

Once again we are supposed to get snow! They say we will have 3-5 inches. We will see. I just saw my first robins this spring....boy are they in for a big surprise.

Well, John guessed Bob Graham. Who is that? Then he guessed, Melinda Gates....which is VERY close!!! Try again, John.

Okay, today is Hero #5

This person was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

This person was stabbed in the chest with a letter opener.

This person was inspired by one of our other Secret Service Heros.

This person spoke strongly against the Vietnam war.

This person was constantly wiretapped (bugged) by the FBI.

This person is the second most admired person in the 20th century.

This person has streeted names after them in 730 cities as of 2006.

This person said:

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Any guesses?

Have a great weekend!
La

Secret Service Hero #4

Hello everyone!

Any guesses on Hero #1 or #3?

Today is Hero #4:

This person serves with their spouse.

This person founded the largest charitible foundation in the world.

This person's aim (among others) is to reduce poverty.

This person was named person of the year in 2005.

This charity donates 1.5 billion a year at least.

This person said:

When I was growing up, my parents were involved in various volunteer things. My dad was head of Planned Parenthood. And it was very controversial to be involved with that... My mom was on the United Way group that decides how to allocate the money and looks at all the different charities and makes the very hard decisions about where that pool of funds is going to go.

This person was in the scouts.

I am trying not to give this one away....

Any guesses?

LA

Secret Service Hero #3

Hi all,

Well I see someone guessed Albert Sweitzer for the Hero #2. And they are right!!! Good job!
Does anyone know who Hero #1 is?

Today we will go to #3.

This person was an advocate for the homeless and poor.

This person also won the Nobel Peace prize.

This person left home at 18 and never saw their mother or sibling again.

This person used to be a school teacher.

This person rescued 37 children out of a building during a war.

This person was criticzed a lot.

This person kept working even after 2 heart attacks.

This person founded an organization that has 600 service programs in 120 countries.


Who is it?

LA