Hi Girls and welcome back to GEMS!! I hope you all enjoyed your summer vacation. I’d like to say a special welcome to our newest GEMS girls at Newbury High School in Ohio and John Paul II School in Canada, we are so excited to have you! As always we have to say thank you to our returning GEMS girls at St. Greg’s as well as our new girls in grade 6. We love your continued enthusiasm and pride you have in “GEMifying” yourselves.

For the month of September I wanted to talk a little bit about positive thinking and the power it can have to change our lives. Many times we find ourselves in negative situations where circumstances are out of our control. For example, a friend has suddenly decided to stop hanging out with us or maybe we didn’t make the “A” team for our favorite sport. Regardless of the situation and circumstances, how we respond/react is always within our control.

By taking control of ourselves we can ultimately change how a situation effects us. Staying positive helps us continue to build our self-esteem as we work on improving the situation. So how do we do this? Well, those of you who have gone through Year 1 GEMS learned about changing your negative thoughts into positive ones. But for those of you have not learned this yet, or just need a reminder, here are some tips for positive thinking.

1.) Always remember that in any situation the only person you can change is yourself.

2.)  Force yourself to look in the mirror EVERYDAY and say something positive about yourself (out loud)!

3.) Take any negative thoughts you may have and change them into POSITIVES.  For example, if you think, “I am terrible at volleyball since I didn’t make the ‘A’ team this year.” Change it into something like, “I am excited to be a starter on the ‘B’ team.”

4.) Surround yourself with friends who pick you up and support you.

5.) Remember that every day is a new opportunity to take control of your life, don’t give up hope!!

And finally, SMILE! Smiling physically can help you to smile emotionally. People will react more openly to you if you are smiling at them and you feel better when they do!

Good luck this year. Keep posting on our website and checking pictures out on our Facebook site.