Archive: October 2018

The local election is behind us, there is a new Council tasked with continuing, changing, or even eliminating the hard work of the previous.

Change is a constant at the Skills Centre.  For 20 years we have worked with a variety of local, Provincial and Federal governments as we have continued our mission to help people wanting exactly that…..Change.  For 20 years we have worked with hundreds, thousands of people wanting to make personal and professional change.  For 20 years we have worked with companies trying to hold on to staff, changing staff and losing staff.

Yesterday we had the privilege of helping a young person wanting change.  That change required additional education.  Our knowledge and resources were able to break down the barriers for that young person who didn’t understand the educational systems, the certification processes and how barriers such as finances could be addressed.  

There wasn’t much fanfare in that interaction.  There never is.  Quietly and respectfully, we interact with people wanting change.  We partner our skills and knowledge with a clients desire to break down barriers.  That might not impress some, but to that one, it was everything.

Quietly marching on, at the Skills Centre we facilitate change.  

You’ve heard the slogan “gratitude is the attitude“.  Catchy right?  As a child you were taught to say Thank You, (at least I hope you were), when someone demonstrated a kindness or generosity to you.  What happened to that discipline, where is that muscle now?

We live in such an instant gratification society, and we are living our lives at such a rapid-fire pace that we sometimes are forgetting to acknowledge the people and experiences along the way.  

At the Skills Centre, we serve.  It’s what we do.  We help people looking for work, looking for compassion, looking for problem solvers, looking for information.  We solve problems daily for all types of people ~ accomplished business owners, workaday employees, down on my luck citizens, and even those that are stuck in a pattern of self sabotage.  We are thanked, tipped, and taken for granted equally.  We marshal on, we are grateful to serve.  Why?  Because when we give of ourselves, go the extra mile, help someone in need, we see their gratitude and we in turn experience our own gratitude for the blessings that we have.   “I cried because I had no shoes, till I met a man with no feet” (Helen Keller). See?

There are many benefits to exercising gratitude.

Gratitude makes us Happier, Healthier, Likable, Strengthens Us, Helps Our Career, Reduces Materialism, Reduces Narcissism, Improves our Spirituality, Improves our Sleep, Gives Us Energy, Relaxes Us, Helps us Bounce back from Struggles, and the list does go one.  There are so many reasons to exercise gratitude in all things. 

How do you exercise gratitude?.  Take a pause.  Evaluate all your daily experiences.  Look around, what do you see? We live in a beautiful setting, there is simply the physical world to express thanks for.  Thinks about the people you interact with daily, co workers, family, people on the street, shopkeepers.  Look intentionally for the kindness.  Its there I promise.  Then stop, reflect, and say “Thanks”.

Happy Thanksgiving Princeton & Area H!  We are grateful for you….Yes, ALL of you