Struggle shapes growth. Even better--it also improves our wellbeing. Hope is more than a feeling—it’s a way of thinking. Psychologist C.R. Snyder defined hope as the ability to set goals, find pathways to reach them, and maintain the motivation to keep going, even when obstacles appear. In other words, hope is a cognitive process, not just wishful thinking. …
Judgement-free zone
When you were growing up, did you have a wisdom keeper? Susan, a host in Ottawa, Ontario, introduced me to this term. When I interviewed her for my book, I asked about her motivation to host. She described wanting to help students adapt to their new life so they could have a positive experience. Here’s …
New Year, new habits?
January brings to mind resolutions, goals, and dreams for the future. For hosts, it's a time to think about the impact we have on our student’s habits as well as our own. I interviewed Deirdre in late 2019. Over the years, she has observed that the hardest habit for her students to break seems to be the …
An Artist’s Heart
A boy and his uncle. My son and my brother. It’s Christmas 2015 and they are drawing together, my grandmother's antique dining room table draped in a protective sheet of plastic. There are watercolours and acrylics, a spiral-bound sketchbook, pencils, an eraser. James has perched his phone at the top of the pad, presumably holding …