Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology is a relatively new branch of psychology that was founded by Professor Martin Seligman on the belief that people want more than just an antidote to depression. Rather waiting for depression to occur, and then treating the symptoms, Positive Psychology focuses on cultivating positive emotion, character traits and institutions. Prof. Seligman’s research, has demonstrated that it is possible to be happier and more positive regardless of one’s circumstances. He has also demonstrated that through positive psychology interventions, the symptoms of depression can be lastingly decreased.
Since 2000, Prof Seligman has been committed to promoting the field of Positive Psychology and in particular, training Positive Psychologists, individuals whose practice will make the world a happier place, in a way that parallels clinical psychologists having made the world a less unhappy place. In 2007, Prof. Seligman will be leading a team of trained Positive Psychologists to work with Geelong Grammar School to assist in the development of a programme that can be adopted by the School in 2008.
“Positive Psychology is founded on the belief that people want more than an end to suffering. People want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play. We have the opportunity to create a science and a profession that not only heals psychological damage but also builds strengths to enable people to achieve the best things in life.” For more information on Positive Psychology, visit Prof. Seligman’s website, Authentic Happiness.

I need a drink

A man who's wife was pregnant couldn't bear to be in the delivery room at the time of the birth.
So he thought he'd ring up later to see if it had come yet.
He rang up and the nurse said, "it's a girl but theres another one on the way."
he rang again later and the nurse said, "it's another girl but there's another coming."
He rang once more and the nurse said, " it's a boy but there's another coming."
He couldn't stand it any more so he went to the pub and got drunk.
An hour later he was really nervous. He was dialling the hospital, hands shaking, and accidently dialled the sports line. he asked, " how many did we get mate?"
The person said, "198 all out.... and the last one was a duck,"

Grand Sport

The Grand Sport Rally Pack was an factory option available on the XW to XC models that allowed - by the checking of a single box on the order form - the buyer to add several ‘sporty’ features to his new Falcon without going tothe expense of buying the GT.

Quotable quotes

"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."
--James M. Barrie, Scottish novelist and dramatist

Dear John

Dear John,

I have been unable to sleep since I broke off our engagement.
Won't you forgive and forget? Your absence is breaking my heart.
I was a fool, nobody can take your place. I love you.

All my love,

Belinda. xxxxoooxxxx

P.S. Congratulations on winning this week's lottery.

Compliance plates mistakes

Compliance plates would be quite straightforward you would have thought, but as we have seen before with Australian Fords, sometimes there can be slight anomalies, like below.



This is the single plate from a November, 1972 XA GT. But if you look carefully you can see that the cowl has the holes drilled for the twin plates, and the four holes not covered by the single plate have rivets in them. It appears that new twin plate cowl panels may have become available for fitting to cars, before the actual twin plate requirement came into force.

Note too the single plate is displaced towards the driver’s side to centralise the plate within the eight hole spread..



In comparison with the early style XA plate a seen in the photo at the top of the page, and again here.



Of interest too is that the description of the XA is ‘FALCON GT SED.’ when it is a hardtop.

Marriage, Family, and the Principalship: Making It All Work

The demands of the principal’s job can’t help but take a toll on marriages and families.
When they entered the profession, most principals knew their lives were about to change. But many entered their new positions with a pretty "fuzzy" understanding of all that is really involved. They didn’t realize that if they were not careful or organized or able to say no, the work hours might consume them. If the guilt of missing family events to tend to school business didn’t eat them alive first, that is.
The demands of the job -- internal and external -- can affect marriages too. In the blink of an eye, the school family’s needs can take precedence over the immediate family’s. And that can lead to Divorce Court. It happens more often than many people care to admit. In spite of the stress and the demands of the job, many families manage to hold it all together. But none of them says that happens easily. It doesn’t happen without effort and planning.
MAKING TIME FOR FAMILY
The entire family pays a price when one of the parents is a principal, said one principal who asked not to be named in this article. "As I look back at the years when my own children were young and in school themselves, I have guilt and regret for time I spent away from home helping other people’s kids and parents," she said. "The job can eat you up in terms of both time and emotional reserves," she added.
For many principals, a family calendar is a key ingredient in keeping things on an even keel. That calendar often becomes a family project. Some families even hold Sunday night meetings to review the calendar for the week ahead.

RIP

A man visiting a graveyard saw a tombstone that read: “Here lies John Smith, a lawyer and an honest man.”
“How about that!” he exclaimed. “They’ve got three people buried in one grave.”

Compliance plates continued

Below are the plates from a September, 1973 LTD Landau.





Note that the description is ‘LANDAU SEDAN’ and again that the ‘sedan’ could be confusing, bearing in mind that the Landau was a two door hardtop car.

Create Dream-Team Relationships for Success

by Mark Victor Hansen

Success is not a solo project - it is something that needs to be shared. And success is not a competition. There's plenty of it to go around. We just have to work together - with the same goal in mind - to ensure success.

It's all about synergy - the concept of adding one plus one and getting eleven - not two. It's the idea that people working together can accomplish far more than they could working separately. Incredible power can be released when people work together. Associating with like-minded, success-oriented, joyful individuals - or Dream Teaming - is the most amazing success tool that exists.

Anyone who achieves great success - anyone - must have a Dream Team. Instant solutions exist in Dream Teaming. They help you to take your ideas and expand them into greatness. A Dream Team will help you focus on your goals - whatever
they may be. What characteristics should your Dream Team possess? In order to have a successful Dream Team, you'll need at least one more person with whom you have a common purpose. You have to have a partner to think through situations and circumstances.

These people should have limitless vision and work together for a single goal. Both your hearts and your heads have to be in harmony with one another. You may even have several Dream Teams for different goals - that's okay. Always be on
the lookout for the best people and then ask them.

Lastly, remember this: All of us have self-doubt, but remember that your Dream Team sees more in you than you see in yourself. You're there to cheer each other on, to encourage one another when you become weary, to identify bad habits and help change them. The members in your Dream Team tell you the truth so that you can be all that you can be. Together, you and your Dream Team can master and conquer anything.

Action Step: In closing I'd like to offer one simple exercise from "How
To Think Bigger Than You Ever Thought You Could Think" that I'd like you to complete in the week ahead: When you envision your dream life, with whom do you see yourself working and associating? Who are your friends? What characteristics do your Dream Team members possess? It is necessary for you to visualize the kind of people you plan to bring into your life, because these are the people you will attract to you.

This exercise is simple. Sit in your favourite chair, in a quiet room with your favourite inspirational music playing. Have a pen and notebook handy. Now sit back, close your eyes and see your life as you want it to be.

Who's there with you at work and at play? Who are the people in your industry that you admire most? Who do you want to learn from? Who do you want to laugh with? Who do you want to call "friend?" What attributes would these people have? Would they be joyful, funny, talented, positive, unselfish, energetic?

Make a list of 50 prestigious, influential, and powerful people, with whom you want to work, play, grow and do business. This may take a while, but it is one of the most important stepping-stones to achieving the life you envision.

Fore!

Barely twenty minutes after teeing off a woman walks into the clubhouse and she's grimacing in pain.
"What's the matter?” The club pro asked
" I got stung by a bee!" the woman replied.
"Where?" The club pro asked.
"Between the first and second holes!" answered the lady golfer.
"Hmmmmm," The pro said, " Sounds like your stance is a little too wide."

Twin compliance plates continued

The twin plate took the following form.



Note that the plate now explicitly defines the car range, the model and a fuller description - ‘XBFALCON 4DRSED’.



Similarily the XB hardtop



And the XA hardtop, when fitted with the twin plates.



Hardtops now had as a description ‘2DRSED’.

Quotable quotes

“Look for all the positives and negatives of a situation, and then go back to one thing – what your heart tells you” Chris Weinke – football player

That hurts!

A young woman went to her doctor complaining of pain.
"Where are you hurting?" asked the doctor.
"You have to help me, I hurt all over", said the woman.
"What do you mean, all over?" asked the doctor, "be a little more specific."
The woman touched her right knee with her index finger and yelled, "Ow, that hurts." Then she touched her left cheek and again yelled, "Ouch! That hurts, too." Then she touched her right earlobe, "Ow, even THAT hurts", she cried. The doctor checked her thoughtfully for a moment and told her his diagnosis, "You have a broken finger."

The move to two compliance plates

During production of the XA, to comply with new regulations effective from January, 1973, Ford changed to twin plates, which carried on to the XB.



A 1973 XA RPO



A 1975 XB GT

Before "Lightning" Strikes

Please answer honestly, and pay attention -- the questions are tricky. Answer yes or no.
1. Have you ever disciplined a student at school?
2. Have you ever disciplined the same student more than once?
3. Do you feel like you spend the majority of your discipline-time handling the same group of students… over and over again?
4. Do you have these students’ parents’ phone numbers on speed-dial on your phone?
5. Does the sight of these students in the hallways induce some sort of an involuntary physical response in you, perhaps gastrointestinal?
6. Have you had serious chats with your spouse, children, neighbours, neighbours’ children, and other faraway acquaintances and asked them to not name their unborn children the same names as these students?

If you answered “Yes” to any (or, more likely, all) of the questions above, congratulations! You’re officially a principal.
If you answered “No” to any (or all) of the questions above, there’s only one question left: How’s the weather there in Lake Wobegon?
A widely acknowledged reality in education is that children, on occasion, misbehave. This is no big deal, as we have structures set up in schools to handle misbehaviours and the students responsible for them. Most schools have a set of consequences, a formal behaviour gradient, and/or a progressive discipline plan. And to administer the lion’s share of this discipline, most schools have… a principal. Well, discipline is a funny thing. When we take a good look at the data, in most of our schools we find that a striking minority wreak the majority of the havoc. So we principals spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone with a few students’ parents, chasing the same runners down the hallway, supervising them in the office, holding them back from a tantrum, blocking them from leaving the building, ushering them away from conflicts, counselling them against their bad choices.
It’s an exhausting cycle: students cause mischief, we react to misbehaviours, we punish the students, we restore order and wait for the students to cause more and greater mischief. Around and around we go with the Frequent Fliers. The Repeat Offenders. The Office Boomerangs. The Detention Crew. These are the students that have difficulty, for one reason or another, playing by the rules, following directions, and keeping themselves out of trouble. These are the Lightning Club. Because lightning can strike at any time, virtually without warning. But why wait for the lightning to strike? Why not act in a proactive manner? Benjamin Franklin didn’t invent the lightning rod in 1752 for fun, people -- he did it to help dissipate safely underground the electrical charge from lightning, thereby sparing tall buildings and other structures from certain damage. It was a proactive approach.

THE LIGHTNING CLUB IN ACTION - The Lightning Club consists of four real-life steps.
Identify the students that have the highest need for support. You might think this is the easiest step, since the children in question might be lined up outside your office door right now. Teachers and Guidance Officers might have some good input, so a key to this step is to be collaborative. Not every student that throws a pencil in class, shoves a classmate in line, or fills the urinal with Tic Tacs warrants membership -- the model can become unwieldy if the list grows too long. Keep it to the highest-need, highest-risk, highest-frequency lightning bolts.
Create a plan of success for each individual student. In collaboration with the teachers, parents, and student, sit down and isolate the top behaviour (or two) that are most negatively impacting the student’s (and/or classmates’) educational experience. Write the detailed expectations of behaviour, short-term and long-term goals, and include a series of small, sequential rewards… together. This success plan is the backbone of a productive collaborative relationship between all the stakeholders in the equation.
Make frequent, intentional positive contact with each individual student. According to the Search Institute, there are 40 developmental assets critical to the growth and success of healthy adolescents. Included in this list: support from three or more non-parent adults. These children, even more than any others, truly need to bond with key adults. So talk to them, ask how their weekends went, give them high-fives in the hallway, smile across the lunchroom at them, make a special point to ask about their schoolwork while you are conducting classroom walk-throughs, play tag on the playground with them… whatever contact you can make, make it. Then call their parents and tell them how much you enjoy seeing them smile at school. When we build those strong relationships, the positive behaviors will follow.
Follow through with the success plan faithfully, consistently, and devotedly. If you need the push, ask the Guidance Officer, another teacher, or paraprofessional to log positive-contacts with you (in a friendly, child-focused competition). Set goals for yourself to make three positive-contacts with each Lightning Club member every day. Set aside time to debrief each week’s results with the teacher and the child (and the parent, if possible) -- this can be as simple as a short “How’d the week go?” form and a quick phone call home. Of course, it is also essential to provide the small rewards on schedule. Celebrate successes and reinvigorate the stakeholders as often as possible -- again, success begets success: positive behaviours will follow. No one likes being struck by lightning. But remember, Harry Wong fans, these are misbehaviors, not mischildren.

What was that for?

A guy is reading his paper when his wife walks up behind him and smacks him on the back of the head with a frying pan.
He asks, "What was that for?"
She says, "I found a piece of paper in your pocket with 'Betty Sue' written on it."
He says, "Jeez, honey, remember last week when I went to the track? 'Betty Sue' was the name of the horse I went there to bet on." She shrugs and walks away. Three days later he's reading his paper when she walks up behind him and smacks him on the back of the head again with the frying pan.
He asks, "What was that for?"
She answers, "Your horse called."

Compliance plate gaffes

Sometimes they get the body style code number - the third and fourth digits - in the VIN completely wrong!



Considering the two plates from yesterday are both July, 1972 and are only separated by 16 digits in the VIN sequential number, the guy stamping the plates must have been having a bad day.

Note also that the layout of the 1970 data plate - below - is different from the 1971/72 plate, as shown immediately above.

Seek the inner cause of problems

"When you arrive at your future, will you blame your past?" -- Robert Half

What holds you back from being and doing more? In your journal, list what you believe is holding you back.

Have you blamed people or factors outside of yourself? It's important to understand that ALL problems are rooted inside us. Even the blocks that appear to be outside of us are only reflecting back an issue we have inside that we have not yet owned. Once we address our inner issue, the outer situation no longer troubles us.
The buck always stops with us. We step into our power when we accept responsibility for our lives.

"The most self-destructive thought that any person can have is thinking that he or she is not in total control of his or her life. That's when, ‘Why me?’ becomes a theme song." - Roger Dawson

"...look at that word blame. It's just a coincidence that the last two letters spell the word me. But that coincidence is worth thinking about. Other people or unfortunate circumstances may have caused you to feel pain, but only you control whether you allow that pain to go on. If you want those feelings to go away, you have to say: ‘It's up to me.’" - Arthur Freeman

"Don't make excuses -- make good." - Elbert Hubbard