** Frank Sonnenbeg has been a longtime friend of The Ray Center and CHARACTER COUNTS!. We’re proud to share an excerpt from his new book, The Path to a Meaningful Life. Enjoy! ** Everyone knows the Golden Rule. In fact,
Living the Golden Rule
Social-Emotional Learning Funded by ESSER
Social-Emotional Learning and Character Education can be funded by ESSER! An intentional focus on social-emotional learning and character skills has never been more important. Fortunately, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund (I and II) provides funding for
Achieve and Avoid
Good communication requires us to respect each other. A tip for respectful respectful conversations is to consider: what we want to achieve. what we to avoid. Achieve and Avoid It is easy to focus too much on what we want
Connection, Character, and Role Models
In our CHARACTER COUNTS! workshops, we discuss how being a positive role model is a key part of teaching good character. Think about a role model who made an impact on your life. Then, consider how that person was able
Gratitude in Challenging Times
Navigating life’s hardships (including a contentious election, a global pandemic, and the economic breakdowns caused by COVID-19) can be exhausting. However, there is still a lot that we can be thankful for.
Achieving Civility Through our Mindset
“I’m not allowed to get angry?” That’s a question that is raised in nearly every civility workshop we lead. Participants want to know how to have a mindset focused on civility when they’re feeling angry or frustrated. Our answer to
Achieve Through Character
Although our society puts a lot of emphasis on talent, talent is just the minimum that we can achieve. In order to advance from talent to skill and then to achievement, we rely on our character skills like strong work ethic, leadership, perseverence, integrity, etc.
Energy and Effort into What Matters
We fill our lives by putting energy and effort into what matters. There’s a popular demonstration called “Jar of Life” in which a jar is filled with big rocks (important things like family, health, work), little rocks (less important things
Leading a significant life
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”
Conflict Resolution for Kids
Although we can’t protect our kids from problems, frustrations and heartaches, we can arm them with tools to better handle them. The more we help them learn to resolve conflicts peacefully, the greater the likelihood they’ll develop into more self-sufficient, and resourceful individuals able to deal any issue—and do so without our guidance.