{"id":6534,"date":"2016-11-17T14:23:42","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T20:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/?p=6534"},"modified":"2024-11-15T08:45:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T14:45:41","slug":"gratitude-and-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/2016\/11\/17\/gratitude-and-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Head\u2019s Message: Gratitude and Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School\"MPA-Fall-2016-349\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Like many of you, I\u2019ve spent a good amount of time lately thinking about gratitude. As Thanksgiving approaches, we naturally contemplate the goodness in our lives. Such reflection takes us outside of ourselves to acknowledge the experiences, events, and people in our lives that bring us joy.<\/p>\n

There is a large, and rapidly growing, body of research demonstrating that gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. In the \u201cHow of Happiness,\u201d researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky defines happiness as \u201cthe experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one\u2019s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happiness abounds at MPA. The joy of learning is our lived reality each day. A parent once told me that her Lower School child woke up sad one Saturday. When asked why he was upset, the child replied, \u201cIf it\u2019s Saturday, then I won\u2019t be going to school today.\u201d I know this sentiment firsthand. My daughter Ari, a new fifth grader, is very excited each day to come to school. As a parent, her joy is my joy.<\/p>\n

At MPA, the joy of learning is fostered intentionally and its impact is profound. With a careful balance between the arts, academics, and athletics and a holistic approach to character development, we are very conscious of the well-being of our students. Martin Seligman, Zellerbach family professor of psychology as well as the director of the\u00a0positive psychology center<\/a>\u00a0at the University of Pennsylvania, developed the PERMA model of well-being. As I compare it to our community and our mission, I believe the model truly reflects what exists at Mounds Park Academy:<\/p>\n