"you got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart." - Beautiful by Carole King

On Friday, Panhellenic had a great leadership workshop with Erika from Pi Beta Phi. She was so quirky and fun. I definitely learned a lot from her.

She spoke to us about Kouzes & Posner's Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. I have learned about these five things (model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, & encourage the heart) in ELM, Adam's Academy, UIFI, Futures Quest, and a few other leadership workshops. Erika brought a fresh perspective to this theory, and connected each idea to a few songs. She was all about having us decide what each step in this leadership process looked for each of us, and having us own it. I loved it.

At the end of the workshop, she said one of my favorite things I've ever heard. It's simple, too the point, and embodies how I want to live my life:

"You can't blow bubbles when you are mad."

Source

Simple. Straight forward. And so true. It is so easy to get frustrated with the little things that can go wrong throughout your day. You wake up late. You get in an argument with a friend. You spill your coffee. You are completely and utterly overwhelmed by meetings and projects and homework. You are simply tired, worn out, and stressed.

But, you can't blow bubbles when you are mad. You simply can't. In order to create those fun, joyous, and peaceful little balls of soap, you need to stop, take a deep breath, and slowly exhale. We tried it in our workshop and it totally works. I think I'm going to start carrying a little pack of bubbles with me everywhere I go, especially if I'm going to go to a difficult meeting. People just can't be mad if bubbles are involved.

Maybe if we all just "got up every morning with a smile on [our faces] and show[ed] the world the love in [our] heart[s]," by blowing bubbles and spreading joy, our world would look a little different.

Because, come on, everybody is happier when bubbles are involved.