Theme of Discussion Zoom Meeting: Encouragement

Email: rgordon118@tampabay.rr.com

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Questions

1. When you were growing up, who was the most encouraging person in your family? How did this person engender encouragement?

2. How could you be encouraging to a friend who seemed very sad?

3. How might you be able to encourage yourself?

4. Who was the greatest source of encouragement for Helen Keller? Can you think of other leading characters in literature who overcame great obstacles because they had an encouraging person supporting them?

5. If you attend a religious congregation, how might that congregation as a whole be a source of encouragement?

6. How might the mere fact that you demonstrate courage in your own life be a source of encouragement for others?

7. How can older family members encourage children to stand up for the rights of others? Against bullies? Against racists? Against all kinds of prejudice?

8. Is being encouraging always a positive trait? How might it have negative consequences?

9. How might encouraging words to children be more beneficial than praise?

10. During tough times of both pandemic stress and political turmoil, where can you find encouragement?

11. How might a political leader bring encouragement to her/his followers in time of national strife?

12. What do you think an image of encouragement might look like? Perhaps try drawing a quick sketch.

13. Is an essential element of a loving relationship expressing sincere and encouraging words? Can you love someone without being willing and able to offer encouragement during difficult times?

14. What is your greatest source of encouragement? Has this source changed as you’ve grown older?

Quotations:

1. “How would your life be different if…You walked away from gossip and verbal defamation? Let today be the day…You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same.”― Steve Maraboli

2. “Instruction does much, but encouragement everything."― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

3. “Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”—Helen Keller

4. “Stay away from those people who try to disparage your ambitions. Small minds will always do that, but great minds will give you a feeling that you can become great too.” — Mark Twain

5. "Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." — Winston S. Churchill

6. “Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.” – Anne Frank

7. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”
― William Faulkner

8. “Who do you spend time with? Criticizers or encouragers? Surround yourself with those who believe in you. Your life is too important for anything less.”― Steve Goodier

9. "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly." Proverb

10. "To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world." Dr. Seuss

The End