SDO Paranaque holds Division Retreat
By Leonora J. Nofuente, PSDS
To have a deeper understanding of one’s self and renew the purpose in life to make work easy, the Schools Division of Parañaque held the Division Retreat with the theme, “Cultivating Positivity, Building Cohesive Team, “at Angels’ Hills Retreat House, Aguinaldo Highway, Tagaytay City on July 7-8, 2017.
Sherwin B. Salonga, the retreat master, enumerated the ABC’s of Attitude: Affective (feelings/emotions), Behavior (reaction to situation) and Cognitive (thought patterns). These are the parameters which affect how people think, feel and respond to the given stimuli thus dictate their attitude towards the situation.
The retreat awakened the participants’ cultural value of cultivating an attitude of gratitude; that is, if one does good things to others, the receiver also does good things to others. A chain reaction eventually occurs, or that good thing may return back to the giver.
“So one important thing we have to remember is to always thank the Giver of Life, the Giver of Strength in everything that we have,” Salonga stressed.
Mr. Salonga further enumerated the factors that may affect happiness, to wit: wealth, family, job, friends, and colleagues. “You may opt to choose happiness,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Maria Magdalena M. Lim, Schools Division Superintendent, thanked the participants for attending the retreat.
“Your participation indicates your willingness to change for the better, and I admire you for that,” said Superintendent Lim.
“We spend our time getting busy with our work and tend to forget that we need a break and reflect on what really is our priority in life,” she said.
“If we are able to manage our work effectively and efficiently, then let’s heed to the advice of our facilitator which is to balance the time we spend with our work and our family.
Superintendent Lim said that the retreat, participated in by all personnel comprising the Curriculum Implementation Division (CID), School Governance Operations Division (SGOD), and division section offices, will now become part of the annual activities of the Division.
In contrast to what everybody expected, the retreat provided each participant more time to reflect and rest not only physically but also mentally. Real life experiences shown on videos, and additional inputs of the facilitator were essential to reach the program objectives, credits to the SGOD spearheading the activity with Dr. Marilyn M. Timtiman, SGOD chief.
The thanksgiving mass officiated ended the retreat.