By Tyler Shobe

Staff writer

Making the right choices can greatly enhance students’ happiness, said Sandy Cox, assistant director of the Counseling Center.

Cox presented the first of the Surthriver, a term derived from the words survivor and thrive, workshops titled “Survival Skills for Happiness” Monday in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Cox began the workshop by asking the attendees to write a list of everything that made them happy and present the list to the other attendees. Family topped most of the lists as a source of happiness. Most said while they often fought with their families, they relied on them as a source of comfort. Other things that made students happy included things ranging from hot chocolate on a cold day to success.

Following the discussion, Cox passed out a list of nine choices students can make to be happy. This list consisted of intention, accountability, identification, centrality, recasting, options, appreciation, giving and truthfulness

The intention choice is a choice that people must make to be happy, while accountability is taking responsibility for a person’s actions. Cox said the tendency to get defensive about the actions a person makes can indicate a lack of accountability.

The identification choice consists of looking within a person to see what makes that individual happy personally.

The centrality choice is a choice that emphasizes what makes people happy in their lives. Recasting is an important step in the choice process as it is gives problems a different spin. For example, making a recasting choice can be turning a negative situation into a positive situation and turning problems into opportunities for success.

The options choice is considering new possibilities, while appreciation is appreciating what brings happiness.

The giving choice is sharing with another person without expecting something in return, although some might have a tendency to give too much of themselves and not getting anything back to “fill them up” again, Cox said.

The final choice in the list was truthfulness, which means to be true to oneself and not give into pressures.

During the workshop, Cox asked students rhetorical questions such as, “What kind of feeling does your family give you?”, “What can I do to make me happy?” and “How much time do I spend in the present?”

Cox said students should write a “grateful journal,” that would list all the things that bring happiness on a given day.

The “Survivor” television show theme was reinforced by slides from the television show. The slides were complimented with a short videotaped segment that was used to start the workshop and showed the emphasis on using skills to survive the challenges.

Attending this workshop were Maureen Tulley, a junior family counseling major; Andrea Ode, a sophomore environmental biology major; Angela Taylor, a sophomore elementary education major; Erin Ode, a freshman communications major; and Carrie Wells, a sophomore pre med major.

Mark May, assistant director for academic advising and learning assistance, will have more “Surthriver” workshops during the week. These other workshops include “Brain Benders” Tuesday, “The Note-Taking Challenge” Wednesday and “Finding Information on the Internet” Friday.

The workshops start at 5:30 p.m. with the Tuesday and Wednesday workshops in the 1895 Room in the union. The Thursday workshop is in the Learning Assistance Center in Ninth Street Hall.

There will be a raffle after each workshop. Prizes are donated by the following area businesses: The Razor’s Edge, Walker’s, Boxa Pizza, Dairy Queen, Charleston Lanes, Showplace 8, Will Roger’s Theater and What’s Cookin’.