Positively Positive Stroking

Last March 24 and 25, 2007, the graduating students of the University of the Philippines High School in Cebu had their retreat. The activity had their assembly in the High School campus. It was already 9 a.m when we started the activity. It all started with a prayer. There was this briefing on what a retreat is all about. We also had an activity all about life, career, family, etc. We were given a questionnaire all about this and we were given a chance to share our answers to our batchamtes through small groupings.
The next activity we had before lunch is the POSITIVE STROKING. This activity is not new to me because I tried this when I was in my elementary years when we had a leadership seminar and this is one of our activites. This activity works by forming two circles. We are then grouped into two. The first group were asked to sit in the first circle of chairs. They were asked to close their eyes and asked not to open them unless they are told so. The people who belong to the first group did not have any idea on what will happen. Maybe it is only me who knows what will really happen since I have tried the activity before. The second group were then asked to go out from the room and had a briefing outside on what will they do.
After their short briefing, they were then asked to get inside the room for the activity to start. So the activity started. The second group started to talk to the person they are assigned to talk first. They say all positive things about the person in front of them. After a few seconds, they were then asked to move to their right side and proceed with the activity but with another person this time until they return with the person they first said something to. After the first round, the first group were then asked to get out from the room and were also briefed by mdm Maglasang, the moderator. Then, it is their turn to talk to the second group and the second group's turn to listen to the first group. The whole process was repeated. There were a lot of crying that happened. Almost all of the people inside the room were very emotional. I think that activity will be our last chance in saying everything we want to say to all of our batchmates.
I really had good time thanking and asking for apologies to my batchmates. It was such a nice activity because I felt really light and very relaxed afterwards. It was, I think, the best part of the whole retreat. Since I belong to the first group, I never had the chance to thank and say sorry to my groupmates.
We were really thankful to Mdm Maglasang for the activity. The activity was very successful because it really helped how we deal with each other afterwards. We were more bonded. There were broken friendships that were mended. The closeness of the batch is really at its best right now.
Thanks to you Madam.