Last Friday, as part of our Wellbeing focus, we discussed different strategies we could use to calm ourselves down, when we are feeling strong emotions such as being angry, sad, nervous, worries, frustrated, stressed, embarrassed, and disappointed. In a whole group discussion, students reflected upon and shared their strategies. What great suggestions everyone had!
Sit down, take a few breaths, count to ten, and close your eyes. Jeannie
Do something to take your mind off of feeling like this. Cleo
Don’t listen or ignore them, or walk away (if your strong feeling is a reaction to another person). Violet
Tell someone about it. Tom
Think about something you’re excited about. Nyla
Don’t retaliate. Rafferty
Read a book. Maia P.
Go to another space away from the person that made you angry. Aliye
Find a happy place (real or in your head). Xena
Following on from Xena’s comment ‘find a happy place’, our discussion turned to different calm and safe spaces that we knew of – at home, at school, in our community, and in our imaginations – that we could go to if we felt like we needed to quiet any strong emotions we were feeling. Students again had many suggestions, including places in nature like the beach (Saskia), places we could go to have fun like Luna Park (Luke), and places that were familiar and comforting in our homes and community, like the library (Marni), and our bed (Nyla) or bedroom (Clemy), or in our imaginations – Unicorn Land (Alexandra), and an island in the sky with lots of trees on it (Xena).
Students then paired up with their buddy from the previous week, to share their own thinking and each draw their own calming down space – one at school, and one either at home or elsewhere, or in their imagination.