Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we started to think about FEELINGS – and how many different feelings there are and why they are important.  We also started to think about how we can regulate or manage our feelings in an appropriate way – and today I want us to think about that some more.

Today we are going to learn a bit more about what goes on inside our brain when we have feelings so that we can understand how to manage our feelings and be in control of them – rather than feelings being in control of us.  Have a watch and listen to this video which talks about the ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’ parts of our brain – and have a think about which one you think is most important…

Did you decide which part of the brain you think is most important – the upstairs ‘thinking’ brain or the downstairs ‘feelings’ brain?  I think that most of the time the upstairs/thinking brain is most important – as without the ability to think and manage our feelings we could end up being overwhelmed by them.  Imagine if you felt sad because you’d lost your favourite toy and you didn’t have a ‘thinking’ brain – how would you ever stop being sad – would you just continue to cry and be miserable for ever?   What if someone accidentally hurt you in the playground and you felt angry – if you didn’t have a thinking brain, would that anger just build and build until you ‘flipped your lid’?

A big part of growing up involves learning how to understand and manage our feelings – and this happens as we develop and grow our upstairs/thinking brain – and we will learn more about this tomorrow.  Today I want us to try and be more self aware when we are experiencing a feeling – and try to learn to step back from our feelings so that we say in our minds, ‘I have angry feelings.’ rather than saying, ‘I’m angry’. This helps us to appreciate that we are more than our feelings, and that we can control them for example even though we might feel angry, being angry isn’t all of us; we don’t have to let our feelings take over.

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you that you know me very well and that you love me.
Please help me to be patient with other people, even when they make me cross!
Please help me to try to understand them and be kind and caring.

Help me to use my thinking brain so that I can manage my feelings,
Amen.