Good Morning Brown Clee!
We have been thinking about feelings and emotions this week – and yesterday we learnt about how we need to use our ‘thinking’ brain (the upstairs brain) to ensure that we can manage our feelings appropriately. Today I would like to develop this further so that we can understand that as well as learning how to manage our emotions – we also need to understand that that we don’t just have feelings; we can think about them, too. We don’t have to give in to our feelings and let them tell us what to do.
Have a watch of this video which talks to us about our thoughts, feelings, emotions – and as you listen remember that it is often how we think about our feelings that affect us the most – and our feelings do not define who we are….
Have a moment now to share your thoughts from watching the video – what did it make you think?
It made me think of an example of when a BIG feeling can take over – such as when we feel angry – it is really easy to get lost in the anger but we need to learn to step back from these feelings and say, ‘I have angry feelings.’ This is much better than saying, ‘I’m angry’, because even though we feel angry, being angry isn’t all of us; we don’t have to let our feelings take over. This can be quite difficult to do – for adults too!
So, if you find yourself becoming overwhelmed with an emotion, remember to say, for example, ‘I have angry feelings’, not, ‘I am angry.’ This will help us to manage our emotions – this is called emotional regulation – something that is really important!
Prayer of the Day
Dear God,
Teach us how to control our feelings.
Help us to be patient and kind.
Show us how to laugh with others and not at them.
Help us to spread a little happiness
by the way we behave towards one another.
Amen.