Be a duck...just let the water roll off your feathers.
These past two years have challenged us as humans on both a physical and mental point. Since February 2020, we have had many ups and downs, during such a shift in the world, when was the last time you checked in on yourself?
At the beginning of the pandemic, I checked in with myself and started writing down things I was grateful for during the pandemic. This helped remind me of the joy, love, and light I can find within myself, and my surroundings. As I watched the seasons change outside, the weather constantly shifting, morning to night, sunshine to rain clouds, it reminded me of an exercise I would do with little Momo’s.
Once a week I would have a weather check-in with the class. Not the weather report we see outside, but the weather report we are feeling in our bodies. We would discuss weather patterns and how you can wake up and see the sun and then later in the day a rain cloud may come in and the weather will change to rain. We talked about how this can relate to feelings and emotions we have throughout our day. You can wake up maybe feeling a little “rainy” and tired. You may be moving slow that morning but this feeling can shift throughout the day. You could later find sunshine at the playground while playing with a friend who fills you with joy and energy.
I would invite kiddos to draw what sort of weather they are feeling inside their body and ask them to add detail to where in their body they were feeling this weather. I once had a momo draw out lightening blots shooting out of his toes!
Create a gratitude journal, for you and for your momo. Write or draw the things that you are grateful for, once a day, once a week or once a month. Do a “weather check-in” with your momo. Invite them to draw out the weather they are feeling that day or that week. After, have a gentle discussion about the weather we see outside and how it is always changing, nothing is permanent, seasons change and cycle through. So do our emotions.
What are you grateful for?
