“I forgive people who hurt me and give people a second chance. I put my sadness behind me and move forward”.
Forgiveness means letting go of hard feelings like anger, sadness, or frustration that happen when you or someone else makes a mistake. It’s saying “Thank you” or “That’s okay” when someone apologises and not staying upset about what they did. It’s having patience with yourself and others, and recognising that no one is perfect—everyone makes mistakes. It’s letting go of hurt feelings, and moving ahead, ready to do things. It doesn’t mean that all of a sudden what someone did doesn’t hurt or isn’t wrong. It means that you find it in your heart to give the person another chance.
In many ways Forgiveness is about taking power back by “flipping” the mood/situation. I use the analogy of the sparkle jars. Harbouring hurt or anger as a result of someone hurting your feelings can feel like a whirlwind in your tummy but as soon as you forgive it can lead to a sense of calm like when the sparkles fall to the bottom of the jar.
Forgiveness comes within the “Relationships” part of our PERMA model because being able to forgive those around you is one of the building blocks to successful friendship.
Little Life Message: The best revenge is to move on and find your happy.
Forgiveness Activities:
Take 20 minutes and write about the personal benefits that resulted from a negative incident.
Think of someone who wronged you recently. Put yourself in their shoes and try to understand their perspective.
Write a forgiveness letter. You don’t have to send it, but read it to yourself each day for a week.
If someone hurts or upsets you, try to understand things from their perspective, then think about whether your reaction is hurting them or you.
Think about all of the picture story books that have at their core, the message of the importance of being able to forgive. Write a list and send to Mrs Kebbell to add to the list on this blog!
Blue Sky, Yellow Kite is a favourite of mine and as I read it I like to stop and infer the many emotions that the characters in this book are feeling due to the actions of the other person.
People who have the character strength of “Creativity” in abundance are people who come up with new and helpful ideas and ways of doing things.
Creativity comes within the “Meaning” arm of our PERMA wellbeing starfish.
Creativity means thinking of new ways to do things. When faced with a problem, creative people define the issue clearly and then come up with multiple solutions.
There are so many different ways in which you can be creative. These includes writing (developing ideas), art, music, craft and even using an everyday household object in a new way. “The Girl Who Thought in Pictures” is about Temple Grandin, a scientist whose autism was a strength that gave her the ability to think differently (creatively). This enabled her to solve some important problems related to treating and handling cattle in a compassionate and humane way. She won many awards for her work and study in this area and there is even a film based on her life story.
This picture story book is based on her life.
“Ish” by Peter Reynolds, is another picture story book about a boy with a ctreative mind.
I love the creative ways that the children in this clip are able to think of to solve problems
Creativity is not just about making something, it is a way fo thinking to solve problem (for older students).
You can reflect on this strength by asking yourself:
In what situations are you most creative?
How does creativity help you to solve problems?
What holds you back from expressing your creativity?
Being persistent means working hard to finish what we set out to achieve and not giving up. It means setting and achieving goals despite challenges and difficulties. Being persistent involves “grit” which is similar to stamina and effort. People who show persistence have a growth mindset, they know that if they practise and put in effort, they can achieve their goals!
Do you remember when you were learning how to read or ride a two wheeler bike? It was tricky at first, but you used your grit and kept trying until you’d gotten the hang of it. What happens is that is that new (neural) pathways are created, and, like muscles, these help your brain to grow and you to become good at things. .
Lessons on Grit
The Most Magnificant Thing
Have you set your goals for this term?
What is your main takeaway from “Lessons on Grit?”
This week we are going to combine the Character Strength of Wisdom with the PERMA element of “Meaning” and being aware of what we can do to live more sustainably.
Meaning involves belonging to a world bigger than our own. We can have more meaning in our lives by looking after and respecting the environment and doing things that make a positive difference. We can all reduce our waste by bringing food to school without packaging. We can pick up rubbish at school, on the beach, actually – everywhere! We can recycle and reuse and at home we can compost organic materials. Playing outside and appreciating all that nature has to offer can also contribute to a more meaningful life.
People with wisdom are wise and understand what is important in life. Older people are said to be wise as they have lived through so many different experiences. People with wisdom are often understanding and have a bank of knowledge or learning from the past that they use to choose from. They think before they speak or offer advice. The Lorax is an example of a wise, thoughtful character who respects the environment and “speaks for the trees”.
This week during STEM (Science), Mr Burdess will be teaching our school community about the things that we can do to make a difference. We all take pride on our school environment and we’re sure that you agree that we would all like to see less rubbish at school. Let’s see if we can work together to come up with ways to see less of this….
Can you think of a person or a mentor who shows the Character Strength of Wisdom? What about Aesop’s fables? Can you think of any fables wherein characters display wisdom?
This week at school we will be revisiting our PERMA model for wellbeing.
PERMA is an acronym for a model of well-being put forth by a pioneer in the field of positive psychology, Martin Seligman. According to Seligman, PERMA makes up five important building blocks of well-being and happiness:
Positive emotions – feeling good
Engagement – being completely absorbed in activities
Relationships – being authentically connected to others
Meaning – purposeful existence
Achievement – a sense of accomplishment and success
Positive Emotions
Positive emotions are among the many components that make up happiness and well-being, and one of the more obvious layers of happiness. It’s good to know the difference between pleasure and enjoyment. While pleasure relates to satisfying bodily needs like hunger, thirst, or taking a long sleep after a tough day, enjoyment comes from intellectual stimulation and creativity. Enjoyment can be as simple as playing a fun game with friends in the playground at lunch time. Enjoyment also involves being intellectually challenged and standing up to it. For example, puting a jigsaw puzzle together, which requires concentration and careful figuring out, can lead to smiles of contentment and enjoyment.
Positive emotions are good for us because they stretch the imagination. When we do something they enjoy or find interesting, we are more likely to persevere in the face of challenges, and spontaneously search for more creative solutions and opportunities. Positive emotions can also help undo negative ones; Generally, we are likely to do more of the activities we find stimulating and that bring enjoyment, and the effects last longer than those that generate short-lived pleasure.
Engagement
We’ve all had the experience of becoming so absorbed in work or in reading a book that we completely lose sense of time or forget an appointment. Achieving this state of flow or total engagement is natural, especially when people are involved in activities they love and are good at, such as dancing, playing sport, or pursuing creative activities and hobbies.
Although engagement in enjoyable activities comes relatively easy to most children, it is still important to have opportunities to take part in activities that offer experiences of engagement or flow. Such opportunities might involve putting together jigsaw puzzles, drawing and coloring, playing with toys, or practicing ballet or a musical instrument. The fact that such activities stretch the intellectual and emotional limits and endurance, as well as require concentration and effort, is important.
Relationships
Happiness and psychological health are inextricably linked with close, meaningful, and intimate relationships. Fleeting social relationships with strangers as well as longstanding ones with peers, siblings, parents, extended family, and friends are all sources of positive emotions and support. According to research, one important function of social networks is that they can spread happiness, cheer and laughter like wild fire.
Meaning
True happiness comes from creating and having meaning in life, rather than from the pursuit of pleasure and material wealth. Loving someone and being loved is a meaningful phenomenon, for example, because such acts inspire people to live for, and take care of, someone other than the self. Living a meaningful life is, in essence, related to attaching oneself to something larger than oneself. It instills the sense that there is a larger purpose to life, and being a part of it confers meaning. Doing chores, caring for the environment and helping others within the broader community are some examples of taking part in activities that go beyond merely living for oneself. These activities bring fulfillment and meaning that enhance well-being.
Accomplishment
Having explicit goals in life, even small ones like reading for an hour everyday, and making efforts to achieve them are important to well-being and happiness. Achievement helps to build self-esteem and provides a sense of accomplishment. It also strengthens self-belief.
The mere effort one puts into reaching a specific goal in itself harbors satisfaction. Importantly, setting goals and putting in the necessary efforts to achieve them are just as important as actually reaching them; it is OK not to succeed the first time.
The beginning of term is a great time to look at your previous Wellbeing Goal and, if you have achieved it, set a new one.
A video by school children explaining PERMA!
Be Happy! You can even sing along to this book if you wish.
My Strong Mind by Niels Van Hove
Cay and Adlee find Their Voice by Russell Quaglia and read by our PosEd leaders 🙂
This story relates to the “Meaning” part of our PERMA model.
