Hello. Who are you?

Episode 1 of Part 1 of our Introduction series: Setting the stage for success.

Habits:  Know thyself  |  Quiet

Skills:  Mindfulness  |  Happiness

Description:  This episode gives a brief overview of the Passion Arena programme before starting on helping you to get to know yourself. We introduce concepts around happiness and being aware of your emotions in various situations. This episode explains why you can't be happy all the time and introduces the difference between being happy, and being in a state of well-being.

How this lesson might be discussed with your child

The overall focus of this lesson is to introduce students to paying attention to how they feel in any given moment - essentially the practice of being mindful. In particular, we outline why a state of well-being as always there, and that whatever negative emotion you're feeling (the dark clouds) will eventually leave and you'll be back to your usual state of well-being (the blue sky).

Possibly the easiest way to apply this at home is, in a moment of reduced attention, simply ask them to think about how they feel in that moment. What emotion seems to fit how they feel right now. 

The 'Knowing My Emotions' exercise that student will be provided after this episode will be repeated for quite a few episodes, so helping students to understand their emotions in the moment, will allow them to provide more accurate feedback as they progress.

Some specific discussion points

In the discussion of literary works, historic figures or current news items where people are involved, there is an opportunity to discuss the possible emotions of people in certain settings. The intent here would be to encourage thinking on how an emotional state might influence decisions or reactions that lead to either intended or unintended consequences. Questions to ask may include:

  • What do you think [individual name's] emotional state was in [specific setting]?

  • Was that emotion helpful or unhelpful in that moment?

  • What effect did that emotion have?

  • Is there an emotion that might have been better or worse?

  • What effect could a better emotion or mind-state have had?

  • What could [individual's name] have done to ensure s/he was in a better mind state?

Discussing the quote from this episode:

"A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him." — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Possible areas of discussion may include:

  • Do you believe this quote represents the truth? Why / Why not?

  • Can you choose to be happy (or in a state of well-being) in any circumstance? Why / Why not?

  • How important is choice to being happy?

  • Can you choose any emotions? Why / Why not?

Further information on this topic

If you'd like to dive a bit deeper on this topic, you might be interested in watching:

 

Matthieu Ricard – The Habits of Happiness.

 

or you might like to read:

Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill. 
by Matthieu Ricard, 2007.