Motherhood Self-Reflection: What Color and Shape Do You Feel Like Today?
Hey Moms. I use this mindfulness technique with students and patients. Want to try it?
Happy Friday, Moms!
Have you ever found it hard to find the language to describe your emotions, or gotten frustrated when someone you care about is upset but doesn’t tell you what’s going on?
…Finding the right language for talking about how we’re doing as humans is important to me, both personally as a mother, wife, and friend; and professionally as a clinical psychologist in training.
….Back when I taught 5th grade in my twenties, I would start our morning meeting by asking my students to go around the room and check in. I asked them “What shape and color do you feel like today? What texture? Sound? Does “you” have a scent today or a flavor?”
I encouraged them to engage all 5 senses. I got the most amazing answers, and the visual descriptions of how they saw themselves in this abstract context, proved to be a doorway into deeper self-awareness, cultivating each child’s ability to talk about and realize how they were feeling that morning, and sometimes even why.
Today, I use this check-in technique with myself, with my undergraduate students as a doctoral teaching assistant, and in my clinical psychology program with patients I treat.
I present it as an option, not a requirement, and I like to give people the space to “pass” if they don’t want to reflect or share. But I continue to be inspired and humbled by the detailed, beautiful, and touching ways that I witness other humans talking about, and connecting with, their true self.
What color and shape are you today? Check out my video about this, above.
….I’d love to read your responses in the comments section, below!
Warmly,
Kay
PS: I highly recommend Dr. Brene Brown’s book “Atlas of the Heart” for her expertise on how to define the emotions we feel.
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Disclaimer: the content on Substack’s The Mom Diaries posted by Kay M. (@themomdiaries and https://substack.com/@themomdiaries) and on YouTube (@TheMomDiariesbyKayM) or any other medium or social media platform (the “information”) is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for clinical, medical, legal and professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Reliance on any information provided by Kay M. or The Mom Diaries is solely at your own risk. Always seek the advice of your licensed mental health professional, medical doctor, or other qualified health provider.