By learning to recognize that your emotional reaction to negative situations are unnecessary, you can then begin to reduce levels of frustration, anger and unhappiness.
This teachable moment refers to 0:39 to 1:44 from the film
About This Lesson
Many people believe that the situations encountered in their daily lives are the source of their negative feelings (i.e., anger, fear, and unhappiness). In most cases, this is not true. If you look closely at your own mind you may realize that your negative feelings are not caused by the situation itself, but are actually caused by your reaction to that situation, to the way your mind complains about the situation and creates emotional unhappiness for you.
Discussion Questions
1Can you think of a stressful situation in which you became angry and frustrated?
2Can you think of a stressful situation that other people found stressful, but you did not?
3Why do you think people react differently to stressful situations?
4Do you think you have a choice in how you react?
Family Activity
OBSERVING THE BODY WHEN ENGAGED IN WORRY:
When we are in a stressful situation it may feel like we can’t breathe. We might feel like we have no choice but to fight, freeze or run away. We might not be able to calm ourselves because we are unable to access the thinking part of our brains. We may even believe we are in some kind of danger when we are not.
But there is a way to help shut down our fight, flight or freeze response when we are in a stressful situation. The secret lies in using your breath. When faced with a stressful situation, practice using your breath to create space between what is happening to you and how you respond to it. If you practice using your breath in a conscious way, you can make a better choice by responding to what is happening at that moment.
Take a moment with your family members and practice the following:
Inhale deeply through your nose
Notice the belly go out, the expanding of the chest cavity and raising of the rib cage
Bring the breath to the top of the lungs by raising the collarbones and the shoulder blades
Exhale through your mouth
As a family, commit to practicing this breathing activity every day and see if this strategy can be applied to stressful situations that arise during day to day living. (i.e., taking a test, bad traffic, homework, etc)
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