Skateboard in my pocket

When feeling low, distracted or anxious in a classroom To up your mood, focus your mind or reduce anxiety, try the following exercise: Think of an enjoyable event or place. The example I'm giving is from a conversation I had this week with a student of mine. The event he focused on was an outing with friends on skateboards.

1. Think about what things you could see - eg which friends, what were they wearing, what was the location etc

2. What you could hear - eg traffic, music - what music, laughter etc

3. What physical things you felt - eg was it cold, were you wearing a warm coat, what was the bench like you were sitting on

4. What smells there were - eg by a fire? candles? donuts on the pier?

5. What tastes - did you eat anything?

Take your time reflecting on each of these - and if you can, have an anchor object in your pocket that reminds you of this time - eg a lolly stick, a pebble or shell from the beach, a button from a button box at home, a concert ticket etc. In this instance, it was a little 'Tech deck' skateboard as the link object. In a difficult situation or a lesson where the student felt low mood, the object and the reminder of the 5 senses involved in the event helped to lift mood.