I wonder how you are responding to God in these times we are living in.
Tell me about a time you felt like you were wandering with nowhere to go.
Family Needs
Does your family have a need in the middle of this crisis? Whether it is prayer or a physical need, please let us know, we are here for you. Share needs via email and prayer requests using the form below.
Last year, in the middle school boy's small group, as a part of their check in time, they began sharing one emotion they had felt during the week. To help identify different feelings they used the aid of a feeling wheel. Now what is a feeling wheel? Exactly what it sounds like. It is a round diagram, sliced like a pie with different feeling words going all the way around it. The purpose of such tool helps our students build a vocabulary of what is going on inside of them and helps draw connections between feelings.
Our students today, are feeling overwhelmed and anxious and they're talking about it! They're anxious about school, grades, the effects of the pandemic, wondering when it will be safe to see family members again. There are some very active ways we can help our students manage these strong feelings. One is talking about them with empathy. Just building an understanding of their inner world without judgement builds a safe connection. We can also train our students to use breathing meditations. From just taking a few deep breaths intentionally and clearing our heads to sitting for twelve minutes in meditation, there is a large body of research that confirms how practices of mindfulness like these support the management of anxiety and depression.
I hope you'll take some time to read over the resources shared below on how to build safe connections with your kids and how to use the feeling wheel to help understand what they are feeling.
The Resource Trail
Here are two documents from Orange Students and Parent Cue that talk about empathizing with our students and using practical resources to process our emotions together inside the safety of relationship.
