Misfit Minute: Self-improvement
Psychological hell and character invention
Some things that I found interesting this week.
Self-improvement isn’t about self-affirmations and telling each other we are perfect the way we are. It is about consistently looking at the faults in our character and developing plans to upgrade ourselves.
You need to run towards something you want but run away from something you fear
An effective plan for improvement should include a picture of what an ideal outcome for yourself looks like if you did everything perfectly for a period of time.
However, it is even more effective to have a picture of what things will look like if you didn’t bother doing anything or if things got worse.
Moving towards a psychological heaven while avoiding psychological hell is a very effective cognitive behaviour strategy.
This idea can be taught to children through character invention. Stories are a powerful tool for teaching morals and values, but it is only effective when children identify with the characters in the book.
Talk about their ‘hero’ and discuss the traits that make them so great. I.e. Iron Man or Elsa
What are their mental and physical attributes? Courageous; hard-working; strong.
How do they interact with their surroundings?
This can support (trick) children to overcome difficult tasks/behave in a restaurant - ‘What would
JesusIron Man do?’Older children and adults can use the idea by applying the traits of real-life inspirations to their own lives.