HEALTHY FAMILIES FOR ETERNITY

Make a positive list
List all the things that make you or your child feel
positive and blessed, and blend them into your lives as
often as possible. Pause to enjoy the positive emotions
whenever they happen, and thank God for them. These
positive emotions will help you live your lives more
abundantly, and help you to be stronger, more hopeful
and more resilient when you face life’s challenges.
(Psalm 103:2).
Checking in
It’s important to check regularly how you and
everyone else in your family are feeling. This will help you
to know if someone might be struggling, feeling sad, or
feeling overwhelmed by too many negative and draining
emotions. If someone seems to be staying at a low level for
more than a week it’s a good idea to keep a close eye on
them, and help them to find positive ways to feel better.
• Some families check in every day around the
dinner table.
• Some check in once a week on Friday nights.
• Some families prefer to do this at bedtime.
Find out what works best for you and your family.
Lows and highs
Invite each person to describe the lowest moment
of his or her day. It will usually be a time when they
experienced one of the negative or draining emotions.
After they describe this moment, invite each person, or
one person, to respond to them in a kind, caring and
understanding way. Then invite each person to describe
the best or the highest moment of their day. This will
usually be a time when they experienced one of the
healthy, positive emotions. Celebrate and be happy with
them! Share in their moment of wonder and joy!
The Happy Scale
Draw or print a line with a scale from 0-10, where
0 is very, very unhappy and 10 is very, very happy. With
younger children it may be easier to make the scale from
1-5 instead. Use the scale to ask everyone to measure how
he or she is feeling. Then ask what they think will help
them get to the next highest number, and how you could
help them to move higher up the happy scale.
W.W.W. or What went well?
At the end of the day, at bedtime, or during the
evening meal, ask each person: “What went well today?”
Then ask them: “What did you or other people do to help
it go so well?”
You could also ask: “What didn’t go so well today?”
Acknowledge and comfort the difficult emotions, and
then ask: “What did you learn from that experience? And
what might make it work better next time?”
Colors
Create a small collection of solid-colored buttons,
paper or felt squares or circles, or even paint cards/chips.
Include every color of the rainbow, plus black, white, grey,
teal/turquoise, dark brown, tan, and even gold, silver and
pearly ivory. Scatter them on the table. Let each person
choose a color to represent how he or she have felt during
the day. Invite each person to say why he or she chose that
color. Respond to each person’s story with interest and
compassion.
Daily Gratitude
At the end of each day ask person to say three things
from the day that they are most thankful for. Write them
all on a calendar or diary and encourage people to be
grateful for small and unusual things, too.
THINKING ABOUT IT
How do your family check in with each other
emotionally, and which of these ideas would
you also like to try?
Closing activity and reflections
• Distribute the handouts that help people to think
about how to have more positive and healthy
emotions in their own lives and families. Allow
time for them to begin filling them out.
• Ask people to share a couple of key insights and
inspirations they have had during the workshop
with a partner or family member.
Closing prayer
Close with a prayer thanking God for our emotions.
Ask Him to help us nurture our own positive emotions
as well as those of the people in our families, schools,
churches, workplaces and communities.
Reference
Frederickson, G. (2009). Positivity, New York,
Crown Publishers.
SEMINAR
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NURTURING HEALTHY EMOTIONS