Little owl asked me to share a few ideas with you that he has learned about feelings.
Before we begin,
Let's take a few deep breaths together to help us feel calm enough for today's exercise.
Close your eyes and try to breathe with me.
Breathe slowly in and out again.
Shhhhh.
Let's do that two more times.
Take a long slow breath in and breathe out again.
Shhhhh.
One more time.
Breathe in and slowly out again.
Shhhhh.
Take a moment to feel how you are feeling today.
Are your feelings light or heavy?
Do your feelings come and go floating like feathers through you or do they feel a bit heavier?
Remember that whatever you are feeling at any moment is perfectly alright.
There is no such thing as a good feeling or a bad feeling,
A wrong feeling or a right feeling.
We need to feel different things at different times.
We could even say that there are only right feelings for what we are experiencing at any particular moment.
All feelings are okay.
When our feelings are light and we allow them to come and go and float through us,
They can never harm us.
But sometimes it can feel as if a feeling has gotten stuck inside us.
Instead of floating light as a feather,
A feeling can become sticky and heavy.
Then it becomes more difficult to let go of the stuck feeling and it hangs around us and can become heavier and heavier.
Little owl says that heavy feelings are like wet feathers.
They make it more difficult for us to fly.
Do you have any heavy feelings hanging around your head?
How about your heart?
Any heavy feelings in your tummy?
Little owl has an exercise for us to help our heavy feelings feel a bit lighter.
It's a way of practicing to feel different feelings.
If you practice feeling all of the different feelings,
Your heavy feeling can become lighter.
Then you will also have space to have all of the other lighter feelings float through your heart like feathers.
Let's start by thinking about feelings that can sometimes feel heavy.
Feelings like sadness,
Worry,
Loneliness and anger can sometimes get stuck inside us if they hang around for too long.
Are you feeling any of these feelings today?
If you are not,
I would like you to remember the last time you felt sad or worried or lonely or angry.
What does the feeling feel like in your body?
Think about the heavy feeling and then check your body to feel where you are feeling it.
Is it hanging around your head?
Is it hiding in your heart?
Is it making your tummy feel funny?
Just take a few deep breaths and try to feel where in your body the heaviness is sitting.
I would like you to remember that our heavy feeling can also tell us what we need.
Perhaps your heavy feeling is telling you that you need a hug or to have some quiet time by yourself.
Think about what your heavy feeling is trying to tell you.
Now before we let this feeling go,
Thank your heavy feeling for letting you know what you need today.
Let's take a deep breath in and when you breathe out,
I want you to allow the heavy feeling to leave your body with your breath.
Next,
I would like you to think about something that makes you happy.
If you find it hard to think about something that makes you happy now,
Try to remember something that has made you feel happy before.
If you can feel the tiniest spark of happiness,
We can try to grow it into a warm glow.
Can you feel the small spark of happiness yet?
Focus on feeling happy and pay attention to where you are feeling the happiness in your body.
Perhaps you feel a little warmer around your tummy.
Perhaps you feel like you can breathe a little deeper.
Can you feel your heart becoming just the tiniest bit lighter?
Try to grow your feeling of happiness even bigger and lighter.
How does this feel?
See if you can grow happy enough to feel a warm glow in your tummy.
Let's take a deep breath in and when you breathe out,
I want you to allow the feeling of happiness to leave your body with your breath.
Now let's spend some time thinking about how grateful we feel for the feeling of happiness we just felt.
Where in your body do you feel grateful?
Does it make your heart feel warm?
Do you feel like hugging someone?
Spend a few moments feeling into this feeling of gratitude.
See how many things big and small you can think of to feel grateful for.
Let's take a deep breath in and when you breathe out,
I want you to allow the feeling of gratitude to leave your body with your breath.
I would now like you to think about everything and everyone you love.
Remember the things you love to do.
Think about the things you love to see and hear and taste and smell and feel.
See how many things you can think of to love.
What does love feel like in your body?
How does your heart feel when you feel love?
Can you feel love anywhere else in your body?
Allow the feeling of love to grow bigger and lighter in your body until it feels as if you are light as a feather.
Now we are going to take another three long slow breaths together.
When we breathe in,
I would like you to imagine that you are breathing in even more love from around you.
When we breathe out,
I would like you to let go of any heavy feelings that you might still be feeling in your body.
Let's begin.
Take a deep breath in and slowly out while you let any heavy feelings go.
Breathe in love and lightness and breathe out heavy feelings.
Let's do this one last time.
Breathe love and light into your body and breathe out heavy feelings.
How do you feel now?
Do you feel different than you did when we started this exercise?
Little owl wants you to remember that whenever you feel stuck with the heavy feeling that you can make it feel lighter.
It can help you to practice to feel some light feelings for a while.
This will not make the heavy feeling go away completely,
But it can help the heaviness feel lighter.
I would like you to take the lightness that you have breathed in with you today.
Slowly start to move your fingers and your toes to wake your body up after being quiet for a while.
When you are ready,
You can open your eyes.
