As an opening activity, participants will create happiness lists and be encouraged to over them each time they are feeling down. These lists will help them do more things that create happiness and will also help them collect and store good feelings.
Materials
- Pencil
- Paper/journal
Framing
Sometimes we tend to remember the bad things that happen to us more than the good things. You can practice remembering good things and positive feelings and letting go of bad ones.
Instructions
- Instruct your group to write down five things that happened to them yesterday.
- When they are done, they should read the list over, silently to themselves.
Modify
- If you group is willing, have them share their list aloud to the group.
- Alternatively, divide the group into pairs and have them share their list and debrief within the pair.
Safety
- This is a quiet and reflective activity and so sounds and movements should be limited in order to decrease distractions.
Wrap-up
Bring the group together for a quick debrief. Without having the participants share the five things they wrote down, engage in a light discussion about those things.
- Did you write down five good things, five bad things, or a combination of things that happened?
- What was significant about those things that you remembered them and choose to write them down?
Somerset West Community Health Centre.