Whakakaupapa
HAUORA
HAUORA
Read through worries 101 first then,
complete the WORKSHEET.
Read this first!
Worrying happens because of the time when our brains were first formed – think cave-person times. If a sabre toothed tiger was running at us should we worry? Yes! Worrying sends messages from our brains to our bodies to prepare us to….?
Run, climb a tree, swim across the river or hide…
To run away from a sabre tooth tiger or try to fight it off, we need adrenaline. Think about what happens for you during the athletics day sprints. It’s sort of the same feeling. Adrenaline makes...
Our heart pump faster
Our breathing become shallower
Our muscles contract!
Changes take place in our brains too. Because our top priority is escaping the sabre-toothed tiger, the huge outside area of the brain (cortex) shuts down –especially the front of our brain (our prefrontal cortex) because when we’re really, really worried, we don’t need it. We just need lots of adrenaline to run and hide, or react and defend ourselves.
But our world has really, really changed since the cave person times. Think about all the change that’s happened – even just in the last 300 years! There’s been the invention of vehicles, technology, computers and more – and we no longer have dangerous animals in our backyards.
The world is actually safer, but our brains haven’t had a chance to catch up. Evolution (changes to our brains and bodies) takes hundreds, if not thousands of years. This means that sometimes our brains and bodies react like there’s a sabre-toothed tiger in the room, even though there isn’t. So it's normal to over-worry and feel a bit anxious sometimes.
What experiences can make us worry so much our brains peskily release a surge of adrenaline when we don’t need it?
Trying something new
Speaking in front of a group
Meeting someone new
New places
Lots of noise
Lots of people
Fast or noisy traffic
Having a big test or assignment
Not being with people we love
Lots of things can make us worry and cause our brains to release adrenaline when we don’t actually need it. Sometimes when this happens we do things that aren’t fun for us, or very helpful e.g. we become angry and defensive, or we disengage…
There are some things we can learn, that help. When we do these things, we re-engage our whole brain and stop the release of adrenaline when it’s not needed. These things let our brains know that there is no sabre-toothed tiger in the vicinity – and no need to panic!
An important thing to do when we feel very nervous, worried or anxious is to focus on our breathing – inhaling right down into the base of our tummies. When we do this our body tells our brain to calm down. This is weird and amazing, but it’s scientific! We know it works!
Taha Tinana: Physical
Taha Whānau: Family & Friends
Taha Hinengaro: Emotional & Mental
Taha Wairua: Spiritual
Brainstorm different things that can boost your wellbeing.
Make a copy of the Google Slides
Write as many things as you can think of, that make you feel good on each page.
SOUL
Colour in, and paste your feelings leaves onto your tree over the whole week
Create your 3D Whare Tapa Wha
Cut out the template sheet
Trace around the template onto cardboard.
Cut out your cardboard whare. Glue & tape it together to make a 3D shape.
Fill your Whare - Create some Mood Boosters
Make carboard strips to fit into your whare.
Using your ideas from your Google Slides write one thing that makes you feel good on each strip.
(try to include something from each pillar)
Colour code each mood booster e.g. green for spiritual, blue for physical, yellow for whanau/family, purple for mental/emotional.
Whenever you feel low, down, tired, sad, bored, lonely, anxious. Take a mood booster from your whare. What can you do to boost your mood?
Use A3 paper
Get a ruler and draw big a x on your page.
Your page should now be divided into 4 equal parts.
Look at the examples and decide what you would like to draw.
You will notice: As the images get closer to the middle of the page, they get smaller, creating the illusion that they are getting further away.
You can decide which media to use: markers, paint, or pastels.
Write down all the things you are grateful for.
Get your Gratitude jar from your teacher.
Complete a gratitude jar every day of this week.
Paste it into your Workbook so that you can look back on your blessings later this year.
This activity is a great way to focus on positive things.
A gratitude jar is a fun way to create a visual reminder of all the blessings in our lives.
Essentially, it's is a place to record and store everything you're thankful for.
Whether it's a person, a kind act , something beautiful, a song or a positive detail in your everyday life, write it down in your gratitude jar.