Spiritual Healing

Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Group Activities!

Here is a list of ideas that I have employed at various times in a mental health setting for groups of adults, children, and teens.
1.  Fill in the Story:-
Find and print pictures of scenes from plays, movies or tv shows in which there are several characters pictured together in the middle of the story (not posing for the camera and smiling).  Each participant chooses a picture and writes the following:
Names and ages for everyone in the picture.
Name of the main character
Main character' greatest wish, greatest fear, best quality and worst quality
Setting of the scene
Background to the scene: what has happened before the moment pictured?
Write the conclusion of the story and draw, color, or paint the final scene of the story.

2.  Ants and Tigers:-
Discussion: What are the qualities of ants? (i.e. small, teamwork, defined roles, coordination)  What are the qualities of tigers? (i.e. solitary, acts on its own impulse, big and powerful)  Are there times it is better to be like an ant? A tiger?  Are there times it is worse to be like an ant?  A tiger?  Divide your paper in half, and label one side "Ants" and one side "Tiger."   On the ant side, draw yourself as an ant in a situation in which you remember that you behaved like an ant.  On the tiger side, draw yourself as a tiger in a situation in which you remember that you behaved like a tiger.  (Few people feel confident in their ability to draw tigers.  Encourage participants to take risks, use their erasers, and be nonjudgmental of their work.)

3.  Four Elements Of You:-
Discussion: Passion gives us the will to live and gives shape to our lives. 
Fold your paper into four sections.  Label each section, The Earth of Me, The Air of Me, The Fire of Me, and The Water of Me.  Use image and color to express your passion in life as symbolized by the four elements. 

4.  Tank of Gas:-
Discussion: Even with great talents, someone with low self-esteem can't get very far.  It would be like having a nice car without any gas.  On the other hand, some people who have physical limitations have achieved great things due to their self-confidence.
Make two columns on a piece of paper.  On one column, list the areas of your life that you feel confident about, and on the other column, list the areas of life that you feel insecure about; i.e. academics, work, appearance, creativity, making friends, etc.  Count the number of items listed in each column and write the total at the bottom of each list.  Subtract the Insecure total from the Confident total: that is how much gas you have left in your tank.  On another piece of paper, make a visual affirmation of your ability to improve your confidence and self-acceptance in areas of your life that you are currently insecure about.

5.  God Grant Me the Serenity:-
Discuss the quote, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can't change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. 
Make two lists, "The things I can change" and "The things I can't change."  On each side, list the things you can and can't change in your life.  On another sheet of paper, draw how your life would look after you successfuly changed the things on your list, "The things I can change." 

6.  Gratitude and Wishes:-
Draw, paint, or color a tree, including its roots and branches, by creating intricate patterns that become more complex as they get farther from the tree's trunk.  Add words or glue pieces of paper shaped like rocks in the soil at the roots to represent things you are grateful for in your life.  Add words or glue pieces of paper shaped like leaves in the branches to represent things you wish for in life.  Discussion: Why is gratitude at our roots and our wishes in our branches?

7.  Holistic Health:-
Discussion: What is a healthy mind? A healthy heart? A healthy body?  A healthy spirit?
Divide your paper diagonally into four triangles.  Fill each triangle with color, words, and images that represent what a healthy mind, heart, body, and spirit is for you. 

8.  How Does This Serve Me?:-
Write down a common emotional difficulty you have in life, such as depression or anger.  Make a list of ways that feeling is serving you in your life.  For example "Depression serves to express my grief, protect me from failure, gets me attention, and makes people leave me alone."  "Anger allows me to feel powerful and in control."  Make another list of some alternative ways of getting those needs met.
Fold a large paper into three sections.  Using magazine images, make a collage for each section, entitled, "My feeling," "How it serves me," and "Alternatives."   

9.  Daily Schedule:-
Make a schedule of your daily routine.  Add into your schedule one activity to improve each of the following: mental health, emotional health, physical health, and spiritual health.  For example, "On my walk to school, I will try to think positive about my day." "I will spend a few moments in prayer or meditation before I go to sleep."  "I will do some yoga while I watch tv at night."  Decorate your schedule with markers, designs, and glitter so it looks attractive to you.  Take it home and tape it someplace you will see it daily.

10.  Spirit:-
Identify a spiritual power that you believe in, and write it in the middle of your paper using special lettering, i.e. God, Spirit, Nature, Love, etc.  Using color and image, depict six qualities of the spiritual power in a circle around the word, such as "All-knowing," "Healing," or "Unconditional Love."  Add a border and background color to tie the images together.

No comments:

Post a Comment

thanks

mind healing