This term, we have been talking about all the different kinds of feelings we experience. It helps us to understand ourselves and others when we can be very specific when naming an emotion. Using the mood meter, we learned that emotions can be located in four quadrants. The horizontal axis indicates the degree of pleasantness we are feeling. Some emotions are unpleasant, like fear, anger and sadness, while others are pleasant, like joy, optimism and calmness. Some emotions are high energy like panic and motivated, while others are low energy like despair and relaxed.
Although all emotions are important and necessary, sometimes we need to use self-regulation skills to move from one emotion to another. We can regulate our emotions using our thoughts and at other times we can use actions. We practiced several strategies such as taking deep breaths, thinking of our favourite place, going for a walk, listening to music, dancing… Students chose strategies for each quadrant of the mood meter and are using these strategies to independently manage their emotions.