The House of 1000 Mirrors … reflections of “self”

I found the following story on Zendictive’s blog…… zendictive, “reflections of self“, “House of Mirrors.”

I read the story with some kids in my elementary school classroom…they seemed to get the ideas in the story….I think the lesson is so important…so I created some “pages” to go with the story, to try to help the kids really “get” this idea….

So…..here is the progression of pages I made to use with the kids…. (this is a draft….a work in progress…as all things are… : ) )

*There seem to be several ways of looking at this idea.

One might be ….what one gives out comes back to one…so being careful about that.

Another….somewhat like that…is that one is always projecting ideas onto others…and attaching an adjective/label to the person being interacted with…but that is based on our interpretation/spin…

Both perspectives are slightly mixed together in these pages….I’m just beginning to try to work on these ideas…. a draft, for sure…

(Jampa, if you read this….I got lost among those two ways of thinking….but I’m thinking they are similar…. but right now, I’m a bit lost…each makes sense, but they are different)

okay, here are several ways of understanding that “mirror” idea…

So….one interacts with another person…………an interaction….and the choice of what one “sees” is open to be chosen…a personal interpretation is added….

so…pages I made for the kids….to try to help them get this idea….

Realizing that we have a choice….

Do we want happiness reflected back to us?….then we need to give that out….

Do we want grumpiness, anger or negativity reflected back to us?…be careful about what we give out, because it will often be reflected back to us….and that’s what we’ll perceive…

We have a choice in how we view the world …..

and what we give and get back from others….

we can turn either direction….

We need to learn to think carefully about what we want reflected back to us….

and to choose with the understanding that it often will come back to us….

The choice is ours….each new situation…each new interaction….each new endeavor…each moment….

this moment….the next moment….the next moment….choosing carefully and wisely…and remembering that what we give out will often return to us….

We’ve also talked a lot about how everyone, at times, will find themselves in that tense or angry side….that simply happens, at times…possibly many times a day.

We then talked about

how to recognize when we’re there,
how it really doesn’t feel good
and how to help oneself shift out of that tense state
to a calmer, more relaxed and accepting state….

Ideas included: notice, take a few slow breaths, think about how this doesn’t feel good to be there, imaging letting it go…like letting a fish go…using distraction if that works at the time…etc.

So, what was emphasized was
learning to recognize,
make a choice,
and shift into a more positive state.

And…
that whatever mood/emotion we give out
might come back to us…
other people often “catch” our moods, like catching a cold.
so for our own benefit…and the benefit of others
to be careful about what we are giving out…

So…as a project to let the students express this in their own way…I gave lots of colored pens, stickers and time….and they went ahead and created. They all drew that negative state on the right, positive state on the left and that choice in the middle…

there’s some pretty cool art work…. 4th and 5th graders… I’ll laminate the pages and give them to the students after the break…maybe we’ll do more with them…I’ll see if they come up with more ideas.

I also want to approach the idea of those plain mirrors….that any person or situation is similar to that plain mirror…it’s our interpretation or spin on it that determines how we feel…the adjectives we attach to/about others….but that’s a bit more abstract concept…I think it’ll be helpful for them to have some understanding of this before they get to middle school next year…