“To me, one of the hardest things about being a person is figuring out how to get along with other people. It seems like there’s always some problem, some conflict, some battle. It makes sense, though—we’re all walking around at the very same time with our private thoughts and our private wants and needs, our private circumstances and private memories of past circumstances.”
“Do you ever notice how you feel when someone gives you a zing?
A zing is what I call the feeling I get when someone does something that upsets me. Maybe it’s a harsh tone, maybe someone hasn’t responded to me the way I wished they would have. Or maybe someone’s being plain old-fashioned mean or rude for reasons I can’t understand.”
A conversation about why it’s so easy to get upset by other people, and how we can create more peace in our minds and in our lives by understanding the situation a bit differently.
(Suitable for tweens, teens and adults.)
“One early winter morning, Emily’s mother was driving her to school, when Emily noticed the moon still up in the sky.
’Look at the moon, Mommy!’
’Wow, look at that. What a beautiful moon, honey.’
’I bet it must be cold up there.’
’Oh, I’m sure it is!’
’You think the moon ever gets cold, Mommy?’
’No, dear. The moon doesn’t get cold.’
’How do you know?’
’I just know, darling.’
’But did you ever ask the moon if she gets cold?’
’Yes, I did.’
’Did you really, Mommy?’”
The story of a little girl who wanted to know if the moon was cold, and wouldn’t give up until she found out, even when all the grown-ups insisted her question was ridiculous.
(Suitable for all ages.)
“Welcome to What’s Your Upset...
What’s you’re upset? You’re on the air!
Hi. I just had a big drama with my mother.
Uh huh. What happened?
Well, I found an icky blueberry in my bowl and I threw it across the room and it accidentally hit her in the face.
I’m sorry to laugh. It’s really not funny.
My mom didn’t think it was funny either.
I bet not. So, uh, why the big upset over an icky blueberry?
Because it was disgusting.
So you chucked it across the room?
Yeah. I didn’t want it near me.
Did you feel it was an emergency situation?
It WAS an emergency situation!”
A conversation with a boy who had a very big upset after finding an icky blueberry in his bowl. But he discovers, by going deeper inside of himself, that his upset was about much more than an icky blueberry.
(Suitable for all ages.)
“Once there was a girl who wanted to be a hairdresser. All growing up she would style her hair, her friends’ hair and even her grandmother’s hair.
She had a gift for making people sparkle.
She loved how they looked at themselves in the mirror when she was through, as if their best selves had emerged and were waving hello.”
When a girl becomes flooded by intrusive thoughts, a friend teaches her how to find an anchor.
(Suitable for tweens, teens and adults.)
“Hello. I’m a flower. A beautiful, one-of-a-kind flower. If you saw me, you would have to stop and look. Even if you were running late, you would have to just look for at least a second. You might even want to snap a photo.”
The Anxious Little Seed is a story about one little seed in the garden who refuses to be happy, because she's too busy wanting to be a flower.
(Suitable for all ages.)
A poem about a boy who wants to be better than everyone else, until he realizes he’s made a mistake.
(Suitable for all ages.)
“I once knew a little boy who had a lot of fears. During the day, he wasn’t scared of much—he’d run around feeling pretty great—but once the sun set, his fears would wake up.”
Fact-Checking Your Fears is a conversation about understanding where our fears come from, and how to use our brains to decide if something is dangerous or not.
(Suitable for all ages.)
A very short poem based on true events. For some odd reason, when I’m upset with my son, I often rhyme inadvertently.
(Suitable for all ages.)
Tip Tapping is a guided meditation for kids, that requires a bit of assistance from a grown-up.
It's a story I tell my son when he can’t sleep at night, when he’s scared or anxious or just has an abundance of maniacal energy.
There’s a lot of room for improvisation, but I’ve shared the framework along with a recording of the story, in case you’d like to try it out.
Basically, a grown-up tip-taps their fingers as if they’re little legs, on all the parts of the child’s body that the story mentions.
It can be silly and a lot of fun and it also helps to call my son’s attention back from all his video games and friends and other worldly stuff, and back into his body where he can feel like he’s home, safe and comfortable.
(Suitable for ages 2-10.)
“When my child is suffering from OCD behavior, one way I can help him is by helping myself first. By asking myself: Am I catastrophizing here? Am I afraid that my child’s behavior is not normal? That I have to fix it immediately? Am I in panic mode about his behavior and worrying about his future?”
Some ideas for how parents can support themselves while their child is experiencing OCD Behavior.
(Suitable for adults.)
“When I was a younger person, I actually thought the purpose of my body was to get other people to notice it existed.”
A conversation about the rocky relationship I had with my body as a teenager, and how I eventually discovered that my body is sacred—a place to cherish, instead of a place to avoid.
(Suitable for teens and adults.)
“I remember when I was 11, wanting to write a memoir. I had a stepmother at the time who laughed when I told her my plan. “Don’t you need to be somebody before you write one of those?”
Two very short stories—one for adults and one for kids—about the importance of sharing the most authentic version of who we are, without shame, and without needing an invitation to do so.
(Suitable for tweens, teens and adults.)
“Most of the time when you hear a story about a cocoon, there’s a caterpillar inside. But not this story. This story is about a cocoon that had a butterfly inside. A butterfly who was afraid to fly.”
A terrified butterfly is forced out of her cocoon and into the world where she meets an unexpected friend who encourages her to fly.
(Suitable for all ages.)
“Robert Baker had the flu, so he stayed home from work. He was told by his wife and also by his doctor to rest. But he couldn’t. He tossed and he turned and then gave up to watch TV in the living room.”
Channel 15 ½ is about a man who fears the whole world is against him and discovers it’s true. Sort of.
(Suitable for tweens, teens and adults.)
“Once there was a girl who was born with glue in her brain.
At first she didn’t know about the glue. She only knew that something seemed wrong about her brain, because so many of her thoughts seemed to get stuck to it.
No matter where she happened to be, she would notice herself thinking these same thoughts, again and again. Even if she tried not to think these thoughts, there they were . . .”
The Girl Who Was Born with Glue in Her Brain is about a girl with a handful of thoughts that keep her from being able to enjoy life as much as she would like to, and what she eventually decides to do about it.
(Suitable for teens and adults.)
Click here to purchase the illustrated book version of this story.
“Once there was a man who loved his flower garden.
Only red flowers grew in his garden, and he was proud of every one. ‘The finest flowers are red,’ he’d say. ‘And flowers of any other color simply don’t belong here.’”
When a man notices flowers of unfamiliar colors blossoming in his town, he worries they’ll ruin his garden and he tries to ban them.
Red Flowers is a story about how much more beautiful the world is when a person is willing to open up their perspective and let the perspectives of others become part of their own.
(Suitable for all ages.)
“I bet a long time ago, what you wanted to have happen in a day was what you needed to figure out how to make happen. If you were hungry, you had to find your food and prepare it, if you wanted shelter, you had to make it or help make it, and if you were cold you’d have to make a fire and figure out how to stay warm.”
(Suitable for teens and adults.)
“Once, there was a man who had a secret. A pretty big secret. You see, even though he looked like a regular man, inside he was really a pigeon.”
A Pigeon At Heart is a story about a man who felt it was easier to pretend to be someone he wasn’t. Until someone found out the truth of who he really was…
(Suitable for all ages.)
“I think what every upset is missing, is a bridge of understanding.
There are many people who are builders of these bridges of understanding, but many of them are not building these bridges because the work is so tedious.”