Session III
Schedule: 90 minutes- Gathering Circle (10 min.)
- Guided Meditation (30 min.)
- Activities: Make Family Gardens (20 min.)
- Write Sense Poems (20 min.)
- Closing Circle (10 min.)
Objectives
- to envision one's own happy family
- to reflect on what would be necessary to make that vision a reality
- to reflect on and to celebrate the good things about one's family as it is now
- pencils
- paper
- half pieces of poster board with family names, and with stems and leaves drawn in for each family member cutouts of flower petals and centers from colored construction paper
- markers
- gluesticks
Gathering Game (10 min.)
Standing in a circle, the leader plays 'It' first to demonstrate the game. 'It' goes to the middle of the circle and, facing a particular player, says 'Do you love me, baby? That player must answer, 'I love you, baby, but I Just can't smile,' of course, trying not to smile as he or she says this. The goal is to make the other player smile, using creative facial expressions, dramatic gestures, tone of voice, etc. If they smile, they then become 'it.'
As the time comes to end the game, the leader might say, "That's one of my favorite games to play, but maybe it's a game we can use in our family life too. If you see some member of your family looking worried or sad or frightened, you might go to that person and say, "Do you love me, baby?" And maybe he or she will answer, "I love you baby, but I just can't smile." Then you could ask, "Why can't you smile today?" And, maybe the other person will tell you how they're feeling and why they're feeling that way. Maybe there will be something you can do to help. Maybe just talking about it will be a help."
Guided Meditation (30 min.)
The meditation time might be introduced in this way. "Yesterday we looked at some of the most common sources of problems in family life, the problems of family rules and of ways of communicating. There are lots of other kinds of problems too,.of course, but today we're going to do away with all those problems and concentrate Instead on the good things in our family.
"First, let's imagine away our problems—but remember, we're only talking now about family-problems, not problems at work or at school, not problems of world hunger, or of environmental pollution, etc. Family problems.
"Imagine that there is standing here a magician with a sparkly blue wand. The magician waves the wand and does away with all the angry words and messy corners and naughty deeds in your family, all the confusions and misunderstandings and guilts and disappointments and broken promises All of then are gone—all the unfair rules and all the broken rules, all the problems. Now, let's imagine what your family might be like.
"Now go with your family to have a wonderful day together. Imagine all the things you would do. Imagine the way people's voices would sound and what you would say to one another. Take a few minutes to enjoy this perfect day—(allow a generous stretch of silence)
"Now your day is coming to an end. It's time to say good night to your family. Imagine how you would say good night to one another and how you would feel about one another. You're very, very tired now, and very glad to be going to bed. Imagine how it would feel to lie in your bed after this special day, and to fall asleep.
"Continue to breathe deeply now, but begin to come back to this room, to this time and this place. Very slowly, open your eyes.
"Do you remember the magician with the sparkly blue wand who waved away all your troubles? Do you know who that magician is? It's you and you and you...You can make some big changes in your family's life.
"Now, find a place where you can talk to your own family. Tell each other about your imaginary day, and then talk about what would need to happen in your family to make such a day a reality."
Allow about 15 minutes for these family conversations and then gather the group together for the following activities.
Make Family Gardens (20 min.)
Post a half piece of poster board for each family, with the family name at the bottom and a stem with leaves drawn In for each member of the family. Have available cutout circles and petal shapes In a ' variety of colors, and ask the family groups to work together to make a Family Garden. They should create a flower for each person with the name written on a circle for the center of the flower, to be surrounded by petals on each of which is written some positive characteristic, or something the person does well. Enough petals should be used to make each flower full and attractive, but avoid a sense of competition with comparisons of the numbers of petals for certain flowers. Flowers may be assembled with glue on the posters.
When completed, the group might enjoy touring the gardens.
Write Sense Poems About Family (20 min.)
Sense poems are six line poems describing a given topic, with the first line suggesting a color, and the following five lines suggesting an image for each of the five senses. The following example was written by an eight year old:
My family is red like warmth. It sounds like a bunch of laughter. It feels like a lot of sweaters. It looks like four people. It tastes like sweet apples. It smells like pears.
Teach the process of writing such a poem by having the group as a whole compose a sense poem about a neutral topic (Ferry Beach, Thanksgiving, the church). Then ask that each individual take a few moments to compose a sense poem about their own family. If some folks really seem to be struggling with this, give permission for them to omit certain lines, to write only a four or five line poem instead of the complete six lines. After the individual poems are completed, then ask the family groups to compose a group poem about the family, perhaps by taking selected lines from each of the individual poems.
Closing Circle (10 min.)
Stand in a circle around a lighted candle or chalice, or an arrangement of flowers or other natural objects. The leader might say, "We have come to the end of our time together. We have shared and stretched and laughed together. We have worked hard at understanding some things about our families and we know that we have to continue working to make our family life the richest and happiest it can possibly be. Let's celebrate these families." Ask for a representative from ea ch family to read their family poems. Close by singing "Amen."
Last updated on Friday, March 2, 2007.
