Session 13: The Seeds of Character

Beautiful orange sunset over a deep blue ocean. — Tapestry is Sunsetting

The UUA is no longer updating Tapestry of Faith programs.

Part of Amazing Grace, 6th Grade: Exploring Right and Wrong

In This Section

Introduction
From Amazing Grace

The mind is a field in which every kind of seed is sown. — Thich Nhat Hanh This session is the first of four that focuses on ethical development. This one uses the metaphor of a garden and growing plants to explore how it is that we can develop the positive qualities we want to see in ourselves.
Session-at-a-Glance
From Amazing Grace

ACTIVITY, MINUTES, Opening 5, Activity 1: Story – The Seeds of Character 10, Activity 2: Wholesome or Unwholesome 10
Spiritual Preparation
From Amazing Grace

In the days before you present this session, explore your own ideas about what it takes to be a good person in the world. Where did your ideas about good and bad behaviors and choices come from? What character traits help or hinder your striving to be a good person?
Opening
From Amazing Grace

Greet participants as they enter. Greet any newcomers, give them name tags if others have them, and make sure they know others in the room. Direct each participant’s attention to the Conundrum Corner, but do not say anything more about it. In answer to any questions about it…
Activity 1: Story - Seeds in the Mind-Garden
From Amazing Grace

Activity time: 10 minutes, Materials for Activity, Story: “Seeds in the Mind-Garden”, Preparation for Activity, Read the story. Optional: Copy the story, “Seeds in the Mind-Garden,” for volunteers to read aloud
Activity 2: Wholesome or Unwholesome
From Amazing Grace

Activity time: 10 minutes Description of Activity This “spectrum” activity allows a bit of movement as participants respond to ten character traits. Give instructions like these: I am going to read ten statements. If you believe the statement represents a positive or wholesome character trait…
Activity 3: Building The Mind-Garden
From Amazing Grace

Activity time: 20 minutes Materials for Activity A sheet of poster board as a background (one per group) Colored paper, especially in earth tones, tape, glue, scissors, markers, other craft supplies such as popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, crepe paper, fabric
Activity 4: Garden Statuary
From Amazing Grace

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity Newsprint from Activity 3 with traits compiled from group work Small pieces of paper or card stock, pens or markers Optional: a selection of costumes and props
Closing
From Amazing Grace

Briefly summarize the group’s exploration of seeds of character. Distribute the Taking It Home handout.
Leader Reflection and Planning
From Amazing Grace

Meet with your co-leaders after the session to reflect on how it went. How was your mix of discussion and action? Have you successfully found ways to involve all youth fully in your sessions despite any limitations they might have? What can you do next time you meet to reinforce any learning that…
Faith In Action: Nurturing the Seeds of Character
From Amazing Grace

Youth apply the metaphor of the seeds to taking action toward the positive outcomes they want to see in the world. They identify the tools that help them and others nurture good character.
Alternate Activity 1: When Our Thoughts Are Actions
From Amazing Grace

A discussion around negative and positive self-talk, rooted in the science of neuroplasticity. Ask youth what they know about how their brain works.Our brain receives information from our senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell—and from our memories of previous experiences, and interprets…
Alternate Activity 2: Ethics Play
From Amazing Grace

Participants play a game replicating real-life situations involving ethical decisions. At the end of the game, ask where they saw that Star’s good character seeds had been nurtured, and where did they see Star’s negative seeds at work? How could Star have used these situations to nurture their…
Alternate Activity 3: Impulse Freeze Tag
From Amazing Grace

This physical game actively demonstrates the relationship between temptation, impulse, action, and conscience. This is a variation of freeze tag, in which one person who is “It” chases and tries to tag others inside the boundaries of a defined space. Anyone tagged must stop and stand in a…
Taking It Home: The Seeds of Character
From Amazing Grace

Talk about the metaphor of garden of seeds inside of each of us. Does your family agree with the idea that we have both good and bad traits, and that some traits are both good and bad? Do your family members share some character traits? Do you think you share those traits because of the “soil”…
Story - Seeds in the Mind-Garden
From Amazing Grace

If you plant a seed in springtime, by autumn a plant will mature and bear flowers. From those flowers, new seeds will fall to the earth, where they will be stored until they sprout and produce new flowers. Our mind is a field in which every kind of seed is sown—seeds of compassion, joy, and hope…
Find Out More
From Amazing Grace

The website for Plum Village, a monastic community in France founded by Buddhist Monk and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, details his life story. His book, Understanding Our Mind (Parallax Press, 2006), is an examination of Buddhist psychology that shows how the quality of our…