Well-Being for Kids
CREATE COURAGEOUSLY
CHOOSE ALIVENESS
Skill Refresh - Coaching with Kids
and (BONUS) The Little Larks Well-Being Playlist
In this skill refresh, Megan shares two different voices of limiting beliefs - the Saboteur and the Imposter.
DISCOVER PURPOSE
DEVELOP POTENTIAL
Belief Meditation Script and Recording
The Little Larks Well-Being program has 16 thematic and developmentally appropriate meditation recordings and scripts. This one focuses on the concept of belief - or what is most important to us about reality. Instead of using words like "presuppositions" we talk about how our ideas about what is true and dependable impacts how we live.
LEAD TO SERVE
I'd like to invite you to imagine that you wake up tomorrow morning in a very different reality than when you fell asleep. Imagine that from the moment you wake up someone else is telling you what to do, what to eat, what to wear, where to go, how to move. Some of these people love you, some of them don't, but all of them are choosing for you. They decide what music you listen to and when you are allowed to speak, if you can get a drink or go to the bathroom. They speak words to and about you in your presence like you don't exist. When you start to share what you are excited about or maybe something you're learning, they tell you to be quiet. And then, perhaps, you really need something so you go to ask for it and they say something like, "Just a minute"...and then they forget, so your need goes unmet. And maybe, you even express some emotion at the injustice of all of this - which of course is shushed. Or maybe someone harms you with their words or their body in an attempt to control you.
This is the every day struggle of the children in our lives. As adults in the lives of children that have the skills that we have and know what we know at Lark's Song, we must steward them as precious human resources and give you the resources to do the same.
All of our assumptions about people, apply to children too. No matter their age, they are creative, unique, worthy, capable and ready to live at choice. And when you give them the resources to choose wisely and well for themselves, they do!
However, to facilitate fulfillment and flourishing in the lives of children requires so much internal stability and such a spirit of hospitality on our parts as adults that many of us don't go there. It also has the possibility to bring up a lot of pain about what wasn't done for us, or perhaps what we have done in the past that has actually harmed instead of helped.
The resources in this week's newsletter are a starting point in shifting your approach to children - one that honors their wholeness. Research shows that increasing well-being in children, increases their grades and significantly decreases anxiety and depression. So let's work together to prioritize the well-being of all of our kids.
Questions for Reflection:
- How am I hindering fulfillment and flourishing in the lives of the children around me?
- What inspiring examples do I have of people that create opportunities for children to shine?
- Who else can I learn from?
- Where can I make a significant impact in the lives of children based on my sphere of influence?
Affirmation (from Little Larks Module 1 - Belief):
“I am safe. I am loved deeply. There are always people ready to help me.”
Blessings,
Megan
Relationships
CREATE COURAGEOUSLY
Relationship Worksheets
Use this series of worksheets with your couples, families and small teams when their agenda includes improving communication, deepening empathy, or overcoming obstacles that arise from different relationship toxins.
The Observations & Feelings, Needs & Boundaries, and Love & Forgiveness worksheets can be used in session or as homework.
CHOOSE ALIVENESS
Team Toxins
In this skill refresh, Megan shares a reminder about the Designed Alliance for groups and how to utilize Gottman's Team Toxins in your practice.
DISCOVER PURPOSE
StrengthsFinder Team Grid
Use this formulated excel sheet to separate team's and group's StrengthsFinder talent themes into the Leadership Categories of Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building and Strategic Thinking strengths.
DEVELOP POTENTIAL
IMAGE Salsa Scale & Team Star
Use the information in the Salsa Scale and Team Star to further reveal the system, as a supplement to the IMAGE assessment.
LEAD TO SERVE
If good leadership is moving people from their current place to a better place in a manner that increases the fulfillment and flourishing of both the leader and the led, then in order to lead well we must become students of self and relationships.
As we focus on relationships this month, my challenge for you is to become aware of and responsible for your impact. The concepts of sustainability and neuroplasticity (that our neural networks can and do change based on our choices and practices) infer that our choices matter and have great significance, not just in the lives of our selves but in the lives of those that we are in relationship with and connected to.
One obstacle to sustainable change is the inability to navigate the impact of our decision-making and redesign alliances with strong and compassionate boundaries. Instead, many people either dismiss the importance of the relationships (hello Saboteur!) or choose to believe they can manage another person (oh, there you are Imposter!)
As coaches, there are a few *evidence-based ways that we can begin to practice self-compassion that will immediate impact our relationships as well:
Kindness: Shifting our inner dialogue away from the inner critic, especially during times of experiencing shame and/or disappointment
Mindfulness: Being present and non-judgmental to what is (sometimes we take something that is already painful and add more pain to it with the creation of an unnecessary story)
Common Humanity: When experiencing loneliness, isolation, comparison, or jealousy, asking ourselves the question: “What connects us? How are we similar?”
*Check out more of Dr. Kristin Neff’s work on Self-Compassion!
Questions for Reflection:
Where am I feeling the tension between my personal freedom and the impact of my choices on others?
What internal and external boundaries do I need to create to honor both my values and my relationships?
How does the fulfillment and flourishing of a self connect to the fulfillment and flourishing of the whole?
Affirmation:
I am incredibly powerful. I will be kind to myself and others and mindful of the impact of my choices. As I co-create, I will remember that partnering with humility, curiosity, and courage serves the world more than my individual efforts ever could.
Blessings,
The True Self
CREATE COURAGEOUSLY
CHOOSE ALIVENESS
Skill Refresh - Sabateur & Imposter
In this skill refresh, Megan shares two different voices of limiting beliefs - the Saboteur and the Imposter.
DISCOVER PURPOSE
DEVELOP POTENTIAL
LEAD TO SERVE
Leadership is simply moving people from one place to another. Anyone can do this with enough privilege, persuasion or forcefulness.
But good leadership is moving people from their current place to a better place in a manner that increases the fulfillment and flourishing of both the leader and the led. This takes discipline of belief and practice. It requires the kinds of assumptions that we hold as LSCCs and partnering with others through strong designed alliances.
As we focus on our true selves this month and calling them forth, one thing that can and does limit our access to our capacity and potential is our own pain and our avoidance of it. Humans will do a lot to avoid pain!
When you or your clients are feeling stuck, frustrated or dissatisfied, ask "What pain needs to be addressed and transformed?"
One of my greatest learnings is that the pain that we carry is either transmitted or transformed. The avoidance of it only perpetuates it and passes it on to others.
As coaches, perhaps one of the most influential strategies for effective servant leadership and positive change is acknowledgment and transformation of our own pain.
Questions for Reflection:
What pain have you been avoiding?
How might its transformation lead to more fulfillment and flourishing?
Affirmation:
I am infinitely valuable. I will create boundaries that protect and expand my true self. The pure expression of my transformed soul serves the world.
Blessings,
Megan