Scale.

Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts,
and you are the slave to your emotions.

-- Elizabeth Gilbert


This evening I attended a fantastic twilight training course on working with young people who are diagnosed as having either Attention defecit-hyperactivity disorder or being on the Autistic Spectrum, or both. We were learning about signs, behaviours, triggers, and how best to support the young people we work with in managing these behaviours.

It was fascinating.

One of the most interesting parts was learning about how young people can use a five point scale to help them recognise what is going on. They learn to understand what each level looks like and feels like for them, and also helps them identify what they can do to manage their own behaviour and how others can help them.

And then we had to try to create our own five point scales, which is not as easy as you might think! It really made me reflect on my own feelings:

When do I feel so angry that I could be at a 4, maybe a 5?

How do I feel at a 1?

How does my body language reflect this?

Particularly thinking about how I've been feeling the last couple of days, there are definitely some lessons to be learned here!

I'm taking note ...