“Be the witness of your mind. NO judgement or criticism.  Just curiosity”.  

My conversations with young people, during a Branching Out session,  are about them.  What excites them each day?  What kind of goals are they setting for themselves?  What makes them really happy?  How do they manage themselves when under pressure?.  We speak about their joys, their ‘super powers’, their routines – and what I do notice is that it takes time for them to realise that I WANT to know what is REAL for them.  I want them to know that I am genuinely excited about getting to know what they are about and it is their honesty of answers that makes them so wonderfully interesting.   

What I do find though is that when asking questions, I (at first) get the responses that they THINK I want to hear.  Also, I find so often that my young clients are so critical of themselves – not as good as ‘so and so’ – or ‘so and so’ is so intelligent and much better than me at …’.  And it is this comparison, this perspective of seeing oneself as ‘less than’ that I step in!  – who is saying this?, I ask – and often the answer is just ‘me, I am’.  

Whether a child, or an adult, it is a great habit to just NOTICE your thoughts – and to remind yourself quickly to become present and NOT go down the ‘rabbit warren’ of over complicated, judgemental, self admonishing talk.  It is easy to get stuck there. It becomes a habit of putting oneself down or making a joke about one’s self.   

This is a good time to NOTICE the way that YOU approach your friendships, YOUR way of managing challenges and to speak works of uplifting encouragement as you continue to strive, learn and forge your path forward, onwards and upwards. I am ‘older and wiser’.  I embrace and accept that we have our own ways of dealing with things, that we have the magnificent variety of personalities when together in groups – and I know that we are meant to differ from one another, meant to bring to the table our diversity in thinking, ways of being, joys, sadnesses, talents and gifts.  So, let’s just be curious about ourselves and those that we are with and embrace the differences.