Session 2: Peace with myself
Introduction
This session follows the model of peace that you read about in Session 1, introducing some principles of ‘peace with myself’ which cultivate individual wellbeing and development. This is the first of the four layers of peace laid out in Peace at the Heart that you read about in the last session.
By the end of this session, you should be able to:
- understand peace building as a long-term practice of development
- articulate the relationship between wellbeing and peace building
- plan to teach strategies for peace building through wellbeing.
There are a wealth of activities related to wellbeing in schools. This session will help you understand how you might incorporate such activities into your peace building practice.
Watch this video where Izzy introduces Session 2.
Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1
Transcript: Video 1
IZZY
Welcome to Session 2, wellbeing, what does it mean? Over the next few sessions, we’re going to work our way outwards through the layers of peace, so in this session we’ll start with intrapersonal peace – peace with myself.
You will be introduced to some principles of inner peace, in other words a healthy relationship with yourself or personal wellbeing. This is at the centre of the layered model of peace that you learnt about in Session 1.
Some children will need particular help with their wellbeing, and for many there are wider family or structural issues, such as poverty, that impact upon them, but managing your own emotional state and being able to respond empathetically to others, is a foundation for building positive relationships for all of us. Developing peace with yourself therefore contributes to the other layers of peace in our model, to interpersonal peace and building a peaceful school community.
There’s been a huge development in awareness of the importance of wellbeing, and many schools are taking a trauma-informed approach, some are using practices such as mindfulness, meditation and yoga. For some, inner peace may also be rooted in their faith and spirituality.
There’s a growing emphasis on creating peaceful spaces in schools such as peace gardens and sensory areas, and on developing emotional literacy and metacognition – understanding our thought processes and the patterns behind them.
In this session you will consider some aspects of inner peace, including emotional, psychological, social and spiritual wellbeing, and you’ll discover activities to help your children learn to affirm and accept affirmation, building self-esteem. This enhances wellbeing and contributes to a peaceful culture. But it can take time for ‘pick-ups’ rather than ‘put-downs’ to become the norm. Children need to see and experience affirmation and to be given practice and to be supported when they make slip-ups.
Children who are supported to develop an emotionally healthy relationship with themselves tend to be more involved in the life of the classroom and are more likely to achieve academically. Students who really enjoy school, point to strong friendships, a sense of belonging, and the confidence that teachers believe in them. These are all connected with wellbeing, and this session will help you to think about how you can prioritise this in your classroom, and help children to feel peaceful inside.
In the next sessions we'll be looking more at peace between people, but it’s useful to hold on to these ideas about what’s going on inside.
Video _unit3.1.1 Video 1
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