I took the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program several years ago. It sure was a lot of work! I often fell asleep in the beginning of the course, but in time I found myself falling awake. Falling awake to awareness of my thoughts, emotions, and sensations.
One of the metaphors our teacher introduced us to was the metaphor of 3 strings. The 3 strings are each a different colour and each colour of string represents thoughts, emotions, and sensations. Often these strings are all knotted and jumbled up making it hard for us to distinguish one from the other. Sometimes we don’t even know how to describe what’s going on for us because we are entangled by life and it all just feels “bad.” Mindfulness is untangling the strings and being able to see each part for what it is: thoughts, emotions, and sensations.
Mindfulness is not about fixing anything but about seeing things as they actually are and then being in wise relationship to them, even if is difficult or painful.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
3 strings of awareness activity
For this activity, I introduce a knotted and jumbled up ball of 3 coloured strings to the young person. At this time, we can have a discussion about times in their lives when they felt entangled. I ask the young person to unknot the strings. There may be a struggle to untangle the knotted ball, but with some time and effort each string becomes freed.
Being able to see each string on it’s own makes it easier to explain that the strings each represent: thoughts, emotions, and sensations. The strings are still present and connected to each other. We can’t get rid of intrusive thoughts, bad feelings, or uncomfortable sensations. But the more aware we are about what is happening internally, the more choice we have about how we can respond. Has there been a time where you were able to untangle the strings in your life and become more aware?
