The Mind Jar....Revisited

Having a visual representation of how we feel can be so helpful. A mind jar or calm down jar, with its myriad of gently falling glitter is both beautiful to look at as well as a great tool for mindfulness practice. When shaken, the swirling glitter represents our swirling thoughts and emotions. These thoughts and emotions become so chaotic and cloudy that it can be difficult for us to think clearly. With time, the glitter settles to the bottom of the jar. In the same manner, with time, our thoughts and emotions will also settle.

How to Make It:

To make the snow or glitter globe you will need a jar (preferably plastic) with a lid which can be closed tightly, glycerin (to slow the movement of the glitter), water, glitter in three different colours (it is important that the glitter sinks to the bottom of the jar)

1. Fill the jar 3/4 with water and 1/4 with glycerin. Have your children pick three colours of glitter: one to represent thoughts, one to represent feelings, and one to represent behaviors (or “urges to do things”). Drop a few pinches of each colour glitter into the water/glycerin mix, which represents their mind, and maybe a few drops of food colouring. Run a line of glue along the inside of the lid and seal the jar.

2. Ask what kinds of things will make them upset ( this emotion is represented by the chosen glitter in the jar. Experiencing that emotion is what will make the glitter swirl). Encourage answers that reflect distressing events (fights with siblings, no watching TV) and positive ones (making a new friend, getting a piece of chocolate), events in the foreground (sick siblings) and events in the background (scary stories on the news).

3. With each event they name, swirl and turn the jar, demonstrating how it becomes difficult to keep track and see clearly what our thoughts, feelings, and urges are.

These are points which you can use when talking about how the glitter jar relates to their emotions.

• The jar is like our mind, and each colour of glitter represents something different in our mind.

• Let’s put in red for thoughts, gold for feelings, and silver for urges to do things. (Pour in a little bit of glitter with each comment.)

• Now we seal up the jar. (Put the lid on the jar and seal it.) This is similar to us starting the day.

• When we wake up our mind is calm. We can see that clearly. (Highlight how all the glitter has settled on the bottom of the jar.)

• But pretty soon, things start swirling around. Maybe we are running late (swirl the jar). Our big sister eats the last pancake for breakfast, and it leads to a fight (shake the jar). We hear scary things on the news in the car ride to school (swirl the jar). We get to school, and find out we got good marks on the test (shake the jar).

• Now it’s only a few minutes into the school day, and we can’t focus because all of our thoughts and feelings and urges are getting in the way. {adapt examples for age group - can talk about not finding their favourite toy, parents going to work, going to the babysitter}

• So what is the one thing we can do to get the glitter to settle and see clearly again?

• Be still​! And what happens when we are still? We can see clearly again. There is also no way to rush being still. We can’t push all the glitter down to the bottom. We just have to watch and wait. No amount of effort will make it settle sooner.

• When things become clear (mind is calm), we’ll know the next thing to do. In fact, that’s one definition of wisdom: seeing things as they are and choosing how to act.

• While we wait, does the glitter go away? No, it stays at the bottom. Our thoughts and feelings and urges are still in our minds, but they are no longer in our way (Willard, 2016).

For Younger children, these points may be useful:

Now watch what happens when you are still (calm, not moving) for a couple of moments. Keep watching. See how the glitter starts to settle and the water clears? Your mind works the same way. When you are calm for a little while, your thoughts start to calm down, settle and you start to see things much clearer” (Young, 2017).

Benefits:

By having a glitter jar, children and adults can have a visual representation of their emotions. Using the jar can force a pause in the action and allow for a moment of calm. Utilizing the jar also helps the mind focus on something other that the emotion being experienced just until there is enough of a pause to either talk about how they are feeling, or take a moment to mindfully take a breath.

When to Do It:

The glitter jar can be at any time. It can be brought out to help calm a situation or used to help practice deep breathing. The entire family can be involved or just one adult. Make it a family event by getting parents and other family members to sit at a table and talk about how they are feeling as the glitter swirls around in the water. As glitter settles, talk about how emotions are changing and settling. Instead of talking, families can also practice breathing together as well. As the glitter settles, the breathing session comes to an end and everyone can talk about how they feel.

References:

Willard, C. (2016, March 30). How to Create a Glitter Jar for Kids. Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/how-to-create-a-glitter-jar-for-kids/

Young, K. (2017). Mindfulness for children: Fun, effective ways to strengthen mind, body, , spirit. Retrieved from https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/mindfulness-for-children-kids-activities/