B a r b a r a s h e r I l L u s t r a t I o n s b y r a L p h

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Do this activity in a group so that everyone can brainstorm ideas to help
each other get their priorities met.
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Young people can feel distracted, anxious, and unable to focus when they
aren’t addressing some basic needs, especially if they don’t realize that this
is what has happened.
In this exercise, we encourage teens to focus on what they need and
then open themselves to possible ways to attend to those needs.
This is a lesson that will be useful all their lives.
My Special Things
Teenagers often have some special objects in their room—a stuffed animal
that means a lot, a piece of jewelry someone gave them, a rock they found
on a meaningful outing. Here is an opportunity to make those objects
immortal.
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Attention Games
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Open and focused
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Paper and pen or computer and word processor
Camera (optional)
Scrapbook
D
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Suggest to your budding writer that she
take photographs of the objects in her life
that have meaning to her and paste them in a
scrapbook. Under each picture, she should write a story
about how that object came into her life and what it means to her.
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Instead of taking a picture, she could draw the object.
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