The Power Of Gratitude - Health Class

-Power Of Gratitude-

Gratitude, a necessity in life. There are many ways that you can show gratitude. You can show gratitude and appreciation for your teachers, family, friends; even places. Being thankful for the little things can have a huge positive impact on someone or something that you love! Showing gratitude makes you happier, more understanding, and is even able to improve your self-esteem. Studies show that your sleep can be improved because you can activate the parasympathetic branch of your nervous system by using positive emotions such as gratitude.

One of my projects for my health class was to create a jar/box where I can put in pieces of paper where I write what I’m grateful for on (I do this daily). I used an old mason jar and decorated it with fabric from an unused lei. I also used fake flowers, leaves and charms and hot-glued those onto the jar.  I call it my fiafia jar because in Samoan language (one of my ethnic groups) fiafia means happiness. Here is my project…

We researched together online and learnt all about gratitude and the effects it can have on us as 

We also learnt about how we could implement it into our life through 3 simple steps. Exercise: At 7:30 each night, I will begin my gratitude time. To ensure that I will carry out this action often, I will set an alarm for 7:25 and 7:30. This will make sure that I am ready to write my gratitude notes. Emote: When I do this exercise, I will sit on the seat in my room so I have a quiet space to work in. I will turn my devices off, shut my door and I will focus on writing how I feel rather than doing the exercise just because. Extend: For everything that I write I am grateful for, I will do something to show my appreciation and gratitude towards it/them. I will think of creative ways to extend my gratitude to them.

Remember to show gratitude to someone or something important to you today!

Thank you for reading this blog post. Come back soon to see more of my learning journey.

Enjoy your day!

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Te Whare Tapa Wha - Health Class

~Hauora~

Last week in Health class we made paper houses with four walls. This house is called Te Whare Tapa Wha, and the four walls are the four dimensions of our well being - physical, social, spiritual and mental/emotional.

Physical well being is the way you care for your body. Social well being is how interactive you are with your friends, family and other relationships. Spiritual well being is about your personal identity and what you believe in. Mental/Emotional well being is about your feelings and thoughts.

There are also 23 Hauora words that come with the four dimensions:

(Taha Hinengaro) Mental: Feelings and thoughts

(Taha Wairua) Spiritual: Cultural practice, self-awareness, personal identity, purpose, values, religion, beliefs and self-esteem.

(Taha whanau) Social: Relationships, family, friends, social support, community, sense of belonging and compassion & care.

(Taha Tinana) Physical: Body growth, body care, body development, the ability to move, balanced - nutrition, exercise, sleep

Recently my wellbeing has been affected positively by participating in polyfest practices. It has affected my spiritual well being and it has given me more experience with cultural practices. It has affected my physical wellbeing by giving me more balance in my exercise daily. In the majority of them, the movements and dances require a lot of movement and effort which I sometimes struggle with because I don’t have much endurance. It has affected my social wellbeing by giving me a sense of belonging within a group from my school. It has made my bonds with people from different year levels stronger and has made my bonds with my grandparents much stronger since I go to their house every day after school now. It has affected my mental/emotional wellbeing by giving me even more positive feelings and thoughts about my culture and school. Coming into Tamaki College, I was worried that I wasn’t going to fit in and that I would be very excluded by my peers. Now that I have been doing Polyfest, I feel like I’m very included and that I do belong somewhere.

Thank you for reading this blog post.

Come back soon to see more of my learning journey.

~Have an amazing day!~

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