A simple exercise that brings an intergenerational group together to demonstrate how it feels to shift from negative, fearful feelings to more positive, constructive ones.
Participants sit in a circle, each holding up the left hand with thumb extended. The person to the right grasps his/her neighbor’s extended thumb. The leader begins the Pulse by gently squeezing the grasped thumb. Its owner passes the squeeze on to the next person on the right. After a couple of rounds, the leader asks what feelings can go around our community [love, joy, gratitude]. Name a feeling as the Pulse goes around; each person names it as it passes. Then name some bad feelings [fear, anger, gossip]. Ask how we can stop such negative feelings from circulating. Name a participant to be the “circuit breaker”; then ask 2 or 3 persons to the circuit breaker’s left to call out a negative feeling and pass that on. When the negative feeling reaches the ‘circuit breaker, ’they will not pass it on but will instead name and pass on a positive feeling while squeezing the next thumb. Ask the remaining participants to feel the positive value passing forward in silence as each squeezes the next thumb. Repeat with different “circuit breakers.”
