EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Scott Cranfield: author of ‘The Wise Bear Stories’ which are a series of children’s books focusing on personal development. Scott talks about his background as a professional golfer and how this led to coaching the sport and a growing fascination with human behaviour. Scott’s collection of children’s books focuses on a range of emotional principles, based on real events, which supports readers in gaining more understanding of feelings and possible responses. Throughout this episode, Scott discusses how, in every situation, there will be positive and negative aspects. He outlines the skills involved in approaching negative events differently and the importance of looking for the positives that can be derived from such situations. Buy The Wise Bear materials: https://wise-bear.thinkific.com/?ref=90753e 20% Discount Code: TEACHER   KEY TAKEAWAYS The human brain recognises the positive and negative aspects of situations. Whilst we may strive for a one-sided life filled with positivity, we won’t ever, realistically, achieve that. However, it is understanding our minds, and knowing how to work with our minds, that enables us to return to a balanced state. Our minds are always aware of both sides - positives and negatives - and when we encounter and focus upon the negatives, we need to ask ourselves questions in order to discover the positives. Encourage children to delve into their own minds. Through stories and conversations, adults should encourage children to find their own answers when they are involved in conflicts. Although adults will naturally support children by asking questions following disagreements, ultimately, we need to encourage children to reflect upon situations and ask themselves questions to find their own way out of challenges. Use stories as a resource. ‘The Wise Bear Stories’, based on true events, centre on six areas of personal development which, in terms of emotional wellbeing, can be linked to many events familiar and relevant to children. The principles that underpin these stories, or conversation starters, are important life skills. Activities that follow the stories encourage children to apply their understanding to their own life and experiences. Switch your mindset. Other people’s personalities and behavioural traits may cause us frustration. If we can alter our mindsets and see how those traits and behaviours help us, and help us to grow, then we can change our perceptions and this, in turn, helps us respond differently. We should, then, support children to do the same and invest the time to do so to help them find the balance in challenging situations and help them see that what they think is a negative experience also, likely, has some positives too. BEST MOMENTS “[Children] now have the ability to know how to look at something and bring it back into some kind of balance.” “Every person is unique and every person has different things that are important to them and so we process the world based on that. We might look at something and get frustrated with that; somebody else could look at it and not be bothered about it at all.” “I think probably the ultimate thing for me on personal development is helping ourselves bring our mind back into a balanced state because, when we are balanced, we have mental wellness.” “When you understand human behaviour, you understand the essence of universal energy [that helps us] grow as individuals. We’re going to be given events, people in our life, challenges, different situations that are designed to help us grow.” “When we understand the truth about the human mind we actually begin to realise the human mind is always balanced but we rarely look for that. We tend to seek the things that we think make us happy, that are positive, and we try to avoid the things th