Exercise: How are you right now?

Exercise: How are you right now?

Every day of student life is different. Sometimes things go smoothly, your thoughts flow freely and you feel confident. On other days, however, you feel tired, your motivation has gone, or you’re unsure of your place. In this exercise, you’ll pause for a moment to recognise how you’re feeling and what might help you move forward right now.

The Blob Tree is a tool originally developed in the 1980s by psychologist Pip Wilson, designed to explore and visualise emotions and interpersonal relationships.

TEK has adapted the original Blob Tree into our own version suitable for work and study contexts, known as the ‘House of Emotions’. In the House of Emotions, each character experiences the situation in their own way. One climbs upwards, another pauses for a moment, a third may need support or a breather.

Exercise: How are you right now?

1. Choose a character

Look at the House of Emotions (image further down the page) and choose the character that best describes how you’re feeling right now in terms of your studies, coping or everyday life.

Don’t overthink the ‘right answer’. Your first instinct is enough.

2. What made you choose this particular character?

Take a moment to reflect:

How does the character feel?
What feels familiar about it?
What’s happening in your life right now?

3. Also notice what works

Also consider:

Where have you found strength recently?
What has been going better?

4. What do you need right now?

Which of the characters in the House of Emotions would reflect the direction you’d like to head in? What is it about this character that draws you in?

Also think about what concrete and realistic thing or action might take you one step closer to this character? Even the smallest thing that comes to mind is enough.

Finally

You can return to the image the next day or the following week and reflect on your own feelings again using the same questions.