A Quick Social and Emotional Learning Activity to try in Class

“Close your eyes for a moment,” the teacher instructs her class. “Now imagine yourself ten years from now. Dream that all your wishes have come true. Imagine your best possible life in this future. Who have you become? Are you working? Who is with you? Where do you live? Keep going, try to use as many senses as you can. What can you touch? What do you smell?”

The teacher walks about and smiles form around the room, dreams begin to crystallize. She too smiles – she knows visualizing one’s best future self is a sure-fire recipe for an instant lift of mood. How does she know? This exercise has been researched!

Several researchers have studied a version of this exercise where participants take twenty minutes for three to four consecutive days to write descriptions of their best possible selves in the future. The subjects wrote in story form, imagining wonderful outcomes and articulating their most cherished inner wishes.

The results of this simple exercise are nothing short of astonishing. Writing these narratives can increase clarity of goals, feelings of control, and even improve performance at tasks. What’s more is participants experience an immediate boost in mood and a lingering sense of well-being for up to several weeks after!

For a parent looking to interest an unmotivated adolescent, a teacher looking for an innovative writing assignment, or a mentor trying to inspire a young friend, asking someone to take twenty minutes to write a narrative about his or her most idealized future self can bring enormous benefits.

In the GoStrengths! program, Neutrino empowers students with the GoForth! tool where they are able to travel to their future lives. Children love this superpowered tool as it acts both to enhance the enjoyment of the exercise and serves as a great mnemonic to practice the exercise outside of the classroom.