I took part in a beautiful conversation with Fenella Blakaj, who runs a school in Switzerland for “challenging” children, many of whom have neurodivergent tendencies.
She shared the metaphor she uses to help children understand where their experience comes from. It goes something like this:
Every human has a magical fishing net. We use this fishing net to catch thoughts.
Whatever thoughts get caught in our net, we’re going to feel.
When our net is very, very tight, with tiny loops close together, we tend to catch a lot of thought fish. The net gets heavy, and we can feel those thoughts wiggling, pulling us down.
But when our fishing net is loose and open, many thought fish swim right through, especially the ones that like to cause trouble.
“You have complete freedom over how you use your net,” Fenella said. “You are completely free to have any experience you want.”
I could imagine those kids gathering around to listen in because I was just like that, leaning in to hear her story. The metaphor felt so calming and true.
Then Fenella shared a conversation she had with a group of young teens earlier that day.
She said to them, “Reality is a shape-shifter. Who decides how it shifts?”
The room erupted with creative answers and conversation.
The kids immediately saw something adults often miss:
Two people can be in the exact same room, living through the exact same moment…and have completely different experiences.
Reality shape-shifts before your eyes, depending on which thoughts are caught in your net at any given moment.
The magical fishing net is invisible to most people and they don’t even know it exists.
Then Fenella said something that sent me to a very quiet and beautiful feeling.
“Sometimes there are no loops in your fishing net. No thought gets caught.”
No loops. Just pure consciousness.
As she said it, I felt my loops disappear. At the end of a long day, it’s just the rest I needed.
You can watch and listen to Fenella’s presentation, “Kids, Do They Have a Battery Switch?” here: https://www.youtube.com/@3PGC
Yours in love and play,
Steph 🐲❤️
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