Positive-Negative

1. Form pairs or small groups of up to six people.
2. Ask one person to start by sharing the beginning of a fictional story, eg “I was walking through the forest…”
3. In response, their partner will continue the story by adding an event that is negative, “… when I stubbed my big toe on a tree root…”
4. Their partner (or next person in turn) will continue by adding an event that is positive, eg “… having kicked the tree root out of the way, I uncovered a hidden gold nugget…”
5. The story continues to be told by each partner sharing alternating negative and positive events.
6. Continue telling the story for 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Encourage all stories to arrive at a natural conclusion (if possible) and on a positive note.

This was a fun little exercise I first enjoyed when I learned about fixed and growth mindsets. You may choose to present it to intentionally explore the impact of embracing different perspectives or simply to have fun.

Start by inviting your group to form smaller groups of 2 to 6 people. The number of people in each group does not need to be the same, but everyone needs (at least) one partner.

For convenience, I might also nominate one random person in each group to be the starter, eg the person whose birthday is closest to this day.

By way of demonstration, I often announce the start of a fictional story such as “I was walking through the forest one day…”

I then invite each of the starting people of each group to add a new sentence to the story that would be considered negative. For example, I might suggest something like “…a few minutes into my walk, I stubbed my toe on a tree root…”

From this point, I typically continue with my demonstration because I have my group’s attention. I announce that in response to this negative event, the next person adds a new sentence that is focused on a positive event. For example, “… having dislodged the tree root, I discovered a hidden gold nugget…”

In case it’s not already obvious, make it clear to your group that you would like the story to progress with alternate positive and negative events. One person adds a positive event, the next person adds a negative event, and so on.

Every partnership or small group are focused on building its own story, all at the same time. That is, the sharing is kept to themselves.

Encourage all groups to keep the story progressing forward, ie don’t get bogged down in petty details or arguments about what is or isn’t plausible. After a couple of minutes, ask all groups to come to a natural conclusion and (if possible) end on a positive note.

Start when ready, and then change groups and/or try a variation (see Variations tab.)

Even better, find the time to invite your group to reflect on the benefits of viewing a situation from many different perspectives. Check out the Reflection Tips tab for conversation starting points.

You really can’t get this wrong. It’s all made up. Just keep the action moving and keep it fun.

Do note that any particular event could be considered positive by one person and negative by another. If appropriate, and for the purposes of learning, feel free to stop the action to invite your group to reflect on how this can be so. Look for other examples in life where the same event could elicit both positive and negative outcomes.

You could integrate Positive-Negative as part of a well-designed SEL program to develop your group’s ability to understand their emotions, thoughts and values and how these influence behaviour in different situations.

Specifically, this activity offers opportunities to explore and practice the following social & interpersonal skills:

Self-Awareness

• Linking Feelings, Values & Thoughts
• Recognising Strengths, Prejudices & Biases
• Having A Growth Mindset

Self-Management

• Controlling One’s Emotions
• Demonstrating Self-Discipline & Self-Motivation
• Setting Personal & Group Goals

Social Awareness

• Taking Other’s Perspectives
• Demonstrating Empathy & Compassion
• Understanding & Expressing Gratitude

Relationship Skills

• Communicate & Listen Effectively
• Work Collaboratively

Responsible Decision-Making

• Demonstrating Curiosity & Open-Mindedness
• Identifying Problems
• Making Reasoned Judgements
• Identifying Solutions
• Anticipating & Evaluating the Consequences of One’s Actions
• Promoting Personal & Collective Well-Being

You can learn more about SEL and how it can support character education here.

Resilience & Adaptability

This story-telling game is ideally suited to any program that is aiming to develop the resilience and adaptability skills of a group. The ability to turn a negative into a positive is a critical emotional competency for all of us, especially young people who are still developing their emotional intelligence. Perhaps start with a fun context in which the story is fanciful and when ready (and appropriate) facilitate a discussion about the usefulness of viewing certain negative events from a different perspective. Draw on the knowledge and experience of your group to help guide the conversation, ie real-life experiences tend to be more powerful than simulated examples.

Gratitude

As shared in earlier tabs, this exercise is a wonderful tool to focus on and explore gratitude. Consider one or more significantly negative events or situations and invite your group to ‘flip’ them by thinking of positive outcomes. For example, if you were to suffer a horrible injury that required you to stay off your feet for several months, one of the many benefits of this circumstance could be the opportunity to read a lot of books that are just begging to be read.

• One Lens Only: Invite stories that are always oriented towards the positive or the negative.
• Yes And: Based on a fun improvisation game, invite each small group to start a story with a proposition that always generates a response with “Yes, and…” For example, “Would you like to come to the movies with me?” >  “Yes, and let’s grab some popcorn on the way in.” > “Yes, and let’s get there early to avoid the queues,…” etc.
• Full of Gratitude: Look for fictional or true events in the world (or your own lives) you would consider to be particularly negative, and challenge your group to look for the positives. This variation particularly develops an awareness and celebration of gratitude.
• Take a look at If Then as a useful precursor to prepare your group for this exercise.
• Take a look at Gratitude Jar and Affirming Thoughts to continue to explore the topics of gratitude and mindset.
• Open the Virtual Adaptation tab to learn how to present this activity online.

• Once you have briefed the exercise and possibly presented an example story, break your audience in to smaller breakout rooms for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Before you send them off to their respective rooms, be sure to nominate one (random) person in each group to start the story (to avoid wasting time with arguments.)

I think learning to view events from multiple perspectives is a wonderful skill to develop. It’s not always easy, especially when you’re feeling particularly depressed or down, but with practice, your ability to see the brighter side of life gets easier…

Do you know the song Always Look On The Bright Side of Life? It was made famous by Monty Python in their hilarious film The Life of Brian. The proposition was that no matter how bad things are, you can always find something positive to celebrate. Our next exercise will help you develop this ability…

Gratitude is considered one of life’s greatest treasures. Even when you’re feeling really, really low, it is always possible to think of a situation or another person who is doing it tougher than you. Let’s enjoy this next story-telling exercise as an opportunity to practice this highly-refined skill…

Coupled with one or more reflection strategies, here are some sample questions you could use to process your group’s experience after playing this fun story-telling game:

• How fun was your story?
• Was it believable? Why or why not?
• Was it easier to think of positive or negative events in your stories? Why do you think that is?
• Is your natural or default inclination to view events positively or negatively?
• Do you think this natural ‘way of being’ can be changed?
• What helps you to view events more positively?