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Let us bring a smile to your face!
Choose from TWO special offers
Purchase the Is...Book Set featured in our newsletter and receive all 4 books for the price of 3 plus Free Shipping
(books are $7.95 individually)*
Enter this Discount Code upon check-out:
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OR
Take 10% off plus free shipping
on your next order
Enter this Discount Code upon check-out:
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Limit 1 coupon per customer. Offer expires 9/10/2011.
Free shipping in continental US. Excludes sale items.
Not valid at conferences. Cannot be combined with other offers.
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For almost 20 years, the Self Esteem Shop has been serving the mental health community, with an array of therapeutic resources. We carry books, play therapy toys, puppets, posters, and DVDs for the mental health practitioner and the layman and we're constantly updating our website with new and exciting resources.
Feelings, we all have them, but we all express them, cope with them and understand them in our own unique way. Some of us are very comfortable sharing our feelings with others; sharing can help us to understand our feelings and to better connect with the people and the world around us. Some of us prefer to keep our feelings private, dealing with them in our own way and in our own time. There are still others who are not in touch with their feelings at all. In whatever way we deal with our feelings, it is important to remember that they belong to us, and no one can take that away from us. Another important thing to remember is that while some feelings are pleasant and some are unpleasant there is no such thing as a good or a bad feeling, feelings just are. In this issue we focus on feelings in adults and children, the many ways they impact our lives, and the tools we can use to better understand and express them.
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Children
Feelings can be difficult for children to express. Sometimes they don't have the words for what they are feeling inside, sometimes they want so badly to please the adults around them that they hide or deny unpleasant feelings, and sometimes they are shy, embarrassed or afraid of punishment. Others may be conforming to instructions from parents or society such as "boys don't cry." Additionally, some children are not in touch with their feelings. No matter what the reasoning, learning to express one's feelings is an important step in any person's development, and a necessary skill for building healthy interpersonal relationships in the future. We highly recommend the following books and activities as resources to help children express their feelings and maybe even have some fun while they do it!
In How Are You Peeling? Foods With Moods, Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers use fruit, vegetables and their imagination to create fun and deeply emotive sculptures. 
Each brightly colored page is devoted to images of these sculptures sometimes alone and sometimes appearing to interact with each other. Readers of all ages will enjoy flipping through the pages and viewing its whimsical creatures. But this book holds so many more possibilities than simply the enjoyment of reading
it, practically begging the reader to try their hand at creating their own mood foods. All that you need are some fresh fruits and vegetables, and a few art supplies for young children, teens, and even adults to create their own mood foods. Not only is the process of working with one's hands to create something a calming experience in and of itself, but this particular project allows individuals to express and experiment with feelings through art.
Purchase The Is...Book Set featured in our newsletter and receive all 4 books for the price of 3 and Free Shipping
(books are $7.95 individually)*
Enter this Discount Code upon check-out:
ISSET811
Limit 1 coupon per customer. Offer expires 9/10/2011. Free shipping in continental US. Excludes sale items. Not valid at conferences. Cannot be combined with other offers.
Adults
Although adults may have better language for understanding and
expressing their feelings, but they often experience them, express them
and sometimes repress them in much the same way that children do. As
adults we may not have been taught how to express our feelings in a
healthy way as children, or we may simply be so overwhelmed by our
feelings that we lose control of them. We may also hide our true
feelings behind other feelings, masking sad with mad, and lashing out at
others rather than allowing ourselves to experience the painful
feelings we hold inside. The following are some books and activities to
help adults and clinicians working with adults, to access and express
feelings in healthy and constructive ways.
The Managing Your Anger Poster, is an excellent tool to help adults ask themselves and attempt to answer the question of what is behind their anger?  Anger
is a difficult emotion to process because it is often associated with
violence or violent actions that can arise from the confusion that
feelings cause. Often times the anger we feel stems from or blankets
other emotions such as guilt, worry, or embarrassment. Different
exercises can be used along with this poster to help facilitate greater
awareness of personal feelings. In one such exercise, the clinician
may ask an individual to identify which anger emotions are easiest for
them to express, which they avoid, which were expressed most often by
their family as they grew up, and which were least likely to be
expressed. The answers can then be used as a starting point for
discussing these emotions and the individuals' relationship to them.
Further discussion can include asking individuals to identify how they
know when they are angry, how they physically react, and how they
personally mask anger.
The Onionhead Dictionary of 150 Emotions: Teens and Adults Edition, contains 150 emotions with definitions of 75 "heavy emotions" and
their counterparts "light emotions."  This book makes it easy for readers
to identify the emotions they are feeling and then work towards
transforming negative "heavy" emotions into positive "light" emotions.
Sometimes working through a bad mood can be as simple as identifying
what has made us so upset in the first place and acknowledging it so
that we can move on. Clinicians can use the Onionhead Dictionary
as a therapeutic exercise with clients to help them process their
emotions. Clients can begin by picking a page at random, reading the
heavy emotion and then asking themselves if they ever feel this way, and
if so when and why? They can then read the light emotion on the same
page and think about the ways in which they might be able to achieve
that feeling instead of the heavy one. Clinicians and clients may also
choose to take a more direct approach using the dictionary to identify
and better understand emotions that the client has been experiencing.
 Up
to this point our recommendations have been focused primarily on
clinician client activities, to be done during therapy sessions.
However, sometimes adults who are struggling with difficult emotions may
wish to privately consult a book rather than seeing a clinician, or a
clinician may wish to recommend a book to a client to complement the
work they do in session. Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair, by Miriam Greenspan is an excellent book for individual use or as a
complement to therapeutic sessions. Rather than preaching the harmful
effects of "negative" emotions, Greenspan argues that within our darkest
emotions there are redemptive healing powers. Instead of condemning
dark emotions, she proposes the theory that it is through denial and
avoidance of dark emotions that we harm ourselves and develop serious
emotional psychological disorders. Readers will learn how to trust the
wisdom of their dark emotions and use them as a guide to healing and
transforming their lives. Filled with first hand stories and a
complete set of "emotional exercises," this book is ideal for helping
readers identify and take control of their emotions.
 Another book which is excellent for self reflection and healing is How You Feel Is Up To You, by Gary McKay, Ph.D and Don Dinkmeyer, Ph.D. This book uses a
cognitive-behavioral approach and is meant to help individuals manage
their anger, anxiety, depression, guilt and stress. It focuses on the
power of the individual to take control of their own feelings and
provides information, and techniques for enhancing awareness of feelings
and learning how to deal with them. The exercises and self assessment
tools in this book are meant to help people be more alert to their
feelings, understand and control the meaning they assign to events, and
teach themselves new ways to respond to events and situations.
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Although many of the items
offered above lend themselves to interactive play, the following are two
games meant to facilitate the exploration and expression of feelings.
 Our
first game suggestion is Feelings Dominoes, a fun and interactive game
that can be used with elementary and middle school-aged children. Feelings Dominoes is played just like regular dominoes with the addition
of cards which address different types of feelings. There are 4 sets
of feelings cards each corresponding to the numbers on the domino
pieces. Before a player places a domino they pick a card from the deck
which corresponds to the number on the domino they wish to use, and then
they answer the question on the back of the card. Each card asks a
question about different types of feelings which are divided into
"understanding the feelings of others," "the four W's" (who, what, why
and when), "action" and "talk about a time." This game allows
individuals to express their feelings in a fun and safe environment,
where the subject of conversation is chosen for them by the card and
they are given the freedom to respond in whatever way they feel
comfortable.
 The second game we recommend, geared towards teens and adults, is The Stamp Game
. The Stamp Game is meant to assist players to better identify, clarify and discuss feelings and in doing so improve their ability to relate to others. To play the game players sit in a circle and the stamps (cards) are stacked according to color in the center of the circle. Players then pick stamps that represent their feelings. After players have chosen their stamps they place them in order according to which feelings they believe to be the most visible (ones they are most aware of), down to those which are the least visible (kept hidden). Then players take turns sharing their feelings in relation to their stamps and other players may provide feedback if they wish. Players may continue to pick up more stamps throughout the game as they identify more feelings that they wish to discuss. It should be noted that the instructions only provide a guideline for this game and it can be played in the that best suits the situation and the individuals playing. The idea is to make the players feel safe enough to express and explore their feelings.
Social Media!
Don't forget to check out the Self Esteem Shop's Twitter Book of the
Day, where we tweet discounted and special offer books.
We would also like to thank all of our Facebook followers and remind you
that if you haven't already Liked us on Facebook to please do so.
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We Always Love Hearing From You!
If you have suggestions or inquires regarding our website, product line, or need help finding titles or resources, please feel free to contact our friendly staff.
You can email us at info@selfesteemshop.com
or call us toll-free at (800) 251-8336
Please know that while we are constantly updating our website, it still contains only a small fraction of the materials we have in our store. If you are looking for something in particular and cannot find it, please give us a call. If we do not have it in stock, we will order it right away and ship it to you. We are always happy to assist you. Thank you for supporting our independent bookstore!
From the Self Esteem Shop Team
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| Come visit us at these great conferences |
Sept 21-24, 2011
September 23, 2011
Farmington Hills, MI
2011 Annual Michael Golds Memorial AD/HD Conference
Keynoters: Steven Peer
September 29-30, 2011
Indianapolis, IN
Indiana School Social Work Association
Midwest Conference
Keynoters: Dr. Stephen R. Sroka, Liana Lowenstein, MSW, RSW, CPT-S, and Travis "Mr. MOJO" Brown
Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2011
Columbus, OH
Buckeye Art Therapy Association 2011 Symposium
Keynoters: Dr. Cathy Malchiodi
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Self Esteem Shop
32839 Woodward Ave.
Royal Oak, MI 48073
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