Do you know what the corner of calm is? It is a space that each of us can organize and reserve for learning, meditation, recovery or the consolidation of emotional balance.
Last update: 04 September, 2020
The corner of calm is a space for learning and emotional growth and it is within everyone's reach. Children and adults can experience frustration or be subject to mood swings that challenge emotional balance and encourage unsuitable, uncontrolled, or over-inhibited behavior. This personal space is a valid tool for finding calm.
Emotional self-regulation is one of the skills we acquire as we mature, but it requires continuous learning. Today we wish explain how to organize and use a corner of calm, and the great benefits it offers on an emotional level.
What is the corner of calm?
It is a personal space dedicated to introspection. It is usually used in child psychology, but it is also increasingly common among adults.
Regulating emotions is the ability to direct our mental and factual behavior in our favor. For this purpose, we have resources and tools capable of acting on emotions: we are not mere executors of their commands. The difficulty of this task is visible through sudden mood swings, outbursts of anger, emotional states out of control.
In children it usually manifests itself through frequent and intense outbursts of anger, as well as a poor tolerance of frustration. These crises are part of the child's normal development; they tend to stabilize after the fourth year of age, when the prefrontal cortex has developed sufficiently.
Emotional regulation passes through the recognition of one's emotions, as well as the events that caused them, in order to be able to act in an appropriate way. The corner of calm offers a moment and a personal space that facilitates reflection on emotions.
How to build a corner of calm
There are many possibilities, the only requirement is that it contains elements capable of transmitting tranquility. Here are some suggestions:
- Choose a stable space, preferably collected, for example, a makeshift tent.
- Report it and give visible and clear instructions on its use, in case there are children in the house.
- Make it welcoming with pillows, blankets, serene landscape images, etc.
- Get things that will give you peace of mind: a bottle of calm, some mandalas to color, some stress balls for gradual relaxation, a balloon for breathing exercises, an mp3 player with music… Creativity in power!
- Materials to manage anger attacks of children, such as newspapers to tear, kits for drawing the "monster of anger", etc.
How to make the most of the corner of calm
An important aspect to take advantage of the calm angle is to present it to others, clearly indicating the rules of use.
During the inauguration of your corner of calm you will describe how beneficial it can be. Likewise, you will emphasize that it is not a place subject to obligations or restrictions. Otherwise, it could become a corner of retribution, as in the behavioral time out technique. The calm corner is particularly advantageous in the following cases:
- Management of strong emotions such as anger to recover emotional balance.
- Avoid hurting others and yourself.
- Conflict resolution.
- Need for solitude.
- Moment of privacy to express sadness or other emotions.
- Search for a space to be face to face with another person.
- Space for meditation.
- Rest or relaxation.
A refuge to regulate emotions
The corner of calm is a refuge for emotions, ideal for adults and children and easy to organize. It is based on the need to establish a positive relationship with oneself. It is not a space for punishment.
Emotional regulation is a superior skill that we acquire in the first few years of life, but that it must be constantly relearned to gain greater self-knowledge. Without this ability, we are at the mercy of our emotions that do not guide us, but overwhelm us.
The corner of calm is not a space where emotions are repressed. On the contrary, it is a tool that helps to recognize them, to understand what they are saying to us and to return to the initial state. This avoids the emotional chaos that leads us to be impulsive and prevents us from reflecting on the emotions we feel.
This space of tranquility is a physical refuge; a symbolic element useful to resume the threads of our inner dialogue. In reality, the corner of calm is within us, you just need to listen to it.
