Feeling sad, angry or mad?

Author Sandra Wilson
Jan 20
2 min read

Connecting with our less pleasant emotions doesn't always feel good, but studies show it is an important part of life's experiences and helps us learn about ourselves, situations and encourages our well-being.

Emotions like anger, sadness, anxiety are often internal warnings that a situation demands more attention. Often, when we feel good or excited we can run toward that joy without a second thought (which isn't always in our best interest). Having some fear, or anxiety before we run off allows us to stop a minute and put some extra thought into what we are going to do - even prepare us for situations we may need to deal with along the way.

All emotions provide us with information. This information can offer us self-reflection, an opportunity to grow and a challenge to do better. It is important though that the emotions are experienced in the right proportions. In order to maintain this balance it is important to understand, acknowledge and embrace them all.

Gnomes of Stone Mountain, written by Sandra Wilson and illustrated by Jayson Tench introduces gnomes who have embraced these less pleasant emotions, maybe a little too much.

Each story offers a look into the life of one of these gnomes so we can see the imbalance of emotions and how it can lead to poor behaviour.

Each story ends with a couple of lines to inspire extra thought about how we might learn from these gnomes to help us maintain a better proportion with emotions.

Buy the book

Many kids' books deal with emotional situations to help children become more aware of how they feel, and help them understand how other's might feel. Compassion and empathy can be taught through stories to help children prepare for situations they may not have yet faced.

Kai the Loneliest Palm Tree by Cindi Handley Goodeaux is another wonderful book that focuses, temporarily, on one of those less pleasant emotions. Kai watches every day as visitors come to her island, and then go. She longs for the day a visitor may stay and become a friend. Although Kai is lonely, she also experiences the joy of the visitors, the beauty of her view and understands that life is good. It is a great example of keeping those emotions balanced.