Uniting Kids wants to support you in your life and help
you when you are going through tough times or feel hurt
and alone. This page is full of information and ideas on
things you can do to feel happier and to have courage
and strength during challenges and changes in your life.





Your choices can lead you to positive (happy)
experiences, or negative (unhappy) experiences.
Below are some ideas that can help you to make
positive choices in your life so you can be happier
and have more fun. These Positive Choices can
also help you through hard times. If you always
try to make positive choices you will feel good
and create better experiences for yourself.



                      

              





     

       















The cause of your happiness and unhappiness comes from
inside of you, in your thoughts and feelings. How you
think and feel is what hurts you or makes you happy.



Two boys, Ben and Nathan, try out for the
football team. They each love football and
have their hearts set on making the team.
Both boys are told by the coach they are
not good enough to play on the team.

Ben leaves feeling sad and disappointed. All of his friends
made the team. He thinks about all of the fun he will miss
out on and starts to feel jealous of his friends.

Over the next few days Ben spends most of his
time thinking about missing out on the team and
he begins to get angry. He blames the coach and
he also gets mad at his friends because they still
joined the team without him.

Ben's friends get tired of Ben being angry. They don't
have fun with him anymore and they stop spending time
with Ben. Ben starts to think that nobody likes him.
He becomes sad and lonely and feels very unhappy.



Nathan feels disappointed but he knows that
being upset won't change the situation. All of
Nathan's friends made the team and he is
happy and excited for them. Nathan decides
he might try out for the baseball team and
he is picked to join the team.

Nathan finds that he is very good at baseball
and he makes some new friends. He still loves
football and plays for fun with his friends after
school. Nathan feels good and is very happy.



Both Ben and Nathan were in exactly the same situation,
but Ben became hurt and unhappy, while Nathan
made choices that made him happy.

It wasn't what happened that hurt Ben. It was
the way he THOUGHT and FELT about what
happened that hurt him. This is proven when we
see how Nathan reacted. He chose to think and
feel in a positive way that made him happy. The
thoughts and feelings each boy chose resulted in
them being either happy or unhappy.



Just like Ben and Nathan, you have a choice in how you
think and feel with everything that happens in your life.

When you have good, positive and happy
 thoughts and feelings you will feel peaceful
within yourself. When you have bad,
negative or hurtful thoughts and feelings
you become hurt and are unhappy.

Sometimes changing the way you think and feel can take
time and practice. No one else has to feel your pain except
for you, so if you want to feel better and be happier,

It's worth the effort!



There is no point blaming someone else if you
are unhappy because that won't change how
you feel. Your time is better spent in doing
something that will help you to feel happier.

On the Feelings page there are many ideas
that will help you to think and feel in a more
positive way. If you are unhappy, it's your
choice to either stay unhappy, or do
something so that you do feel happy!





Have you ever been angry, hurt,
or scared, and felt all alone?

Sometimes when you're unhappy you
need some extra help to feel happy again.
Above in "Choosing To Be Happy", you
could see how your thoughts and feelings
are what cause you to feel unhappy.

You are thinking and feeling nearly all the
time. Because your thoughts and feelings
are inside you, the only way to have a
rest from the ones that hurt you, is to
have some Relaxation time, where you
don't think about any of your worries.

Your mind is always thinking and sometimes that's hard work! When your mind gets a rest, you feel calmer and happier. You can think more clearly and be more creative.

Best of all though, you will have a break from
thinking about the things that worry you, make
you angry or sad, or cause you to be unhappy.

Relaxation time is something you can choose to
do that will help you to feel happier and more
peaceful. The best times to have relaxation time
are every morning and night, and also when you
feel upset, lonely, worried, angry, or unhappy.









How you feel in every moment is important.
If you feel good, you are happy.
If you feel bad, you are unhappy.



You can choose to change your unhappy feelings
to happy feelings. You don't need to wait for
other people to treat you differently or give you
what you want so that you can feel better. You
can look after your feelings yourself. Sometimes
other people don't know what you want or need.
If you don't feel good then you can choose to do
what you can, so that you do feel good.

There is no right or wrong way to feel. It's
ok to feel unhappy when you are hurting,
just as it is ok to feel happy when you are
having fun. The difference is, your life is
happier when you feel good.

There will always be things that happen in your life that hurt you. That's why learning some positive ways of facing your challenges and managing your feelings can be helpful.



Sometimes things happen that make you feel
unhappy. For every feeling that hurts you,
there is a positive feeling within you that
will help you to feel happier.

By identifying how you feel, you can find
ways to change your unhappy feelings
into positive and happy feelings.
The Feelings page can help you to do this.












Remember that you are loved and you are never alone.
There is always someone who can help you or guide you.
Reach out and ask for help when you need it, and if
someone else needs help, always be loving and supportive.