Playground Bully

Our minds are like school playgrounds that are surrounded by secure high

fences – they keep children in, and others out. Any bullies in that playground mean that

the other children canʼt escape for long. This particular bully uses verbal abuse,

shouting, teasing, and threats (rather than physical violence). The children are all

fenced in together, and ideally, they have just got to learn to accept and learn to be with

each other. So neither can we escape our thoughts, we cannot stop them, but perhaps

we can learn to live with them by seeing them differently. Along comes bully, and takes

on 3 potential ʻvictimsʼ who all react differently.

Victim 1 – believes the bully, distressed, reacts automatically (bully carries on)

Victim 2 – challenges the bully “hey Iʼm not stupid, I got 8 out of 10 in my spelling test

this morning, you only got 4” (bully eventually gives up)

Victim 3 – looks at the bully (acknowledges the thought), then walks away and goes off

to play football with his mates (dismisses the thought), then changes their focus of

attention.