11 Favourite Things Activity
“We are what we love. We are the things, the people, the ideas we spend our days with. They center us, they drive us, they define us to our very core.” – Daisy Whitney, “The Rivals”
Often when people decide to come for counselling, they have hit some kind of obstacle or difficult experience that has shaken their self-concept and their ability to cope. Because of this reality, initial conversations are often problem focused. However, counsellors, facilitators and teachers also have the role of helping people to recognize their unique identity and the personal gifts that have already helped them navigate their choices and challenges. The “Favourite Things” activity is an effective way of getting to know someone in a format that focuses on their core interests and the positive influences in their life. It helps put the current or past problem situations into a wholistic frame where it is possible to see the current challenges as threads in a broader tapestry of experience.
I first encountered this exercise at a community conference focussed on Women’s Self-Esteem in Salmon Arm, B.C. A group of 80 women were given a worksheet that helped them identify the characteristics of different influences in their lives and then recognize that the things that we love, reflect truths about our own personality and strengths. Since this time, I have usually used this exercise in individual counselling sessions, but it can also be used in a group as a way for people to deepen their understanding of each others’ interests and experiences.
PURPOSE:
This activity helps participants to identify their positive qualities and also allows the counsellor or educator to know different aspects of the person who has reached out to them for support.
Learning Objectives
Participants will:
- Reflect on personal influences.
- Explore how the things we love reveal aspects of ourselves.
- Describe how these strengths show up in their everyday lives.
Activity Directions
- Prepare page: Facilitator divides a blank page into three columns with the third column being larger than the first two. In the first column write the words: Music, Movie, Book, Teacher, Animal, Place, Person.
- Ask the person: “What is a music group or musician that you really like?” Write the name of the band or musician in the second column.
- Ask: “What are three adjectives that describe this band or musician?” Write the three adjectives in the third column. (Sometimes you need to give examples of adjectives, and sometimes it is worth writing down phrases the person uses to describe the item.)
- Ask: Go down the list of items in the first column, asking for the descriptive adjectives for each category ending with: “Who is a person, alive or dead, real or fictional, who has influenced you? What are three adjectives that describe this person?”
Read adjectives: At the top of the third column write the name of the person you have been interviewing and read to them the list of adjectives