Aroha's Choice

As Aroha says, 'Thoughts are not facts, they are just words in my head.' Our brains are like supercomputers that help us make sense of the world we live in. They help us think, learn, and do all sorts of amazing things. In this story, Aroha learns that she can create pathways in her brain to lead her to different outcomes. It is all about what thoughts she chooses to focus on. The more we practise noticing our thoughts and ensuring we have plenty of good ones, the stronger these pathways will become. Pathways that we create using good thoughts will lead us to a happier and more content life. We can all have down days when we just aren't happy, and it can be difficult to think of good things. These days are important because without them, we wouldn't appreciate the good days as much. However, if we are having lots of down days and they don't go away, or lots of days filled with negative thoughts in our head, that is when we need to get to work making new pathways that will leave us feeling better. This book is all about showing how we can affect how we feel and ultimately the life we live by becoming aware of our thoughts and changing them if we need to. "Aroha's Choice supports children (and adults) to understand how our neural pathways can create automatic ways of thinking and behaving. It beautifully explains that if our thinking is holding us back, we have the power and capacity to reform it in ways that uncover our strengths and develop our self-confidence. I would love a world where children recognise when their thinking needs to shift from disempowered to empowered, and they knew how to do it. This book is an inspirational start." - Anna Mowat has a background in psychology, and as director of Real Collective, she works across many national projects that support children's wellbeing.