Positive and Negative Story
Positive and Negative is a interesting and creative story-telling exercise to explore the impact of embracing different perspectives.
Form pairs, but if the group is too large, you can form small groups of up to six people.
Invite one person from each group to start by sharing the beginning of a fictional story, for example, “I was eating a sandwich…” Then, their partner will continue the story by adding an event that is negative, “… and just as I was getting started it slipped out of my hand and landed on a very dirty floor…”
In response to this negative event, their partner or next person in turn will continue by adding an event that is positive. For example, “… Pick up the sandwich to throw it away and…surprise! Underneath was $100…”
The story continues to be told by each partner sharing alternating negative and positive events. One person adds a positive event, the next person adds a negative event, and so on.
Encourage all groups to keep the story progressing forward, ie don’t get bogged down in petty details or arguments about what is or isn’t plausible. After a couple of minutes, ask all groups to come to a natural conclusion and (if possible) end on a positive note.
Finally, invite your group to reflect on the benefits of looking at a situation from many different perspectives.
Moment of Reflection
- How fun was your story?
- Was it easier to think of positive or negative events in your stories? Why do you think that is?
- Is your natural or default inclination to view events positively or negatively?
- Do you think this natural ‘way of being’ can be changed?
- What helps you to view events more positively?
The topics of this publication: interactions, active listening, self, reflection, creativity, honesty, critical thinking
