Flowers open to light and warmth.
Climbing plants aren't strong enough to support themselves and must reach out to find places to hold on to.
Can plants also feel?
They certainly seem to try to move away from pain.
Plants and animals each have their own ways of feeling to help them live in their particular environments.
Feeling is a part of life. Our whole body feels.
Think of swimming when every part of you is touched by the water, or walking on the beach
and letting your toes grip the sand. Just think of all the things that we can let our
toes tell us.
Our skin is a marvellous feeler. Just under the surface are the ends of millions of nerves.
These nerve cells, or neurons, join together and connect to the spinal cord. Particular
nerves are sensitive to particular touches. Some detect pressure, others only cold. Different
ones pick up heat and feel ouch, pain.
A light touch of the skin and a message travels along one set of nerves to the spinal cord
and up to the brain. If we're hurt, the message is picked up by the pain-sensitive nerves.
Others respond to heat. If something is pushed against the skin harder and harder, both the
touch and the pain nerves respond. The message travels to the brain. The brain decides what
to do and then sends instructions back to your muscles. Suppose the message from your
toe was that you were standing on something sticky and you thought, ooh, I don't like
this very much. Then your brain would send instructions to your muscles to pull your
foot away. One thing that our skin does not detect, and that is ultraviolet rays. These
are the rays from the sun which tan our skin. It is not until we're hot and sore that the
skin lets our brain know that we've been out too long. So what we feel can help us learn.
The brain collects all the information sent by our bodies from the outside world. We can
tell whether we're too hot, too cold, whether we're standing the right way up, how something
tastes or where our feet are. All sorts of facts like these are kept by the brain, there
to be remembered when we need them. Do you remember the first time that you ever tasted
a cake and found out how delicious they can be? Now when you see one that looks as good,
you automatically expect it to be delicious.
Hello.
Happy birthday to you.
Hooray!
We don't eat just because we feel hungry. We also choose foods because we like the taste
of them.
And besides, eating can be fun, especially with our friends. Everyone at the party was
happy. Happy because it was Matthew's birthday, because they were among friends and because
they were having a good time. But we don't always feel happy. We've all been upset about
something at some time, or felt sad, or frightened.
Have you ever wondered what is going on inside your body when you felt frightened, like Miss
Muffet? When we're threatened, this particular part of our brain, the hypothalamus, goes
into action. We feel threatened if we think something painful is going to happen to us,
and that includes emotional pain as well as physical pain. And we take steps to protect
ourselves. If somebody insults us, if somebody tells us there's something about us that they
don't like, then we're threatened and we react in exactly the same way as we would as if
we were frightened by some sort of monster. We breathe faster, the blood circulates more
quickly through our body, and our leg muscles tighten, ready to run or to fight. A lot of
our nursery rhymes describe threats, like Miss Muffet being frightened by the spider.
And we all have to deal with threats of one sort or another. And you probably know this
one. She didn't run away, she stood and fought them. We come across problems every day that
we have to learn to deal with ourselves. And I guess you could say that that's what growing
up is all about. A very young child can let you know when he feels hungry, but he can't
get himself the food or keep himself warm. He needs his mother. And did you know that
a mother not only loves her baby, she needs him too. There are some feelings that are
instinctive. They're so important that they're built right into us, and we act without thinking.
Animals mostly act by instinct. Take these baby birds for example. Why do you think they
open their mouths? The baby birds didn't open their mouths because they saw the worm or
their mother, but because they felt the nest vibrate when she landed. Newly hatched baby
birds would open their mouths if I placed my hand on the nest. It's something that they
do instinctively. In a similar way, we learn to show how we're happy. When a baby's old
enough he begins to smile. He doesn't know what it means. He'll smile at anyone who stands
directly in front of him. But when a baby looks as though he's smiling, naturally anyone
watching will smile back. And very soon he learns that smiling is a happy thing. All
parents want to give their children as much love and affection as they can, and they need
it. Experiments were done with baby monkeys. Those who had no mother to cling to or be
comforted by just sat cringing in a corner, not exploring new objects or playing with
other monkeys. Without emotional security, without the warmth and kindness of others,
they can't develop. Usually two year olds play alone. By three they'll play with another.
Four year olds will play in small groups and share their toys. Fives are becoming independent.
They need freedom. But the freedom still needs restriction. The child needs to feel
safe and we always will, even when we are a lot older. But it's hard to feel calm when
you're unsure about something or to feel happy if you're lost. Have you ever wondered about
all our different moods and why they happen? Part of the reason is that we were born that
way. Everybody has a different temperament. Some people are quiet, others are noisier.
We care about different things. We enjoy different things. We each have our own character, learn
their own way of coping with the way we feel. It's very upsetting to have looked forward
to something that has to be cancelled at the last minute. If we learn to cope with our
emotions we can use them in a positive way. We can enjoy life more. Just as our feelings
can affect our bodies. So our bodies can be used to affect our feelings. Next time you
feel upset just try this simple relaxation exercise. In fact, do it with me right now.
Just make yourselves comfortable in the chair where you're sitting there. I hope you'll
do this at other times. Perhaps on the floor at home, in your bed at night, wherever you
feel comfortable. But right now just make yourself comfortable right there and we're
going to relax our whole bodies by thinking about it and making it relax. Let's start
by thinking about our feet. Think about them and relax them. Then think about your legs
and relax those. Let them go quite limp. Then your stomach and relax that. Relax your arms
and your shoulders. Close your eyes and just listen. Relax your neck and let your head
fall down on your chest. And your whole face. And just stay like that feeling wonderfully
calm. Let's try a deep breath blowing up our stomachs like a balloon, letting the breath
raise the chest. And blow that breath out slowly. Well just stay like that for a while. Just
feeling wonderfully calm. You know, when you're feeling edgy and irritable for no apparent
reason, if you take a few moments just to sit and relax like we're doing now, you'll
feel a lot better. Let's try one last deep breath. Right, open your eyes and sit up.
Doesn't that make you feel great? You know, it's not just anger that can get cooped up
inside us. Sometimes we squash our creative feelings. That's the urge to make or maybe
write or even sing beautiful things. Have you ever thought about the way different people
in different countries learn when, how and how much to show their emotions? Traditionally
Eskimos rub noses to show their affection. The Japanese on the other hand show their
respect for one another in a quite more formal way. In our society we learn the different
ways we should express ourselves. Think of the ways that girls are expected to express
themselves differently from boys. What do you think Master Muffet would do? Perhaps
he wasn't scared but he certainly looked like it to me. Sometimes it's easy to tell
how a person feels by the way they stand or by the look on their face. Our faces and our
bodies tell people a lot about us. It's called body language.
What is your face saying today? I hope you're feeling happy. Bye.
Thank you.