101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens

thinking and feeling before I went inside is helpful. If it isn’t, then I ask myself what I could do to
make things different when I pop my head out again.” With that the old turtle caressed Tess’s back
once again with her flipper and then swam off, slowly fading into the deep blues of the ocean.
The next morning, school seemed just as boring as it had ever been. Tess had barely arrived be-
fore the other little turtles started to tease her again, and she had already opened her beak, ready to
snap, when she remembered the wise old turtle’s suggestion. She pulled her head in, retreating her
flippers at the same time, and took three deep breaths.
Hey, she thought, something is happening. She found herself becoming calmer and more relaxed.
She asked herself if it was helpful to be angry and thought, No, it really isn’t.
She then recalled the wise old turtle’s question: Ask how you might make things different when
you pop your head out again. She thought she could try smiling and being nice to the other little tur-
tles instead. When her head popped back out from her shell, she wore a nice smile of contentment.
The other little turtles saw it and started to smile also.
As she kept practicing the wise old turtle’s advice—going inside, relaxing, and asking how you
can change things for the better—Tess found herself feeling calmer and happier. She stopped annoy-
ing the other little turtles and, as a result, they stopped teasing her. She made so many friends and was
having so much fun that she actually began to look forward to going to school—and, you know, the
other little turtles changed the nickname they had for her. Instead of Tess the Terrible, she is now
called Tess the Terrific.

STORY 39

PUTTING YOURSELF IN SOMEONE ELSE’S PLACE

Therapeutic Characteristics

Problems Addressed

■ Being the youngest child

■ Feeling bossed around

■ Feeling left out

■ Envying others

Resources Developed

■ Putting yourself in another’s place

■ Looking at things from a different perspective

■ Developing compassion for another

■ Reassessing an egocentric focus

Outcomes Offered

■ Understanding another’s experience

■ Compassion for others

■ Being cooperative

116 Healing Stories, Teaching Stories