Soulful Reflections
2022-2023 Deputy Head Prefect Nashara (Year 12) celebrates lessons and friendships from the past.
Each week, our student leaders share their insights with their peers in Assembly.
This week, using a childhood photo and an old, beloved headband, Nashara encouraged us to reflect on the experiences, identities, and actions that help shape us into the people we become. In a world where self-criticism is rife, she urged her peers to put their "Hands In” to their souls and learn from every part of themselves, "just like having a different coloured headband for every occasion":
Look at this photo of me. I’m about one metre tall, I have the cute Wenona summer uniform on, and there is some creative action happening with playdough. But the feature I want to draw your attention to is my headband. At some points, it genuinely felt like headbands were a part of my identity – one in every colour. Today I’d like to use headbands as an analogy for the concept of “Hands In” to our souls.
Over the Student Leadership Team’s 2022-2023 term, we’ve heard students share wisdom in Assembly about putting our “Hands In” to new opportunities, embracing the present, or being kinder to ourselves. I’m now suggesting the concept of “Hands In” to our souls to embrace how sometimes we should reflect on our past because, ultimately, our past experiences, identities and actions shaped the “us” of today in the way that a six-year-old who loves LEGO can turn into a 35-year-old engineer!
I was simple at the age of six. I loved headbands, obviously, but my point is that I was extremely shy. My young self would have hated me coming up to talk to you right now, especially about "her", which leads to the question – what actually happened to shape me into someone who loves public speaking?
Well, the answer is actually still in this photo – that little girl behind me with the yellow socks. Neve became one of my first friends at that school, and she cheered me on when I was too nervous to answer questions in class, even when I knew the answers, and giving me the confidence to make speeches for the class captain that year (guess who totally landed the roll by the way!). I’m no longer friends with Neve, after I had moved schools, but 12 years later, the impact she and her friendship had, has not been left behind.
Though not everyone here may have gone through a headband phase, I have no doubt that we’ve all made connections, and experienced moments that transformed us or opened us up a little more. Whether they were bad or good, we can’t look in a mirror and deny that they had an impact – so why not use that impact to grow?
Ok, stop speaking in riddles Nashara. What does this really mean and how might it help? Well, falling down the trap of self-criticism or plain anger at the world is far too easy. Take it from the girl who’s been the “new kid” more times than she can count, grew up in an ethnic household of three generations and is the first child, niece, and grandchild from both sides.
From my experience, putting your “Hands In” to your soul encourages you to look at its pieces and recognise what you have learnt from each experience and where you can apply those lessons. It’s like having a different coloured headband for every occasion!
So, Wenona, I implore you to put your “Hands In” to your soul to try to love and learn from every part of yourself. It’s difficult but worth it.