And she was patient. On another day, when she felt like her whole class was ignoring her jokes and antics, she went to the beanbag chair in the corner of the room to be alone for a minute. “I was like, Willow! It’s just kids. I don’t know why you’re getting mad right now. It’s okay.” She was able to self-soothe, not explicitly because her teachers and therapists taught her to. She had picked this up intuitively. The brain’s fear reflex is very real. But it has an opposite force, too, as ancient and as powerful. Our bodies and brains melt into kindness in the presence of one key ingredient.
