Kawa River Model - Supporting yourself and your family during the pandemic
As 2021 gets into full swing and we consider how COVID-19 and the ever-changing pandemic have caused uncertainty, it is increasingly important to consider our current situations and how we can positively enhance the quality of our lives going forward.
The word ‘Kawa’ means river in Japanese. The model was created to allow people to look at their lives and decide how they want to live them. It uses 5 interconnected ideas to look carefully at how your life, or the life of someone in your family is ‘flowing’. The metaphor to keep in mind is that life flows as a river does, it changes along its meandering path with life’s different milestones, obstacles and successes.
Below is an illustration of life flowing from source to mouth and how we can use this model to consider what is happening at different points in our life.
Boulders, driftwood and the river banks are used to show different things affecting the quality of our life. Using this model, you can guide your thinking towards the ‘flow’ of your own or your family’s lives and create or discover some positivity in a time of life uncertainty.
Below are the five ideas that connect to create your own ‘Kawa River’. This can be done by simply imagining, or making a note or list of the answers as you consider them or drawing your own cross-section of a river and adding in the various elements.
If you would like to create a Kawa River with your child, they may enjoy cutting and sticking on some boulders and driftwood to a drawing of a river.
River Flow - life flow and priorities:
The water running down the river from source to mouth is your life on its chronological course.
If your life was a river what would it look like right now? How does it flow?
What do you enjoy doing? What makes you happy?
Have there been any big changes in your life recently?
River Banks - the important things/ people/ environments you surround yourself with:
Who do you live with right now?
Where do you spend most of your time?
Who do you enjoy spending most of your time with?
Rocks - obstacles and challenges that are ‘interrupting’ your life flow:
Is there anything in your life that you would like to change?
What are the biggest difficulties in your life right now?
What is it that makes these things difficult?
Driftwood - positive strategies and things you enjoy doing that brighten your day/ life:
What are some of your personality traits?
How do you think other people would describe you?
What are you good at/ do you enjoy doing?
What beliefs/ values do you hold dear?
Here is an example of a completed river. You can see the elements come together to create a snapshot of life. The purpose of the driftwood is to help push away and reduce the impact of the rocks on the rivers flow.
Once you have created your own river, you can see where the ‘spaces’ lie. These are the final parts of the river model and are where your life is flowing powerfully. What can you do to enhance these spaces? For example:
Could you make the rocks in your life smaller? How could you do this?
Could you widen the river bank by changing your environment at home/ school or work?
Could you use driftwood (e.g. skills) to push away existing rocks? Or introduce new driftwood by learning new skills?
Even if you are only able to make small changes to one of the elements above, it can have a positive impact on your life.
Enjoy the experience of creating your Kawa River and the things you might discover about yourself.