Cross stitch pattern of Lapis Lazuli and Peridot from Steven Universe playing video games. It’s based off of official art from animator Takafumi Hori, the guest animator for the episode Mindful Education. Check out my review below. Download the PDF here: Lapis and Peridot Pattern

Grid Size: 121W x 100H

Design Area: 8.50″ x 7.00″ (119 x 98 stitches)

Colors: 12

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Takafumi Hori is an animator from Studio Trigger, the guys behind Space Patrol Luluco (insert pattern here) and Little Witch Academia. He was brought on to do the animation for Here Comes a Thought and boy did he knock it out of the park. The sequence is just perfect, but I can’t help but get a different feeling when watching it as opposed to just listening to it. The video emphasizes finding someone to help you when you’re worrying about something. It shows the lyrics “I’m here” to be coming from someone else, but when I listen to the song alone, it has a very different connotation.

You probably know that the episode’s name is based on cognitive behavioral therapy used to combat anxiety, depression, and a whole slew of mental illnesses. Part of this therapy is mindfulness: accepting your thoughts as just thoughts, but there’s more. Grounding is the practice of taking yourself back out of your head and is a useful coping mechanism for intrusive thoughts and PTSD. You look at the world around you and distance yourself from your thoughts by focusing on the mundane. When I hear the lyrics “I’m here”, I think of grounding. I’m here in this room right now and what happened was a long time ago somewhere else.

I love how Mindful Education teaches a lesson that most shows for kids don’t address. Heck, even adult shows rarely give out this kind of advice. Teaching children about mental health is just as important as teaching them about physical health. What bothers me about this episode though is how it treats mindfulness as a cure. Don’t get me wrong, mindfulness and grounding are powerful tools, but I’m worried about those people who will watch this episode and think this will heal them. Connie’s problem is definitely withing the scope of just needing a coping mechanism. Steven’s however needs a professional or at the very least a third party confidant, someone who doesn’t know the people in his life and whose opinions are unbiased. This is why I believe Storm in the Room is such an important episode because it’s basically Steven talking to himself and letting himself process his emotions. Still, I would love to see him have a friend who can teach him more about emotional maturity who doesn’t interact much with the rest of the cast. I want it to be kind of like how Vidalia taught Greg how to be responsible.

Another thing I wish Mindful Education addressed is assessing the people in your support system and choosing the right people to open up to. I understand why this was skipped over though. Steven doesn’t have many people in his life who would take advantage of knowing his problems. I’m thinking maybe only Doctor Maheswaran might use it against him as a way of keeping her daughter out of harm’s way, but in real life telling people your problems can be tricky business. I’m guessing this won’t be the last mental health related episode though.