This week to attain, maintain or regain your sense of wellbeing...
...practice radical acceptance. Acceptance is "The action of consenting to receive or undertake something offered." Radical Acceptance is "seeing exactly what is [even the really bad things] and just accepting the fact of its existence."
**This week I consent to receive life on its own terms.**
By practicing Radical Acceptance, you give up on fighting reality. You accept what is and what isn't. It doesn't mean you become passive and give up on changing the things you can change.It's actually a lot easier to take action to address things when we are able to accept that they are there, even if we don't like or want them to be that way.
Useful self-talk statements you can use to practice this attitude shift include...
"I don't like it but it's just the way it is."
"I don't want it but it's what I've got right now."
"I can't change what has happened."
"This is the way things are at the moment."
"It's okay to feel this way, I'm only human."
"I'm not going to waste my time fighting with myself about this."
"I can't change what they want to do - other people make their own choices."
"That didn't go the way I hoped."
Once you are used to using radical acceptance with the everyday stuff, will add it to your Personal Coping Kete as a strategy for soothing unwanted thoughts and feelings.
*Note: Radical acceptance is a concept popularized by mindfulness and the concept of radical acceptance in the mental health community with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).*
Author Archives: Admin
No. 52: Radical Acceptance
The Coping Kete’s First Birthday
We are celebrating
It is The Coping Kete’s one year anniversary today!
We just posted the 52nd weekly strategy so you can now find a new coping strategy to try out every week of the year.
And it won’t be ending here. We have just gotten started.
Join us at the Regional Consumer Network Monthly Forum on Thursday July 21st for the official celebration and launch of our new website. Mahitahi Trust and the AKINA Peer Support Programme will also be presenting on the day. Mark it on your calendar – 21st of July 9:30 – 12:30 at Western Springs Community Garden Hall.
No. 51: Building a Body that is Prepared to Cope
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… 
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… I will build my resilience to stress and distress by making sure that I am meeting my physical needs. I will regularly go through the following mental check-list of physical needs I may need to address in the moment. There are a range of physical states that can trigger or exacerbate negative emotions and stress responses. The Mental Check-List\r
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… I will build my resilience to stress and distress by making sure that I am meeting my physical needs. I will regularly go through the following mental check-list of physical needs I may need to address in the moment. There are a range of physical states that can trigger or exacerbate negative emotions and stress responses. The Mental Check-List\r
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- Am I thirsty right now? If yes, I will go and sip a glass of water.
- Am I hungry right now? If yes, I will go and eat something.
- Am I tired right now? If yes, I will get some rest or do something physical to energise myself.
- Are my muscles tense or aching right now? If yes, I will move around or do some stretches.
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\r If I am unable to take steps to address an area of need, I will have compassion and understanding for the way that this need will be affecting my emotions, until I am able to take care of it. I will let the people around me know that I am being affected by it so they can understand why I might be a bit short-fused or on edge. Once my physical needs are addressed, I will be ready to deal with the challenges of the situation and engage in any other self-soothing or help-seeking as needed. When I am comfortable with running through the mental check-list and meeting my physical needs, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a strategy for lifting my mood in times of stress and distress.
No. 50: Holding Up An Imaginary Mirror
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… I will practice valuing myself. In a quiet moment each morning, I will sit down and hold up an imaginary hand-mirror in front of my face. I will visualise my own face looking back at me. Allowing myself to become aware of how I usually talk to myself when I look in the mirror, I will smile at the picture of myself that I have imagined before me. I will tell this imaginary reflection of myself “I love and value you.” I will carry this sentiment with me throughout my day. Each time I feel stressed, pressed or distressed, I will return to this visualisation in my mind, reminding myself that ‘I love and value myself’ so I can act accordingly. No matter what happens, it will be okay in the end, because I will love and value myself. Whenever I look in an actual mirror, I will say the words directly to myself. Or some other version of the same sentiment: I am enough. Once I am familiar with sending myself messages of self-worth, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a way of talking myself through moments when I am stressed or distressed.
I will practice valuing myself. In a quiet moment each morning, I will sit down and hold up an imaginary hand-mirror in front of my face. I will visualise my own face looking back at me. Allowing myself to become aware of how I usually talk to myself when I look in the mirror, I will smile at the picture of myself that I have imagined before me. I will tell this imaginary reflection of myself “I love and value you.” I will carry this sentiment with me throughout my day. Each time I feel stressed, pressed or distressed, I will return to this visualisation in my mind, reminding myself that ‘I love and value myself’ so I can act accordingly. No matter what happens, it will be okay in the end, because I will love and value myself. Whenever I look in an actual mirror, I will say the words directly to myself. Or some other version of the same sentiment: I am enough. Once I am familiar with sending myself messages of self-worth, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a way of talking myself through moments when I am stressed or distressed.
Lets’s get real: Leadership Development
Let’s get real
Leadership Development for the Service User Workforce
This workshop will prepare workshop participants to get the best out of Let’s get real in your work and how you can use the framework to question and influence the improvement of mental health and addiction services.
The workshop will present to you ways of utilising the Let’s get real framework and resources to support your leadership development by enhancing your role and gain the necessary knowledge and skills to improve the systems and processes that direct mental health and addiction service delivery.
By the end of the day workshop participants will have:
- increased understanding of the Let’s get real framework and seven Real Skills
- understand how to utilise Let’s get real and make use of the resources to enhance your role and work
- opportunities to inform workforce development for the service user workforce
Workshop Dates / Venue/ Time
Millennium Hotel Rotorua Friday 17th June 2011
Scenic Hotel Dunedin Friday 24th June 2011
Rendezvous Hotel Auckland Tuesday 28th June 2011
Workshops will start at 9:30am and finish at 12:30am with a light lunch to follow
To register contact Jacqueline Jones jacqueline.jones@tepou.co.nz (09) 301 3723
Facilitators
Carolyn Swanson – Service User Workforce Manager Carolyn.swanson@tepou.co.nz
David Bradley – Project lead NGO workforce development david.bradley@tepou.co.nz
We Care Campaign
www.wecare.org.nz
Please click through to the We Care! campaign website and have a say for family carers.
Click ‘Email John Key’ to send a message fo the Prime Minister asking him to take a direct interest in the needs and welfare of New Zealand’s 420,000+ family, whanau, and aiga carers.
May-June Issue of ‘Chatters’ is Out!
Follow the link below to read the May-June issue of Chatters – the latest newsletter from Crossroads Clubhouse. We love the work they do there.
No. 49: Little Beauties
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… I will train my attention to take in the pleasant elements of the world around me. In a small notebook, each night I will write a list of five beautiful things I saw that day. If I do this exercise regularly, I can train myself to automatically notice the good things around me. This would help to balance my mood out all of the time. When I am used to noticing beautiful things, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a way of distracting myself from unwanted thoughts during moments of distress. If I change what I am focusing my attention on, I can change the way I am feeling. If I am feeling sad or low, I will take my notebook and write an extra list in the current moment, just by looking around me right now. When things start to feel pressed, stressed or distressed, I will read my lists of beautiful things and remember or visualise them.
I will train my attention to take in the pleasant elements of the world around me. In a small notebook, each night I will write a list of five beautiful things I saw that day. If I do this exercise regularly, I can train myself to automatically notice the good things around me. This would help to balance my mood out all of the time. When I am used to noticing beautiful things, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a way of distracting myself from unwanted thoughts during moments of distress. If I change what I am focusing my attention on, I can change the way I am feeling. If I am feeling sad or low, I will take my notebook and write an extra list in the current moment, just by looking around me right now. When things start to feel pressed, stressed or distressed, I will read my lists of beautiful things and remember or visualise them.
No. 48: Count On Mindful Distraction
This week to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… ![""]("http://www.engagenz.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/blankcopingkete3-200x300.jpg" "\"blankcopingkete\"")
I will use mindful distraction to allow emotions to pass. I will practice turning my attention outside of myself by counting the number of colours around me, then the number of shapes around me and then the number of textures around me. As I go, I will tune into the sensations I experience as I notice different shapes, colours and textures. This is a simple exercise, it may not seem like it could do much. But this is a powerful way of letting go of current distress so that something else can flow in. Once I am used to shifting my attention to the basics of my surroundings, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a strategy for pulling myself out of intense moments when I need to reduce the intensity.
![""]("http://www.engagenz.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/blankcopingkete3.jpg" "\"blankcopingkete\""){kind=spacer}
I will use mindful distraction to allow emotions to pass. I will practice turning my attention outside of myself by counting the number of colours around me, then the number of shapes around me and then the number of textures around me. As I go, I will tune into the sensations I experience as I notice different shapes, colours and textures. This is a simple exercise, it may not seem like it could do much. But this is a powerful way of letting go of current distress so that something else can flow in. Once I am used to shifting my attention to the basics of my surroundings, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a strategy for pulling myself out of intense moments when I need to reduce the intensity.
Still under construction but we are getting there…
An ‘interesting’ day last weekend taking photographs of the sky. All will be revealed. Let’s just say our service director has confronted her fear of heights! Small heights. But small steps count right?
We have spent some time with a web consultant and our new look and feel is on its way.
