Tag Archives: Physical Needs

No. 143: Finding Excuses to Get Outside

September 8, 2013 10:52 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing…

…I will find excuses to spend small amounts of time outside and work them into my day to give myself little moments of mindfulness in nature. To start with, I will make a list of all the things I can do outside around my house or around my work or anywhere in between.

For example:

Weed the garden

Check the mail

Water the garden

Hang out washing

Bring in washing

Read the newspaper in the sun

Have lunch at the local park

Eat breakfast on the lawn

Drink my coffee under a tree

Walk to the dairy for milk

etc… etc…. etc…

Then, as I move through my week, I will practice giving myself time outside to do these things. I might schedule them in to my diary to help me remember to do them or I might be able to remember whenever the opportunity presents itself. When I find myself outside I will mindfully observe the environment around me and how it feels to be in it doing what I am doing. I will describe each part of my experience to myself and fully focus on participating in the experience of being outside. If I notice my thoughts distracting me from my moment outdoors, I will observe them for what they are and bring my mind back to the present moment. This will allow me to practice engaging with environments that are soothing and enjoyable as part of my everyday life. It might also help me get all the Vitamin D I need. Vitamin D comes from the sun.

Once I am used to enjoying outside as part of daily life, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a way to self-soothe or distract myself during times of stress and distress. Taking myself outside and mindfully doing something else when I am distressed might give me the space I need to feel more calm before I respond to my distressing feelings, while still allowing them to be there.

Posted in: Engagement, Mindful Distraction, Self-Soothing ⋅ Tagged: Coping, physical needs, positive thinking, relaxation, self-care, Stress Management, time-out

No. 123: Satisfy My Basic Needs

December 20, 2012 4:04 pm ⋅ admin

This week, to attain, maintain or regain your sense of wellbeing...

...practice satisfying your basic needs. This means making sure you are getting enough sleep, eating regular meals, staying hydrated, and taking care of your physical health.

Pay special attention to what your body needs and respond to those needs with care and compassion.Regularly tune into your body and notice if you are hungry, if you are thirsty, if your muscles are tight and need to move, if you are tired. If these things are hard for you, try to set a reminder on your phone and do a quick body scan each time it goes off. Keeping a water bottle close by is a helpful reminder to drink water. Keeping nutritious snacks and meals available is a good reminder to eat well.Setting a wind-down time before bed is a great way to support your sleep.  

By satisfying your basic needs, you will be able to build your resilience to stress and distress and create a foundation for better mental health.

Once you are comfortable with this practice, add Satisfy My Basic Needs to your Personal Coping Kete for times of stress and distress. Before reacting to upsetting situations, thoughts, and feelings, you'll be able to do a quick body scan and take care of your body first. Things are a lot easier to deal with when we are well-fuelled.

Posted in: Engagement ⋅ Tagged: physical needs, self-care

No. 121: Mindfulness Walks

November 29, 2012 3:47 pm ⋅ admin

This week, to attain, maintain or regain your sense of wellbeing...

...practice going on mindfulness walks. Take walks where you focus your attention on the experience of walking - the feeling of your feet touching the ground, the movement of your body, the sights and sounds around you.This could be a two minute to the letter-box and back, or a longer walk outside, it's really up to you.You'll get to move your body a bit, and strengthen your ability to be fully present rather than reacting to things on autopilot. Two birds, one stone!  

Remember, mindfulness is simply the deliberate practice of being aware of the present moment one thing at a time, on purpose, without judgement.  

Practice being fully present with each step, noticing the sensations in your body and the environment around you.Whenever you become aware of yourself getting caught up in your thoughts, simply congratulate yourself for noticing, name or describe what your mind was doing, and then deliberately return your focus back to the experience of walking. 

Mindful walking is a good way to ground yourself in the present moment and learn how to hold your thoughts lightly without getting lost in them. If you find it challenging to do seated mindful meditations and prefer to move your body, then mindful walking is a great way to practice mindfulness. 

Once you are comfortable with this practice, add Mindfulness Walks to your Personal Coping Kete for times of stress and distress.

Posted in: Self-Soothing ⋅ Tagged: mindfulness practice, physical needs

No. 116: A Moment for Self-Care

October 19, 2012 4:13 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… Coping Kete

… I will practice using small moments of self-care to create positive experiences in my day. Self-care is the act of caring for myself by meeting my basic needs for food and water, movement, fresh air, sunlight, stillness, and physical care. I will spend some time every morning and evening focused on a self-care activity from one of these categories. I will start out by making a list of activities I like for each kind of self-care first and then use my diary to plan which activities I will do each morning and night. I might even add to these categories if I want to, I could add ‘ Connection’ or ‘ Noise’ or any other kind of activity that I feel fits with my idea of what my ‘ basic needs’ are.

For example:

Food and water

Sit down and eat breakfast
Take time to prepare lunch
Make something really healthy for dinner
Eat a favourite food
Stop to drink a glass of water

Movement

Dance to music in my room
Go to a ‘No Lights No Lycra’ event
Do some yoga stretches
Take mini-breaks to stroll round the room

Fresh air

Pause and do some belly-breathing
Stand outside and breathe deep for a moment
Pop my head out an open window

Sunlight

Read a book in the sun
Do some gardening
Eat lunch outside

Stillness

Go to bed early to read a book
Light some candles and listen to chill-out music
Paint something on that blank canvas I have sitting around

Physical care

Make one of the spaces in my house nice to be in
Cleanse and moisturise my face
Wash and brush my hair
Wear something that feels good to be in

As I do each activity I will focus all my attention on the task at hand, being aware as I go that I am making a simple gesture of caring to myself. As I move through the week, I will be mindful of how I am affected by my moments of self-care so I can tell which activities work to shift my mood and whether I want to adjust them at all. Once I am comfortable purposefully doing self-care activities on a regular basis and have found some that boost my mood, I will add them to my Personal Coping Kete and use ‘ A Moment of Self-Care’ as a way of nurturing and valuing myself during times of stress and distress.

Posted in: Engagement, Mindful Distraction, Self-Soothing ⋅ Tagged: breathing exercises, coping skills, emotional regulation, mindfulness practice, physical needs, positive thinking, self-care, Stress Management, time-out

No. 101: Stretching Distraction

June 16, 2012 10:55 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… Coping Kete

…I will practice stretching to distract myself from the present moment and lift my energy. Once a day I will spend a few minutes doing some basic yoga stretches. As I do them I will practice mindfully focusing my attention on the movements I am making and the way they feel in my body. I will practice letting thoughts of the day pass through my mind as I observe them and bring my mind back to my stretches.\r

Neck Roll: Standing up, relax your shoulders, drop your head forward to rest your chin on your chest. Slowly roll your head to rest your right ear on your right shoulder, pause, return to centre then slowly roll your head to rest your left ear on your left shoulder, pause, return to centre. Repeat.

Shoulder and Arm Rotation: Stretch your arms out to the side and imagine you are pushing apart two walls. Repeat three times. Keeping the arms at shoulder level, rotate the shoulders forwards and then backwards. Repeat three times. Slowly drop arms to the side and observe the sensation produced in your body.

Swaying Tree pose: Standing with your feet at hip-width, reach your arms above your head, clasp your hands together, exhale and lean gently to the left. Inhale and come back to centre. Then exhale and lean to the right. Repeat.

Cat Pose: Kneel on all fours with hands shoulder distance apart and your knees the same distance apart. Exhale while arching your back up and looking down at your belly. Hold for a few seconds. Inhale as you arch your back down and lift your head.

\r Once I am familiar with doing stretches as part of my ordinary day, I will add them to my Personal Coping Kete as a way of distracting myself from distressing moments and times of stress and tension. When I notice I am feeling tense, I can take myself away from present company for a moment and practice my stretches.

Posted in: Mindful Distraction ⋅ Tagged: breathing exercises, emotional regulation, mindfulness practice, physical needs, relaxation, self-care, Stress Management, time-out

No. 98: Just One Pleasurable Thing

May 25, 2012 11:26 am ⋅ admin

This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing... 

...I will purposefully do one potentially pleasurable thing every day.

From the list of 113 activities below, I will choose one different potentially pleasurable thing that I can do each day and plan which day I will do them. I might not be certain about whether I'm actually going to like doing the activity - It just has to have the potential for some kind of enjoyment, interest, pleasure,or entertainment that I value. Each time I put one of the activities into practice, I will acknowledge my accomplishment, however small. I will observe how I felt before, during and after the activity to help myself become aware of what kinds of things lift my mood and shift my energy levels more than others.

It can be hard to start doing pleasurable things if we have been down or disconnected for a while. So I might plan small steps to begin with and scale back the length of time I plan on doing each activity for - e.g. it might be easier to start with attempting a 5-minute activity than an hour-long one. The goal for this week is to start by doing just trying one thing each day, regardless of how I feel. If the idea of every day is hard, I'll just do one or two days. It doesn't even need to work, the point is just to practice doing it and get used to doing it. If it's unfamiliar, it probably won't start being enjoyable until I'm used to doing it.

Once I am comfortable doing pleasurable things every day. I will add 'Just One Pleasurable Thing' to my Personal Coping Kete along with a short list of some of my favourite things. Then, in moments of stress and distress, I will try doing just one pleasurable thing to shift the way I am feeling in the moment. It's good to have a mini-list there because it can be ultra hard to think of pleasurable things to do when we are in a bad space.

113 Pleasurable Activities 

	Soaking in the bathtub
	Planning my career
	Collecting things (coins, shells, etc.)
	Recycling old items
	Going to a movie
	Jogging, walking
	Thinking I have done a full day’s work
	Lying in the sun
	Planning a career change
	Listening to others
	Reading magazines or newspapers
	Hobbies (stamp collecting, model building, etc.)
	Spending an evening with good friends
	Planning a day’s activities
	Meeting new people
	Remembering beautiful scenery
	Going to the gym, doing aerobics
	Thinking how it will be when I finish school
	Getting out of debt/paying debts
	Practising karate, judo, yoga
	Repairing things around the house
	Working on my car (bicycle)
	Remembering the words and deeds of loving people
	Having quiet evenings
	Taking care of my plants
	Going swimming
	Doodling
	Exercising
	Collecting old things
	Going to a party
	Playing golf
	Playing soccer
	Flying kites
	Having discussions with friends
	Having family get-togethers
	Going camping
	Singing around the house
	Arranging flowers
	Going to church, praying (practising religion)
	Going to the beach
	Thinking I’m an OK person
	A day with nothing to do
	Going ice skating, roller skating/blading
	Sketching, painting
	Doing embroidery, cross stitching
	Going birdwatching
	Singing with groups
	Playing musical instruments
	Doing arts and crafts
	Making a gift for someone
	Buying CDs, tapes, records
	Watching boxing, wrestling
	Planning parties
	Cooking, baking
	Going hiking, bush walking
	Writing books (poems, articles)
	Going out to dinner
	Discussing books
	Sightseeing
	Early morning coffee and newspaper
	Playing tennis
	Watching my children (play)
	Going to plays and concerts
	Catch up with an old friend
	Daydreaming
	Watching videos or DVDs
	Going bike riding
	Completing a task
	Thinking about my achievements
	Eating gooey, fattening foods
	Photography
	Star gazing
	Reading fiction
	Being alone
	Writing diary/journal entries or letters
	Cleaning
	Reading non-fiction
	Dancing
	Thinking “I did that pretty well” after doing something
	Meditating
	Having lunch with a friend
	Going to the hills
	Playing cards
	Having a political discussion
	Solving riddles/puzzles
	Seeing and/or showing photos or slides
	Knitting/crocheting/quilting
	Shooting pool/Playing billiards
	Dressing up and looking nice
	Reflecting on how I’ve improved
	Talking on the phone
	Going to museums, art galleries
	Lighting candles
	Having coffee at a cafe
	Getting/giving a massage
	Saying “I love you”
	Thinking about my good qualities
	Having a spa, or sauna
	Going skiing
	Going canoeing or white-water rafting
	Going bowling
	Doing woodworking
	Fantasising about the future
	Doing ballet, jazz/tap dancing
	Debating
	Having an aquarium
	Going horseback riding
	Going rock climbing
	Thinking about becoming active in the community
	Making jigsaw puzzles
	Playing with my pets
	Having a barbecue
	Rearranging the furniture in my house

These activities were taken from a longer list by an unknown author found in a great online article by Elisha Goldstein, which also happens to have some excellent tips on putting pleasurable activities into action when they feel like the last things we want to do.

Posted in: Engagement, Mindful Distraction ⋅ Tagged: Behavioural Activitation, physical needs, relaxation, Stress Management, Valued Actions

No. 96: Learning a Theme Song

May 11, 2012 1:19 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… Coping Kete

…I will use music to help me improve the moment and connect with positive emotion by learning to hum or whistle a song I associate with happy vibes and good energy. If no song jumps to mind automatically I will get to spend some time listening to different songs until I find one I like. Then as I move through my day, I will periodically remember to practice humming or whistling the tune while I am doing my daily tasks. This could help to insert some pleasant energy into whatever I am doing. Once I am comfortable and familiar with humming or whistling my tune, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a distraction and self-soothing technique for times of stress and distress. Then, when I find myself stressed or distressed, I can distract myself for a moment by trying to remember the tune and whistling/humming it. The act of humming and whistling changes the level of oxygen in the blood and can physically help to soothe negative emotions I could be feeling, so I can return to the situation later with a clearer head. Whenever I hum or whistle my tune, I will be reminded of the positive message of the song I chose and this might also help inspire me through tough moments. This is also a pretty good strategy to use if I ever feel so anxious that it gets hard to breathe. Humming or whistling a song could help to counteract that without having to focus my attention onto my breathing.

Posted in: Mindful Distraction, Self-Soothing ⋅ Tagged: acceptance, breathing exercises, Music Strategies, physical needs, relaxation, time-out

No. 64: Me Time

September 29, 2011 11:36 am ⋅ admin

This week to attain, maintain, or regain my sense of wellbeing...

I will give myself two moments of 'me time' every day - once in the morning (perhaps the first 15 minutes I am awake) and once in the evening (maybe the last 15 minutes before going to bed). During these times I will find a way of taking some time to myself to do something centering or that connects me with myself. This might involve using the time to just quietly sip a cuppa and read a magazine or write in my journal or take a slow shower or go for a peaceful walk or doodle on a notepad or whatever it is that I find gives me a break from the demands of the day and allows me to simply 'be' for a moment.

As needed, I will use this as valuable time for sorting through my thoughts or goals or whatever else might be cluttering up my mind at the moment. Giving myself regular moments to myself will allow me mental space in each day to process what I need to process. I might even use this dedicated to time to try other coping strategies I have been wanting to learn. The point is that I take 15 minutes, two times a day to do whatever I want, just for me: I am worth it.

If I'm out of practice of giving myself 'me time' it can take a while to get into the habit. I'll be sure to be understanding of myself if I find it hard to put this strategy into action. It is often helpful to plan in advance what I will do each day, rather than expecting myself to spontaneously think of something when the time comes.

Modern life can become very busy, this week I will set myself up to cope with stress by giving myself these two regular breathers that are just for me. This is about practicing the art of valuing myself.

Once I've figured out the art of spending time valuing myself, I will add 'Me Time' to my Personal Coping Kete. In times of stress and distress, I will try a bit of me time to shift my mood.

Posted in: Engagement ⋅ Tagged: physical needs, self-care, Stress Management

No. 60: The Good Mood Diet

September 1, 2011 12:21 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing…

Coping Kete I am going to practice The Good Mood Diet. It’ s not a food diet, though food will be part of it. The good mood diet is about creating opportunities for positive moods. This will strengthen my resilience to stress and distress, because it will become easier to counter dark thoughts when I have been experiencing some positive things.

The Good Mood Diet is about finding small activities that can be fitted into everyday life on a regular basis. It’ s not about trying to only experience good moods, but about making sure that good moods are part of my experience.

I will start by making my own Good Mood Diet plan, which involves first making a series of lists:

- FUN: A list of things I have enjoyed doing alone or with others

- TIME-OUT: A list of things that I have found relaxing or peaceful or freeing – we all need time to do just as we please, to chill.

- NOURISHMENT: A list of things that I found nurturing for my body

- ACHIEVEMENT: A list of small everyday things that have given me a sense of accomplishment or strength utilisation.

Once I have built my four lists, I will take out my diary or day-planner and I will plan in one item from each list for every day of my week. That means that every day, among my usual activities, I will do one thing I find fun, one thing that gives me time out from expectations, one thing that strengthens my body and one thing that shows me my capabilities and skills.

No matter what is happening in my life, I value myself enough to gift myself the opportunity to experience the good bits.

To help myself along I will make sure that the items on my lists are specific and small enough to be achievable. I will keep my schedule in mind and ensure that the ideas I generate will fit with that. For example, planning full-day activities when I don’ t have full-days available will set myself up to be unsuccessful. It would be more useful to find little elements of the larger activity that I could implement given my particular context and situation.

If I find it difficult to think of items to try out, I will use the comments feature below to seek help or talk to some friends about what things they might try. Sometimes bad days and distressing moments come about because we become disconnected from these activities. But when we are stressed and distressed, it is extra hard to do these things. As much as possible, I will try to practice them in advance when I am feeling okay or during higher energy times of the day.

Once I have gotten comfortable putting a good mood diet in place, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as something to return to in times of stress and distress.

Posted in: Engagement ⋅ Tagged: acceptance, emotional regulation, mindfulness practice, physical needs, positive thinking, relaxation techniques, self-care

1 2 Next »

Tag Archives: Physical Needs

No. 143: Finding Excuses to Get Outside

No. 123: Satisfy My Basic Needs

No. 121: Mindfulness Walks

No. 116: A Moment for Self-Care

No. 101: Stretching Distraction

No. 98: Just One Pleasurable Thing

No. 96: Learning a Theme Song

No. 64: Me Time

No. 60: The Good Mood Diet

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