Tag Archives: Relaxation Techniques

No. 84: Naming Things

February 17, 2012 4:57 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

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

…I will practice calmly naming my thoughts and feelings to the people I interact with. Instead of trying to ‘ show’ people how I feel and what I think in indirect ways, I will practice letting people know directly and respectfully with words. This week, whenever I notice I am having an emotional response to something, whether pleasant or unpleasant, I will practice saying to the people I am with, ‘ I notice myself feeling/thinking x,y,z when you say/do x,y,z.’ Depending on the what I am expressing and who I am with, sometimes I might need to wait for or create a private moment to express myself fully. But this week I will practice naming what I can, when I can. So if it isn’ t the right moment to talk about something at the time, but I have more to say on the matter, I can practice naming that to the person I am with – “I have some more thoughts about this and would like to talk to you about it privately sometime.” By naming positive thoughts and feelings to the people I am with I share and multiple the positive experiences I am having. By naming distressing thoughts and feelings to the people I am with I can reduce the physical signs of distress and access support, comfort and alternative perspectives. This week I will practice naming both sides of my experience to others. Often, saying something out loud to another person is just the thing we need to take the sting out of a bad moment or remember a meaningful one. If I find this kind of thing difficult or anxiety producing, I will start out really small with naming only positive reactions to people I am familiar with and then slowly expand out from there. As I move through the week, I will reflect on what happens within me when I name my experiences and what happens around me when I name my experiences. I will use the insights gained from my reflection, to help me adapt the way I name things to others in different situations. Once I am comfortable naming everyday thoughts to other people, I will add this to my Personal Coping Kete as a strategy for expressing myself when feeling pressed, stressed or distressed.

Posted in: Expression & Support ⋅ Tagged: breathing, Meditation, mindfulness practice, physical activity, relaxation techniques, 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

No. 45: Voicing my inner experiences

May 19, 2011 3:38 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

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

…I will talk about my stresses. This week, the rule is that when I am experiencing any feelings of stress, I will name them, every time, even if they are only slight. This does not mean always going into detail or expecting help or even for the stress to get less as a result. It means that whatever it is that I am dealing with, I am not dealing with it alone; the people around me know what I’m up to. It also involves practicing accepting the way I feel without judging myself for it and gets me into the habit of expressing myself. And who knows, the people around me might relate. Once I am used to talking about my stress, I will add the strategy to my Personal Coping Kete as a way of shifting my mood when things are distressing.

Posted in: Expression & Support ⋅ Tagged: breathing, relaxation techniques, Stress Management

No. 40: Inviting Good Times In

April 13, 2011 12:05 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

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

I will create opportunities for enjoyment and positive emotion by inviting friends, family-members, colleagues or acquaintances to do things. This week, I will invite someone to do something or seek invitations to join in with other people almost every day. I will understand that people are not always available and don’t always enjoy the same things. When one invitation does not work out, I will make another one. In this way I will give myself some positive environments and the chance to experience positive emotion and form meaningful connections. My invitations may result in future activities instead of immediate ones, and this will give me something to look forward to. I will also strengthen my social interaction skills as I practice making and seeking invitations and following through on them. I might experience anxiety in doing this week’s experiment in engagement. This week, I will suspend my beliefs/fears about how other people might think of or respond to me. I will use self-soothing strategies to calm those fears and allow for the possibility that something better will arise from engaging in more activities with more people and opening my experience up to new things. Once I am comfortable inviting opportunities for positive interactions, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a strategy for shifting low moods and negative thoughts in times of distress.

Posted in: Engagement ⋅ Tagged: breathing, perspective, relaxation techniques

No. 32: An interesting day

February 9, 2011 10:26 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

This week, in order to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellness… Coping Kete

I will plan interesting days into my week. This week, every second day is going to be an interest day. I will make sure that I do, talk about, watch or read interesting things. I will approach each present moment with the mindful curiosity and inquisitiveness that I was born approaching the world with. I will find out things I have wondered about or connect with old hobbies. This might take some planning. It’s easy to fall out of step with what actually does interest us. My first interest day might need to involve exploring what I find interesting. I could use the internet, the Engage Online Resources Sheet or Community Resources Directory or my local library as places to find things that will absorb me. Or talk to a friend to come up with ideas. They might even want to join me. Regardless of what I do or where I find myself, I will take interest in what is around me. If I can’t do a day, I will do a moment. Once I have gotten comfortable having Interest Days I will add them to my Personal Coping Kete as an engagement strategy for times when my mood needs a lift and my thoughts need to shift.

Posted in: Engagement ⋅ Tagged: humor, positive thinking, relaxation, relaxation techniques, self-care, Stress Management, time-out

No 28: Have a Beautiful Day

January 12, 2011 7:51 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

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

I will have a beautiful day. I will plan an entire day that will be beautiful to me. I will plan a beautiful way to wake up, spend my morning, afternoon and evening and a beautiful way to go to sleep. I might start by thinking about some things I really enjoy to incorporate into the day, like my ideal breakfast or favourite music. I will fill the day with beauty for all five of my senses and my mind as well. It could be nice to share parts of it with people I enjoy too. No matter what I choose to do, I will pay attention to the beauty that is around me and seek out beautiful places to rest my attention. I will feel the air on my face. I will stop to notice flowers. I will schedule a date for my beautiful day and then I will set about organising anything I might need. When my day arrives, I will approach each thing I encounter as though it were the first time I had encountered it, with delight in the amazing details. If I can’t do a day, I will do a moment. When I am comfortable giving myself a beautiful day or a beautiful moment, I will add this to my Personal Coping Kete as a strategy for shifting stress and distress.

Posted in: Engagement ⋅ Tagged: humor, positive thinking, relaxation techniques, Stress Management

No 17. What Would Goofy Do?

October 20, 2010 12:01 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

This week, in order to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellness…

I will practice taking some time out with a notebook and doing a writing exercise to cope with stress. When I think I need a break from the moment, I will sit down with a notebook and choose a cartoon character. I will imagine that this cartoon character is in my situation instead of me. I will write for 5 minutes about how this character would view and react to the situation. It will distract me and maybe even give me a different perspective of things. I will need to keep a notebook and pen or pencil in my bag or pocket for this one. Once I am used to doing writing exercises when I am not particularly upset, I will add ‘What Would A Cartoon Character Do? Writing Exercise’ to my Personal Coping Kete as a way to shift unwanted moods.

Posted in: Engagement, Expression & Support ⋅ Tagged: acceptance, distraction, gratitude, Mindfulness, private expression, relaxation techniques, social connection, time-out

No 16 – Regular contact

October 13, 2010 4:22 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ admin

This week, in order to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellness… Coping Kete

I will reach out to another person to talk about my day and what’ s on my plate every day. I will also give the other person the chance to talk to me about their day and what is on their plate at the same time. This way things will not build up for me and I will get ongoing support and access to other perspectives. If I am upset, I might get comfort and understanding. This may take some planning, especially for those of us who are still building a social support network. On days when I do not know who to ring, visit or chat to at the water cooler, I will call Youthline, Warmline or Lifeline and utilise a pair of expert ears. It helps to make a list of people you can call. And to start off with there’ s\r

Youthline – Ph: 0800 37 66 33 | Free text: 234 | email: talk@youthline.co.nz

Warmline – Ph: 0508 WARMLINE or 0508 927 654

Lifeline – Ph: 0800 LIFE LINE or 0800 543 345

The Phobic Trust: 24-Hour Anxiety Help-Line; 0800 1 4 ANXIETY

A parent; A sibling or cousin; A friend; Another friend; A colleague

Once I am used to reaching out to someone regularly, I will add “Call Someone To Talk About It” to my Personal Coping Kete as something to do during times of stress. \r

Posted in: Engagement, Expression & Support ⋅ Tagged: breathing, distraction, Meditation, relaxation techniques

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