According to Brene Brown, there are three common ways that we disconnect from the pain of shame, these are called shame shields. Which Shame shields do you gravitate toward? Who are you most likely to use shame shields with? Are there certain situations that prompt you to use shame shields?
For a lot of people, it can be challenging to find balance between all the different roles they fill within their lives: a worker, a parent, a spouse, a child, a homemaker, a student, a citizen, and a leisurite. To start finding balance, it can be helpful to take inventory of how much time we’re spending in each role currently, as well as ideally how much time we would like to spend in each role. To do this, first create a pie chart that shows how your roles are currently balanced in your life. Next, create another pie chart that shows how you could ideally balance your life. Finally, you can begin to explore ways to get closer to your ideal balance
Daring Greatly: In her book, Daring Greatly, researcher and author Brené Brown beautifully defines vulnerability as “uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure… [that] is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy courage, empathy, and creativity.” In other words, vulnerability is uncomfortable but often necessary to foster emotions and experiences that help us feel fulfilled and satisfied in life. Take some time to think about ways you can practice vulnerability in big and small ways, and maybe even challenge yourself to experiment with being vulnerable.
Everyone experiences cognitive distortions at some point; they’re really common! However, these ways of thinking can misinform us about reality and influence our emotions and behaviors in ways we don’t like. Review the list of cognitive distortions, identify cognitive distortions that are common for you, and try to think of ways to adjust the thoughts so that they are more neutral and accurate.
This mindfulness practice includes the defusion technique of imagining an emotion as an object, and a self soothing technique of imagining a healing light addressing that object.
Sometimes we can help ourselves feel better faster by increasing enjoyable activities and decreasing the number of stressors that have been piling up. Using the following table, practice recording how you feel before and after doing enjoyable activities and completing responsibilities. (Credit: TherapistAid.com)
This is a tool that can be used to gain insight to children’s behaviors, feelings, support networks, and hopes for therapy. This is a great intervention to use for a Diagnostic Interview session with children ages 10 and up.
This is a tool that helps children and teenagers begin the process of understanding emotional identification and expression. By drawing and linking physical responses to emotions, it will hopefully help them have a better understanding of their feelings and give them space to choose the appropriate coping strategies or corrective responses to situations.
For the next week, do 1 thing every day from this list of 176 activities. Notice which activities you gravitate towards, and notice how incorporating these events into your daily life affects your mood, relationships, and thoughts
Kids are experiencing a variety of confusing emotions right now (as are adults!). Use the worksheet below or have clients draw out their own Feelings Heart on paper. Have the child choose a few emotions, and the therapist choose a few emotions to use in their heart. Ask the child to color in their heart using colors to represent how much of each emotion is in their heart right now. Normalize all of their emotions!
