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!
This is a cognitive defusion exercise that allows clients to practice mindfulness and acceptance of their thoughts and feelings.
This imagery is helpful for temporarily containing difficult emotions and thoughts so one can function better in daily life.
Media is a major stressor. This script (that reads like an exercise) helps its readers and listeners to engage more consciously with media. It is a mindfulness practice different than formal meditations. However, it offers us deeper insights into the way we engage with technology.
December is a month of celebration. It is also a month full of rituals and traditions.
Rituals differ from traditions in that rituals involve a series of actions that are repeated. A tradition is similar in that beliefs or behaviors are passed down, with cultural significance tied to the past; however, they do not need to be performed in a prescribed order.
Hyperarousal, Hypoarousal, and the Window of Tolerance: Understandably many people right now are under tremendous amounts of stress. Our bodies have a natural system to handle stressful experiences, and when that system is activated we become hyperaroused (i.e., fight or flight) and/or hypoaroused (i.e., freeze). Knowing how your body reacts in each of these states can help you recognize your stress earlier, and therefore allow you to take care of yourself earlier
DEARMAN is an acronym to help us effectively advocate for ourselves and improve our interpersonal communication. Use this acronym to broach a difficult conversation with a family member, friend, or at work.
Caring for a loved one struggling with the mental and physical reliance on substances can be a very painful experience, especially for those who experience the effects first-hand. Substance use impacts the entire family system; therefore it is important to have support at all steps along the way–from the time of emerging concerns to treatment and recovery. Knowing what to do is not always easy, especially when watching a loved one engage in self-defeating behavior.
I find it ironic that National Stress Awareness Day falls on the first Wednesday in November, or the day after Election Day. While the United States is known as a stressed out nation, it was ranked number seven according to the 2018 Gallup survey which found that “more Americans were stressed, angry and worried last year than they have been at most points during the past decade.”
