Jan. 26th Class

Today in class we went over the list of stress-management techniques posted earlier and talked about some specific exercises we can use to help us get better at using them. We used a mindfulness script to practice simple calming breathing (http://www3.georgetown.edu/hr/fsap/Mindfulness%20Meditation.pdf) and accepting emotion without having to act on it. There was even time for a brief lesson in neurobiology. We talked about the difference between shortcuts and meeting needs.

Shortcuts are behaviors that numb us or excite us, but don’t actually meet our needs and can be harmful. These are things like taking drugs, watching TV, eating junk food, etc. Emotional shortcuts are things like anger, blaming, justifying, avoiding, etc. which might make us feel a little better but won’t solve a problem. When we use shortcuts, we set ourselves up for increasingly negative feelings.

Self-soothing is using a behavior to calm down or gain control of our emotions so that we can tackle a problem. This is usually something that temporarily makes us feel better, but won’t leave use worse-off like shortcuts do. Examples the group came up with are taking a break, cleaning, reading a book, breathing, making a list, watching a sunset, getting a back scratch, etc. When we get really good at self-soothing, we have more energy to handle life’s problems.

Meeting Needs helps us to stay happy and experience peace. Basically, we all need connection to others, a sense of self, mastery over ourselves and our environment, and safety. When these needs are met, we feel good. When they are not met, we usually feel badly.

In addition, we talked about having a worry box – a place to put things that can’t be solved right now so that we don’t have to keep thinking about them. We also talked about sense-oriented things that we could use as triggers for peace and calm. I brought an example of a de-stress kit (soft blanket, music, smelly candle, stress ball, puzzle, inspiring quote book, stuffed animal, journal) and we all talked about specific items that might help us calm down. The key to a de-stress item is to practice pairing it with calm feelings every day. That way, when something stressful does come up, you already have your brain trained to calm down when you have that item. 

Take Home:

Choose one of the techniques we discussed and try it out this week. Post a comment about how it went, or tell us how you manage stress.