Coping Skills
CALM PLACE
This will help to stay calm, to distress and to quiet the mind. A good practice is to write out your answers to the following questions and to then record it on your phone. Then when you are lying in bed at night trying to sleep and you can’t turn your mind off, use the calm place. Your mind will wander to other things but that is okay, just notice where it goes and bring it back.
The more you practice this the more time you will stay focused on your calm place. As you continue to use it, you
will find that just saying your cue word will relax you.
Image
Picture some place that you have been or imagine being that feels very cam, or a place where you feel good or at peace.
Where would you be?
You should be alone, so if you think of going to the beach with your family, imagine sitting on the beach alone.
Emotions and Sensations
As you think of that calm place, notice what you see, hear, and feel right now.
What do you hear?
What do you see?
What does it feel like?
What do you smell?
Enhancement
Focus on your calm place, its sights, sounds, smells, and body sensations. Think about what you are noticing.
Notice your body, how is it feeling?
Add Tapping
Bring up the image of that place. Concentrate on where you feel the pleasant sensations in your body and allow yourself to enjoy them. While concentrating on those sensations tap slowly alternating, back and forth on your knees a short while.
Tapping should be slow and bilateral.
Do this exercise a few times (3-4).
THE CONTAINER
Constructing a container may be helpful to hold whatever memories, issues or concerns until the next session. The idea is to keep you from dwelling on what is happening and to contain it.
Image
Imagine a container. It can be anything you want; it only has to have a filing system or some way to only access one thing at a time.
Can you image your container --can you see it?
Now put anything that is bothering you into the container.
Once you get it in there, lock the container:
“Nothing is coming out of it unless you are in my office and for a time of healing” (say that phrase quietly and slowly almost hypnotically)
Once it is locked, put the container away. Put it somewhere that it is not in way or sight and remember:
“Nothing is coming out of it unless you are in my office and for a time of healing”
Once it is put away, you can have it guarded; do whatever you need to make sure that:
“Nothing is coming out of it unless you are in my office and for a time of healing”
Can you see the container locked, put away and guarded? Focus on that and tap for a few times to enhance the picture.
Anytime during the week that something is stressing or that can’t handle, put it in the container until your next session.
STRING or LAVA
Imagine all your stress, anger, any emotion in your center of your body. If it has a form that could move, what that would be?
Some say a ball of fire, some say a ball of string. It could be red lava --something that has movement.
Close your eyes and imagine the ball of string or lava unraveling and traveling up your chest to your shoulders, down your arms and out your fingertips where it turns into a stream.
Watch it till most of it is gone and then open your eyes and come back to the room.
How do you feel?
You can do this with pain as well. Where you feel the pain, imagine it flow to your shoulders, down your arms, out the fingertips and turns into steam. It can move out the feet as well.