World Mental Health Day 2020 - Prioritize Self-Care
Prioritize Self-Care
The Practice: Today's practice is to think up a self-care activity. If you are not used to taking care of yourself, this can be hard to do, so let me give you some ideas that might stimulate your thinking. Read; exercise; meditate; take a bath; do a hobby; call a friend; take time to be alone; journal; take a walk outdoors. The activity needs to be for you and not for someone else, and does not relate to an obligation or trying to get things checked off for the day. The time you spend on self-care is up to you, it can be 5 minutes to over an hour.
Purpose:
Decreases stress and burn out.
Learn to take responsible for the person you are most responsible for, yourself.
Regular self-care is like filling up your tank, giving you more energy to get things done.
Over-Responsible Monkey Mindset
Expansive Easygoing Mindset
I tend to put other people’s needs before my own.
Taking care of myself is as important as taking
care of others.
Doing things for yourself first is selfish.
Selfish is not a bad word. Learning to take care of myself will decrease my stress and burnout.
Scan your body for tension or discomfort. Common areas we hold tension are the jaws, shoulders, and stomach.
As you inhale, imagine you are breathing in to the area of discomfort. Rather than trying to get rid of it, make room and space for it. The goal is to soften and surrender to whatever you are feeling in this moment.
When you exhale, imagine yourself letting go of trying to fix, analyze or problem solve.
Continue to do this for 5-10 minutes.
All emotions have a beginning, middle and an end. When we learn to relax into discomfort we are able to process it. When we respond to anxiety by welcoming it rather than reacting to it, we calm the monkey mind. We send a message that says, I got this one.
With practice, it learns not to press the panic button every time you are reminded of a potential threat. Your anxiety decreases. In the welcoming state, we are in a much better position to take wise, thoughtful and effective action.
" As a therapist myself, I see my clients, more than ever, are experiencing more anxiety. Jennifer Shannon helps us understand how heightened uncertainty affects our feelings, our thoughts and our actions. It gives us clear directions on how to respond. Each of the strategies is “essential” because they only work effectively in unison with the other two. Jennifer challenges us is to adopt them all. She writes with compassion, humor, and personal stories that reveal her own humanity. It is truly a great book!"
John Montopoli, LMFT, LPCC
"You can’t solve each new crisis that arises. But you can master the ability to tolerate uncertainty. The task is difficult, but it is simple. Spend some time with Jennifer Shannon’s book, and your body and mind will thank you for it."
Reid Wilson, PhD author of Stopping the Noise in Your Head
