Enjoy life. Don’t wish away your days waiting for better ones to come.
Marjorie Pay Hinckley
Suggestions of Self Help and Self-care to inspire and engage in
If you feel stuck in negative self-punishing thought patterns going round and round in your mind, creating your own self-care kit can help you.
Your mind is very powerful and will keep you in that state if you allow it. Research shows that by consciously engaging your mind in something new you are actively breaking the negative thought patterns changing the way it works.
Part of my journey has involved building a self-help/self-care kit when I was feeling ok.
Practicing engaging my mind in a variety of self-help strategies when I was feeling ok helped when I was struggling with negative thought patterns. Consciously connecting with things to engage, remind and ground me.
Here are some ideas and suggestions of things that engage your mind, body and senses
If you choose to create something on the list and have it visible to you it could offer you a daily reminder of inspiration, comfort, gratitude, grounding and connection.
Inspiring quotes – Search for ones that resonate with how you feel or want to feel. Write or print them out and place them somewhere that you can keep reading them.
Filling a clip frame or pin board with photographs of people that are significant – Friends, family, pets or location. Add quotes, cards, birthday, thankyou cards that mean something and offers you connection and a sense of joy, happiness, positivity.
Create an inspirational space in your bedroom or anywhere just for you – Include things that appeal to your senses, vision, smell, touch, taste that means something to you. For example a shelf of things which mean a lot to you from the people that love and care for you.
I have a photograph, lavender from my garden, a card, a quote in a frame, some homemade gifts from friends including a painted mandala stone, a ceramic cat, candle, small soft toy and a Buddha statue which represents calm for me. Every time I look at that shelf (my shrine) it offers me a sense of comfort and reminds me I can be mindful about an item or connect with positive, meaningful thoughts.
Other ideas: Small lights e.g. fairy type, a book full of inspiring quotes, soft blankets, cushions, scented candles, hand cream, lavender sleep mist.
Be grateful – Start a gratitude diary. Name 5 things each day you are grateful for and why?
- Today I am grateful for my breath because…
- I am grateful for a roof over my head because….
- I am grateful for the message I just received from my friend because….
Be mindful – Take time to consider what it is like to be in your body and how that feels, your footsteps on the ground, your hands touching your knees or seat. Notice what is around you, notice the space you are in, look at the shapes and colours, listen to what can you hear. Can you smell anything? What can you see? Can you describe it to yourself?
Record your daily experiences in a diary – Consider writing for a few minutes about what you noticed today. Don’t worry about full stops and capital letters or even making sense…….just write.