Self-Soothing Techniques

Cath (Burnaby, Canada)

I eat to soothe myself. Or try and avoid people and go to my bedroom or hotel room (I travel for work alot) and channel surf oh and eat.

Looking to find a better way...

Cath

Hi Cath, I hope you'll find some inspiration here. When I got your post, I thought it might be timely to add a few inspirational videos to the site. You might enjoy checking them out when you need a little lift.

And just so you know, travelling can be pretty hard on the nervous system especially if you move through different time zones. That means you may find the compensatory mood swings a bit hard to manage.

Don't worry too much about avoiding people at times. That's just what your nervous system needs to do as it regroups or recalibrates itself. The important thing is to make  time for your nervous system so it can handle your schedule. Yoga, body-based mediation and body psychotherapy are probably the best ways I know how. A good hot bath works in a pinch too.

Shrinklady

I heard back from Cath and she was pretty up to date with good videos to watch. She sent me this one by Jill and Kevin Heinz  - I laughed till I cried!

 

Diane (Michigan, USA)

When I am really stressed, guided imagery is a great resource.

Diane

I couldn't agree more Diane. I use it all the time both professionally and personally. Shrinklady

Karie (Chatham, Ontario, Canada)

 

I find that wrapping tightly in a blanket and rocking in my rocking chair soothes me when I'm feeling stressed or vulnerable.

Of course, chocolate works too.

Karie

catgirl (California, USA)

When I feel overwhelmed, I put myself back to a place that was safe to me when I was a child. I imagine that I am laying on the kitchen chairs, tucked underneath the kitchen table. I can practically feel the vinyl of the chair beneath my cheek, and the sawdust feel of the bottom of the particle board table on my fingertips.

I smell the after dinner smells of the food fading away and the dishwasher liquid emanating through the air. I hear my mom's footsteps walking into the kitchen and see her short white socks with the colored balls at the ankles. I feel safe.

Mom's there, and no one knows that I'm there. Remembering that safe place helps me to ground.

I also have a list of things that help me to feel better, like playing basketball, skateboarding, playing with my daughter, and reading, that I compiled with my therapist. When I feel stressed, sometimes I pull out this list and do something from it. Through doing this, I begin to feel who I am, I feel myself. When I get really off-track, I lay on my side, cover up with a special blanket, hug a special stuffed monkey, curl up in a ball, and suck my thumb. That always makes me feel comforted and safe.

Catgirl

Still unclear (Vancouver, Canada)

I started recently writing poetry
not sure if I was going to enjoy it,
Now when I feel the end of my rope
is dangling I reach for my website
and write my heart out. At first I was not sure if I could submit a poem, and allow it to be rated. I leaped ahead and wrote a poem
allowing feed back. I felt raw almost unclothed
received some feed back great at first; then a few hurtful rude nasty comments. I almost stopped going to this site, few days later
I wrote two more allowing feedback, accepting
I began writing for me and I feel better, sense of achievement, needless to say I have now written 43 poems and I am still as happy as the first
one I wrote.
Thanks for your site
and you are doing
a real kind service
I wish you inner peace

Still Unclear

Searching for Meaning (Vancouver, Canada)

I find that reading inspirational books is a great self-soothing technique. I'm just about finished reading "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl and I wish everyone could read it. It has some very good insights that I think many people would find helpful whether they are in therapy or not.

The biggest surprise I encountered is that a lot of suffering is not the result of neuroses and can actually be helped fairly quickly.

Thank you Shrinklady for your efforts to make this world a better place and wishing everyone well!

Searching for Meaning

Sequoia (London, UK)

Trying to find ways to self sooth, which is how I came to this site. Am discovering many, many people find life difficult not just a minority but lots of people for different reasons. I haven't been able to self-sooth because I've had a profound sense of worthlessness that stems from my background.

However, I'm learning more about self-soothing and to self sooth takes walks and just enjoy the smell and feel of the crisp winter air and the sights of of the city...

Sequoia

Dude (Canada)

We like to scrapbook, think about angels, look at pictures about horses and butterflies and angels, pray, listen to oldies station, walk on the beach, photography.

Dude