Let's Talk About: Self-soothing

    The most important thing you’ll ever learn is how to regulate your emotions and self-soothe. When we learn how to soothe in moments of chaos and confusion, we have a much easier time regulating the reactions of our emotions. This can be so helpful for those who have anxiety, panic, ruminating or compulsive thoughts. The more you practice the technique that works best for you the easier it will be to call upon self-soothing and regulation in the thick of the moment. So keep that in mind that it’s not magic and may not always work instantaneously… build upon the habits!

Here are some helpful ways to practice self-soothing:

• Speak to yourself as you would a child or your best friend (positive self-talk)
• Become a witness of your thoughts, just notice
• Journal about thoughts and feelings
• Meditations like present moment awareness
• Grounding techniques that bring attention to your senses (ie: 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell, 1 thing you can taste)
• Sound meditations or ASMR
• Place your hand on your heart or wrist so that you can feel your heartbeat
• Aromatherapy
• Mantras or affirmations

We rely so heavily on external coping skills to keep us calm, but they may not be always readily available for us as we learned when quarantined started. Going inward and listening to your inner knowing is the best method of self-soothing. Here are some questions to get you more familiar.
Let’s journal about:
Acknowledged and identify the emotion you are feeling. How would you describe it? Where in your body are you experiencing it? What would someone experiencing this emotion need?