About 98% of our mental activity…the reasons why we do things…is unconscious (Bargh, 2017). Expressive Art, a right brain activity, is a way to access those wordless emotional messages swirling beneath our consciousness. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could unearth some of your own motivating energy, and channel it towards calmer, more measured responses to the confounding situations encountered in your daily life?
You are busy! The office is humming! Things are totally running amok today! The phone is ringing and you’re working to finish details on a project due this week! You have people asking you questions and your boss asking you if things will be done on time….it feels like a tsunami of people, paperwork and computer work, all at once!
Remember, you are a builder. A builder of your emotional resilience. Learning the DBT skills, you are a journeyman learning how to be a skilled builder, and creating your personal House of Happiness.
A traumatic birth can be physically and emotionally devastating. Social support for those going through trauma treatment and for long-term survivors of trauma can improve quality of life, reducing anger, anxiety and depression.
The expressive art exercise called LifeLine is a positive tool in the therapy room. Getting an overview of your life can be a first step step towards self understanding and self acceptance.
David came in to see me because he had experienced a panic attack at work. The intensity of the physical and emotional feelings scared him.
Joe’s a pretty emotionally balanced person with pretty good boundaries. And still, people got under his skin. He came in to therapy to consciously develop and deepen his coping skills, so as to broaden and strengthen his emotional resilience.
In his personal life, Joe felt weighed down by negative gossiping. His aunt called often to check up on him. He felt several ways about their relationship. He liked having an older adult to talk with. Yet, there was an (un)healthy dose of negativity served up with the caring as well. The mixed emotional messages were disconcerting. It was not something he had to cope within his own nuclear family.
Lots of us get flustered during the busy holiday season. And, if you’re already coping with a mental health challenges such as grief, depression, anxiety, PTSD or bipolar disorder, keeping up with healthy lifestyle choices will absolutely support your mental health. When I started thinking about cooking for Thanksgiving, although I love my family, I started to feel really irritable. I just really didn’t feel like doing all the shopping and cooking. I am involved in some writing projects and other work I’d really like to accomplish. Ok. What should I do about these feelings of time crunch and irritability that are coming up for me?
Follow along. Maybe these ideas will help you as well.