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Distress Tolerance - Improve the Moment

Posted by sunnydays on August 13, 2009, at 22:22:47

In reply to Re: Mindfulness » Phillipa, posted by sunnydays on August 13, 2009, at 22:12:43

with Imagery
Imagine very relaxing scenes. Imagine a secret room within yourself, seeing how it is decorated. Go into the room whenever you feel threatened. Close the door on anything that can hurt you. Imagine everything going well. Imagine coping well. Make up a fantasy world that is calming and beautiful and let your mind go with it. Imagine hurtful emotions draining out of you like water out of a pipe.

with Meaning
Find or create some purpose, meaning, or value in the pain. Remember, listen to, or read about spiritual values. Focus on whatever positive aspects of a painful situation you can find. Repeat them over and over in your mind. Make lemonade out of lemons.

with Prayer
Open your heart to a supreme being, greater wisdom, God, your own wise mind. Ask for strength to bear the pain in this moment. Turn things over to God or a higher being.

with Relaxation
Try muscle relaxing by tensing and relaxing each large muscle group, starting with your hands and arms, going to the top of your head, and then working down. Listen to a relaxation tape, exercise hard, take a hot bath or sit in a hot tub, drink hot milk, massage your neck and scalp, your calves and feet. Get in a tub filled with very cold or hot water and stay in it until the water is tepid. Breathe deeply, half smile, change facial expressions.

with One thing in the moment
Focus your entire attention on just what you are doing right now. Keep yourself in the very moment you are in, put your mind in the present. Focus your entire attention on physical sensations that accompany nonmental tasks (eg, walking, washing, doing dishes, cleaning, fixing). Be aware of how your body moves during each task. Do awareness exercises.

with a Brief Vacation
Give yourself a brief vacation. Get in bed and pull the covers up over your head for 20 minutes. Rent a motel room at the beach or in the woods for a day or two, drop your towels on the floor after you use them. Ask your roommate to bring you coffee in bed or make you dinner (offer to reciprocate). Get a schlocky magazine or newspaper at the grocery store, get in bed with chocolates, and read it. Make yourself milk toast, bundle up in a chair, and eat it slowly. Take a blanket to the park and sit on it for the whole afternoon. Unplug your phone for a day, or let your answering machine screen your calls. Take a 1-hour breather from hard work that must be done.

with Encouragement
Cheerlead yourself. Repeat over and over "I can stand it," "It won't last forever" "I will make it out of this", "I'm doing the best I can do".


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poster:sunnydays thread:911764
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090730/msgs/912008.html