2 skills I use everyday

Many of you have received an email from me relating that I was recently hospitalized and admitted to a program that treats individuals who have experienced trauma and suffer from mental illness related to trauma. I promised information on my stay on the blog and haven't gotten to it yet, but today is the day (that I'm starting at least).  Basically the first two things I learned in my first 12 hours or so at Sheppard Pratt was 1) square breathing and 2) grounding.

1) square breathing: draw a square for a visual.  Using your finger or just your eyes: breathe in as you go up one side of the square, out as you move along the top of the square, in as you go down the side, and out and you got across the bottom.  This levels out your breathing and slows your heart rate. I use it about 50x a day whenever I get stressed, distracted and need to focus, anxious.  It slows things down in a clear, controlled, even way.

2) Grounding: Dissociation 101.  Dissociation is basically "running away" in your mind. It's a way to cut off emotion and sometimes cut you off from reality- what is really going on.  For example, you drive home and you are really distracted and you find you don't remember the drive home?  That's basic dissociation.  With people who have experienced trauma, it can become second nature to dissociate. So past breathing, number one skill that I used and still use is grounding.  Grounding is basically the opposite of dissociating.  It is being aware and present in reality. It is experiencing what is happening around you and within you. Grounding is best done using as many of your 5 senses as possible. You use your senses to be present in the moment. So sometimes it's as basic as looking someone in the eye because suddenly you aren't avoiding what's going on between you and that person or the environment.  Others include using beads to look at, feel, hear, and describe, listing 5 things you see, 4 things your hear, 3 things you feel, 2 things you smell, and 1 positive thing about yourself, or 5 red things, 5 round objects, 5 soft things. My favorites include holding a frozen orange, feeling it, describing it, smelling it, throwing and catching it, rolling it-- whatever I can do with it.  I also made grounding beads at the hospital and I love them. I wear them basically everyday. Drinking a hot drink (tea or cocoa) or drinking ice water (or any cold drink), sucking on a hard candy, chewing gum, and doing yoga. Throughout my stay at the hospital and most days since, I have done grounding activities at least every hour. It's a whole new experience to be present and actually feel emotion, and observe and experience what is going on around me. I won't lie-- I'm not always great, but it's a work in progress. 

These are my grounding beads.  They are beaded onto this stretchy awesome stuff that makes them easy and comfortable to put on and take off.  The one in front has "faith, hope, charity" spelled out on the small part.  The long part is to either hold in your hand when you need it, or wrap around so it's a triple "layered" bracelet. The second one back is just awesome random beads I liked.  The third is different colored beads with a flower painted on them and the last one isn't a bracelet.  Just a string of beads that says "perfect love casteth out fear" (which is one of my favorite scriptures; 1 John 4:18).

Congratulations on making it to the end of my post.  Some others will have more pictures and such. I did a whole lot of art while I was there. So...there ya go.  Now you know what's going through my head many times throughout the day.