Mini Ways to Wellness

I have this handout that I give people, and wanted to share it here as well. This has tons of ideas - a menu of ideas - for healthy activities to check out when you need a boost. Enjoy!

Mini Ways to Wellness Many people have poor coping skills. So when stressful times happen, they chose food, drugs, or indulge in other behaviors to an excess to bury their problems. Instead, use these coping tools to cope with the problem until you can fix it. The problems you have been hiding from yourself tend to fester and finally explode. Then you have to deal with all of them at once when before, you could not deal with the problems one at a time. The following is a list of nurturers for the body, mind, and spirit. Feel free to treat yourself to many of these suggestions – often.

Listen to music - Get/Give a back rub - Daydream - Dance around the room Clean a small space - Take a long bath - Find something good in someone

Get up early & listen to the quiet - REALLY look at a flower or leaf

Take a walk - Take in a funny movie - Breathe! - Make a list of your good qualities

Watch the sun rise/set - Play a board/video/card game - Express appreciation

Read a novel or magazine - Turn off the TV - Set one short-term goal for self-improvement

Begin daily stretching: strengthen your core - Look at the clouds, what can you see in them?

Call a friend - Find a new hobby - Pet your pet - Color in a coloring book or doodle Burn your favorite fragrance of potpourri, incense or candle

Put affirmations in a special place where you will see them often

Write a thank-you note - Take a different route home - Care for a growing plant

Some Affirmation Ideas:

1. I make my own decisions and I also assume the responsibility for any mistakes. However, I refuse to feel shame or guilt about those mistakes.

2. I respect the right of others to have opinions or attitudes different than mine, but I refuse to be put down by those opinions.

3. I am not my actions. I am the actor. My actions may be good or bad, but that doesn't make me good or bad. Good vs. Bad is all-or-nothing thinking, we aren’t wholly 1 way.

4. I do not have to prove myself as a person to anyone. I need only express myself as honestly and effectively as I am capable with the knowledge that there is no way everybody will accept me. I accept me.

Locus of Control: Most people have an External Locus of Control. They believe that what others say and do, and what happens makes them feel the way they do. It makes how they feel depend on events and people they can't control and feeling better depend on those events and people changing for the better, and they may not. People can feel like a victim of their circumstances, with no hope of feeling better. That's never a good thing.

Serenity: (helps develop internal locus of control) The “Serenity Prayer” comes from an American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr & has been adopted by AA & other 12-step programs. This wisdom can be a powerful tool in reducing stress in your life whether or not you claim any form of spirituality. Here’s the popular form, and then a more historic form of the plea. “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” “Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other.”

Sleep: Sleep can be the surprising key to hugely reducing your anxiety! We need 5 cycles of REM sleep to reboot the stress chemicals in our brain. These cycles last about 1.5 hours each and REM sleep increases from very little in the 1st cycle to almost all REM sleep in our 5th cycle. We need to get our sleep hours all together to obtain this stress-relieving benefit. Following are some things to think about when attempting to get good sleep. TV is a Biggie! Keep the TV out of the bedroom for many reasons: light stimulates the brain to stay awake and so does the words/concepts on the screen and in the sounds. Also – within 2 hours of sleep, stay away from news and any show that can provoke anxiety.

Bed: should be reserved for sleep or sex only. Otherwise, your brain doesn’t cue in to know it’s sleepy time. White Noise: if you need noise, use a fan, a white noise.

Ingestion: don’t ingest any food or liquids within 2 hours of sleep if you can help it.

Shower: if you take a shower before bed, make sure it’s not hot enough to make you sweat. If it is, it’ll release endorphins telling your body to stay awake.

Alcohol, Sleep Aides & Routine: If you can make some sort of half-hour or more pre-sleep routine then we can clue our brains into the fact that it’s time to sleep. Then we won’t need alcohol or sleep aides that help us Get to sleep, but reduce our REM sleep: counterproductive!

Light Therapy: Being under bright lights from an hour to half an hour before sleep, then dimming all your lights, will help key in your brain to the fact that it’s sleeping time.

Eating Habits: Please consult one of our wellness experts. Fueling our bodies with healthy and nutritious food can become an easy habit to create and there are tips available to help you eat healthy on a workable budget. You’ll be amazed at how better you’ll feel when you’re eating in a healthy manner. Try and eat only foods that are fresh such as meats and vegetables. See if you can avoid addicting foods such as caffeine, processed sugar, & food-like substances.

Exercise: Body movement helps release positive endorphins and that’s your body’s natural way of feeling good!

Sensual Awareness Inventory: On a separate page & under each of the following categories, list 10-20+ (as many as you can) items or activities from which you get pleasure, enjoyment or comfort. Keep these in mind when you need more pleasure, enjoyment or comfort. By focusing on positive, you’re making your brain get into the habit of thinking more positively. SIGHT SOUND SMELL TASTE TOUCH ACTIVITY

Fake it ‘till you Make it: There’s researched evidence that when we utilize the muscles required to fake happiness, our brains respond and release happy brain-chemicals and we actually get happier. So practice smiling, exercise those particular muscles – you’re going to need them as you get happier. J