It’s essential to learn to self-soothe when you’re stress load has reached its maximum capacity.
Whether you’re dealing with constant anxiety or you feel overwhelmed from the day, you should have some tools in your arsenal that can help you achieve a place of calm and peace again.
It would help if you realized that not every technique would work for everybody, so you will need to play around with them to find the ones that work best for you. While getting a deluxe massage with hot stones and essential oils will do the trick, not everyone can afford such luxuries, so there need to be tools that don’t cost a dime. Another consideration is time as most people don’t have much to spare.
Twelve Useful Tricks to Help You Self Soothe
If you’re having a bad day, here are twelve ways that you can self-soothe that don’t cost you one cent, and they won’t take a great deal of your time either. Anyone can use them to help them get into a better mental place.
1. Use Visualization
Where is the one place that calms you the most? Do you find sitting on a beach with the waves crashing all around you tranquil, or do you love the smell of wildflowers growing in a meadow? Having the ability to transport yourself from your current situation to a better one is a powerful visualization technique.
Picture yourself in your happy place surrounded by peace and tranquility, and it will do wonders for boosting your mood and soothing your tired mind. Did you know that many studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of this technique?
According to an article in the Huffington Post, athletes use visualization techniques all the time, making them better at their game. Only, in these instances, they picture themselves winning the game and celebrating.
2. Give Yourself A Pep Talk
Did you ever attend a pep rally in high school? The goal of these sessions is to get the team all pumped for a game. Why is this so effective?
You have a lot of power in your words. If you tell yourself that you will never amount to anything and don’t have what it takes to be successful, your comments will cripple you. However, if you tell yourself that you can get through this day and you will be successful, your words become the motivation you need.
Stop beating yourself up and start speaking life. Be your own cheerleader and learn to self soothe by using the power of positivity.
3. Stretch It Out with Yoga
Anxiety can make your mind, body, and soul feel tired, sore, and generally horrible. Each person will react to pressure differently. Some may get a headache, while another person may feel the tension in their shoulders. Stretching is one of the best ways to work out those kinks.
Yoga is an excellent way to stretch out all those stiff muscles. When your cortisol levels rise in the body, it can make you feel all sorts of uncomfortable sensations and pangs, but when you stretch them out in yoga sessions, it can definitely help.
4. Call on Friends or Loved Ones
Sometimes you need to vent. You know the people in your corner who will listen to you, and they may even talk some sense back into you. Having a couple of people on speed dial that you can call when the world seems to be crashing in around you is always a good idea.
It doesn’t need to be a long conversation, especially if your time doesn’t permit it. However, you need someone you can call and get things off your chest occasionally. It’s one technique to self soothe that is immensely powerful.
5. Turn on The Tunes
How many times have you heard the old saying that music will calm any savage beast? If music can make a lion or other animal have a euphoric feeling and calm them, what can it do for you. What kind of music do you like?
There are so many different choices that you can customize your music based on your moods. Why not bring in a little Frank Sinatra and learn how to do things your way, or you can belt out an old classic rock n’ roll tune that makes you feel good?
6. Move to Get Rid Of Anger
If things are bad, you might feel the need to be destructive. Have you ever thrown something or smashed an object just because you let your anger get the best of you? It’s apparent that you need to work out that rage in a positive way.
Getting involved in exercise or playing a game can help to relieve some of the angst you feel. It’s become increasingly popular to go to an arena and throw axes. Why do people get so much pleasure from whirling an ax with all their might towards a target?
The key to this Paul Bunyan-type activity is that it’s releasing. If you have all these pent-up feelings that want to come bursting out, then pick up an ax and whiz it with all your might. The good news is you can find a releasing activity that doesn’t require an ax and a range, and it’s a safe way to get rid of your anger.
7. Daydream
Did your teachers always tell you as a child that you needed to rejoin the classroom? Daydreaming is a powerful technique that is useful when you need to have a mental escape. If the cares of life seem to be too much to handle, then it’s okay to check out for a few minutes.
In learning to self-soothe, you need to develop techniques that can be used at any time or place. Daydreaming allows you to leave your current and less pleasant situation and transport your mind to another more peaceful place.
According to a study referenced by the Taylor Research Journal, children who daydream have higher levels of creativity and are better at drawing and storytelling.
8. Take a Long, Hot Soak
There’s something about water that can ease those sore muscles and calm your mind. You can literally wash away the cares of life. When life has handed you one too many blows, you can feel better by soaking in a hot tub of water. Of course, bubbles are optional, but they’re always a nice touch.
9. Practice Mindfulness
Some folks envision that you’re sitting like a pretzel on the floor when you practice mindfulness, trying to gain focus. Well, it can be that activity, but mindfulness is so much more. When you’re trying to self-soothe, you want to pay close attention to all the things around you.
Ask yourself what you can see, hear, smell, and taste at that moment. The goal is to detach from your thoughts and feelings and watch yourself like you were in a movie. The objective is to get out of your head and bring things back to reality.
10. Use Nostril Breathing to Calm You
Many breathing techniques can help you calm yourself. Nostril breathing is simply closing off one side of your nose and breathing in and out of the other. Try to do this for ten breaths on each side and see what a difference it makes in your mood.
11. Learn It’s Okay Not to Be Okay
Why do humans think that the world needs to always be about rainbows and sunshine? It’s okay to have those rainy days and to experience some setbacks in life, as this is how you grow. While it’s good to self soothe, it’s also mentally healthy to tell yourself that this too shall pass, and it’s okay not to be okay.
12. Ground Yourself
When someone talks about grounding yourself, you’re probably thinking about going into time out. While having a time out as an adult isn’t a bad idea, the concept here is totally different. Have you ever had a picture hanging on your wall that becomes off-center?
It’s easy to spot this picture from a mile away because it’s crooked and looks off balance. The picture has lost its center, and it’s causing it to be crooked. The same analogy can be used in your life. It’s effortless to get off-kilter and need to find your focus or center again.
Grounding exercises are powerful and can help you self soothe when everything seems to go wrong. One way to accomplish this task is to walk barefoot and feel your feet on the warm soil of the earth. Another way to feel this peaceful calm is to follow your breaths. Watch your chest rise and fall with each breath and realize you’re a living, breathing human being.
Final Thoughts on Learning How to Self Soothe
Did you learn some ways to self soothe that you didn’t know about? What techniques do you think you can try in your place of work or at home? Remember, you may need to do several of them before finding ones that work effectively for you.
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