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Re: Favorite coping mechanisms -
February 13th 2022, 02:42 AM
This has shifted a lot for me over time, and depending on the situation I am at and where I am mentally.
I am a big fan of DBT, generally speaking. There's lots of skills that are a part of it, and many of them are things we already do without realizing it, but I like skills that ground me, more often than not. So I enjoy skills that involve things like temperature (holding ice, or taking a cold shower), exercise (something that accelerates the heart rate for a short period of time, like dancing or calisthenics), or activities that involve using my body- yoga, walking, art projects, etc.
I also like 5,4,3,2,1- name five things you see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. You can do this literally anywhere in any situation you are in to ground yourself. I also like doing things like picking out how many objects there are of one color in a room, or tapping my fingers together and counting them.
When in a lower level of distress, I enjoy mindfulness, specifically mindful breathing involving either counting breaths or breathing a positively affirming phrase in and another one out. I also like imagining breathing in a color that brings me peace and comfort, and breathing out a color I associate with whatever unpleasant or distressing emotion I am experiencing in the moment.
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