Using Mindfulness to Cope with Stress
In this week’s blog I will be continuing with my series on Coping Skills. Last week I discussed Visualization, and how to use this tool to not only calm down when you are feeling anxious, but also to practice setting yourself up for success by using visualization to prepare for a job interview, for example. This week I want to explore how you can use Mindfulness and your senses. I will teach you how to utilize your environment, and the items in it, to work for you to manage anxiety or stressful situations. When using the coping skills I describe below, I encourage you to notice how you felt before, during, or after doing one of these.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness helps us come back to, and stay, in the present moment. It helps us be present with, and aware of, thoughts and sensations we are feeling. When we are aware of these emotional and physical states, we can do something about them from a conscious place. We can learn a lot about ourselves and what we need when we practice mindfulness techniques in daily life. In the next few paragraphs I explore different ways you can practice mindfulness. Be curious about what makes you feel safe, comfortable, and calm.
Whenever you are having a bad day, week, or even month, focus on making yourself as comfortable and cozy as possible. Focus on wearing things that make you feel confident, bright, or just your best, whatever than means to you. When we are stressed, we need to feel we are in control, and this is a really easy way to exert our control. You might not want to wear things that are tight or restrictive, especially if you already feel like it’s hard to breath. Wear things that are loose or flowy, and made of soft materials.
Wear your favorite pair of socks, you know, the ones with the avocados! Wear a scarf that was given to you by your best friend! Wear a piece of jewelry that was given to you by a family member. Surround yourself with items that help you feel nurtured and soothed. When wearing something someone you love gave you, connect to the love they have for you. Consider what was going through their mind when they bought that item for you. Imagine yourself through this person’s eyes. If they were sitting next to you in this moment of stress, what advice would they offer?
Wear your favorite perfume or cologne, put on your favorite scented lotion, or light a scented candle, and breathe in deeply. Our sense of smell is the sense most closely associated to our emotions. So, when you’re feeling overwhelmed, take in a big, deep breath of a calming, soothing scent. This will help bring pretty instant stress relief. Cuddle with a pet if you have one and bury your nose in their fur. Or snuggle up with a loved one’s pillow, or an item of their clothes. Maybe your dad, sibling, or boyfriend have a big hoodie that smells like them. Wear it, and let it bring you some comfort. Maybe it’s the smell of campfire. Make a cup of tea and B R E A T H E in the smell as it steeps. Let the smell fill your whole body as you breathe it in.
One of my favorite mindfulness techniques…
When feeling stressed or overwhelmed, take some space, and go find a bathroom or a sink you can use. At the sink, turn on the cold water, and close your eyes. Spend 3-5 minutes with your hands under the cold water. Notice the sensations. Notice how the water feels on your hands, notice the temperature of the water verse the temperature of your skin. How does it feel? Can you imagine the taste or the smell of the water? Notice the sound the water makes as it rushes out of the faucet, onto your hands, and then to the bowl below your hands. Notice how the water moves across your hands. This task will force you to focus on the sensations as opposed to the stress or overwhelm you were previously feeling. You can even splash some cold water over your face or neck to help calm you back down. Most of the time when we get anxious, stressed, or angry, we start to get hot and sweat, so the cold water helps re-regulate our body temperature.
Another mindfulness technique you can use is to focus on what is pleasant around you. If you find yourself overwhelmed at an airport for example, find 5 items in your environment that are soothing to you. It can be the texture on someone’s suitcase, or a print on a T-shirt. It could be an art installation, or the smell of fresh cut grass in the air. It doesn’t matter what you focus on per se, just find 5 things in your environment you like. You can do this at work, while out at a restaurant, at home, or even (carefully) while driving! You can also do this by looking for 5 things in your environment that start with the same letter, like Blanket, Banana, and Board game…or 5 things that share the same color, like a red pillow, a red clock, and a red jacket for example. Tasks like this give your brain something else to focus on to disrupt the anxiety, stress response, or from ruminating on anxiety-producing thoughts. It’s important to break those thinking patterns and interrupt them with calming thoughts each time. Only by constantly catching your anxiety-producing thoughts, can you start to break away from them.
You can also focus on Sound when you are feeling stressed and need support grounding yourself. What sounds do you hear in your environment? Close your eyes and really listen. Maybe you hear the buzzing on an appliance. Maybe you hear voices in the distance, or your dog breathing as they nap next to you. Bring your awareness back to the present moment and what is unfolding there. Don’t judge the sounds you notice. Just identify them. This is also a good practice in non-judgement, which most people need.
I hope several of these resonate with you and will be something you consider trying! In next week’s Blog, I will take a short break from Coping skills to discuss Setting Boundaries during the holidays. You will be able to apply the coping skills we have talked about so far during your time with family during the holidays. This next blog should supplement nicely with those. From there I will follow-up with coping skills again, by exploring Coping Skills that will help you sleep better. I’ll focus on techniques to help you wind down and experience a peaceful night of restful sleep! That way you can rest easy after your time socializing during these stressful times.
If you need support managing your stress, I can help. Learn more about working with me here.
Sarah Seraphina is a Spiritual Activator and Liberation Guide. She is the owner of Nurtured Essence, a healing space, aimed at helping women overcome their past patterns and fears, so they may thrive and live with more power, purpose, ease, and joy. She specializes in working with healers, recovering empaths and “Damsels in Distress”, highly-sensitive women, lightworkers, and women with a sacred mission.
