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In my abnormal psychology class, the professor mentioned "containment rituals," and used the example of visualizing the trauma safely contained in a box.
I recalled then that I have, over the years, devised a couple visualizations for myself which were helpful enough for me to continue using them:
1. "The Anxiety Dial." My anxiety is controlled by a small dial, like the volume control on my car radio. It turns by itself toward the right as I get anxious, until it is cranked all the way upto eleven. As I slowly manually turn it down, I relax. If I'm by myself, I will actually use my hand to turn the invisible dial to the left.
2. "The Trauma Backpack." This has to with crisis counseling, which involves talking to people who have just experienced some sort of sudden, horrible trauma, sometimes as early as half an hour before I show up. Their pain is a heavy burden - the trauma backpack. While I'm there, I can help them carry that weight. But their backpack belongs to them. I can't carry it off with me. If I find myself obsessing about them afterward, I remind myself that their backpack doesn't belong to me, and it has to go back to them. I have my own backpack, and I don't have room for theirs.
Do any of you do things like this? What are they? And do you have to invent them yourself for them to be useful, or can you use ones others suggested to you?
I recalled then that I have, over the years, devised a couple visualizations for myself which were helpful enough for me to continue using them:
1. "The Anxiety Dial." My anxiety is controlled by a small dial, like the volume control on my car radio. It turns by itself toward the right as I get anxious, until it is cranked all the way up
2. "The Trauma Backpack." This has to with crisis counseling, which involves talking to people who have just experienced some sort of sudden, horrible trauma, sometimes as early as half an hour before I show up. Their pain is a heavy burden - the trauma backpack. While I'm there, I can help them carry that weight. But their backpack belongs to them. I can't carry it off with me. If I find myself obsessing about them afterward, I remind myself that their backpack doesn't belong to me, and it has to go back to them. I have my own backpack, and I don't have room for theirs.
Do any of you do things like this? What are they? And do you have to invent them yourself for them to be useful, or can you use ones others suggested to you?
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When I do relaxation breathing, as I breathe out, I visualize my tension and anxiety as smoke being dissipated by a wind until the air is clear.
I also have a "mind room" that's a refuge. This is from a visualization from Passages: a Guide for Pilgrims of the Mind by Marianne Andersen (out of print, but you can find it online). It's a study that I have visualized in minute detail, and I go there if I have time after I've done my relaxation breathing. It's changed over the years - it has a computer now, which it didn't in my teens. It's up a flight of stairs, and once I go in and close the door, nothing can bother me.