Have you ever been stressed out and imagined yourself relaxing on an empty beach in the warm sun with no cares in the world? Maybe it’s an all-inclusive resort with all food and activities included! Now I’m getting ahead of myself…
Using imagery is an easy way to think of a person, place, or time that brings you peace, happiness, and joy. This can be an imagined future scenario or something in the past. It’s important to use all of your senses to visualize what will help to deescalate difficult emotions in the moment. This is a perfect tool for your coping skills tool kit to use anytime you are feeling stressed be it work, home, or out and about.
Once you think of that peaceful and safe place, situation, or person, really get into the details of it through your 5 senses. What the temperature there? What can you smell or taste? What kind of sounds would you hear? How do you feel in that moment?
A skill I like to use with imagery or visualization is imagining all of your stressors and stressful thoughts being put into a box, taped up, and put on the shelf. This isn’t ignoring your problems, but giving yourself a break until you feel calm enough to attend to those issues. I’ll go more into how to use visualization for difficult thoughts in future blog posts!
Caroline Hubschman, LSW 