Welcome to the heartbeat of Integrative Counsel, our blog where tranquility meets transformation. This is your sanctuary for insights and wisdom on nurturing a harmonious connection between mind, body, and spirit.
There are a lot of counselors in St. Petersburg who are jockeying to offer you advice. It seems you can’t throw a fistful of sand around here without hitting a life coach, yoga teacher, or mental health counselor. And those people can offer a lot of great advice in the long term, once you’ve built up a trusting rapport with your guide. But if you’re already hurting, it’s natural to want solutions that can offer relief right now.
In fact, most of what we learn in therapy is actually about building up a toolkit so we can manage our mental health on our own terms. So we’ve put together this resource to finally answer the question: What can we do to improve our mental wellness right now?
What You’ll Need:
What You’ll Do: Anxiety is the physical response of our body to stress in our mind. So to treat your anxiety, the quickest route is often through using the sensory experience of your body. Namely, engaging in exercise and changing your body temperature. The actions I usually take to do this are actually quite simple.
Do jumping jacks until you break a sweat, then set the shower to be either incredibly hot or cold (I know which one I’m choosing). Yep, that’s all.
How You’ll Process: This technique is great for when you start to feel overwhelmed by your anxiety and want to make a clean break before things get worse. It can make a huge difference when you feel your anxiety start to rise in the morning, and put you in the right headspace to work through your anxiety on paper.
What You’ll Need:
What You’ll Do: This activity starts with choosing the right meal. It can’t just be something you throw together to put fuel in the tank. Choose a meal that you feel good about (nutritionally and flavor-wise), one that is worth paying more attention to.
Set aside your phone. Sit down to eat. Before you take a bite, fully take inventory of what you’re about to eat. What does it smell like? How does it look? What makes this dish different than others like it? As you consider these things, feel the hunger in your stomach and desire in your mind begin to build.
When you finally do take a bite, pick it wisely and chew slowly. Choose each mouthful with purpose and savor each morsel. You are in a competition with yourself to wring out every last drop of experience from this meal, and it behooves you to take your time. This is mindful eating, and the only sign that you might be taking too long is when the food starts to get cold.
How You’ll Process: Mindfulness can change your life, but first you have to learn how to access it. This exercise helps to invite mindfulness into your everyday life through the act of eating, but mindfulness has applications no matter what we’re doing. When your plate is clean to your satisfaction, consider the following questions:
What You’ll Need:
What You’ll Do: EMDR therapy allows us to work through some of our most difficult memories through specific eye movements that condition the brain into calmness. These specific eye movements can be found in a few common activities: looking at a fish tank, playing tetris, going for a walk, and most relevant to us right now, people watching.
Sit outside someplace pleasant (like Lassing Park) where you can watch the world go by without your involvement. You can watch the birds, you can watch the clouds, you can watch the tide roll in and out. All you have to do is watch and think.
How You’ll Process: Allow your thoughts to wander where they may. You are allowed to think of the things that perplex, interrupt, or otherwise bother you, so long as you can maintain wisdom and control over your behavior. If you find a thought that upsets you beyond this point, return your focus to the world around you until you can calm down. Find a point of focus that is your safe space, and return there when you feel overwhelmed with emotion.
Sunny Ebsary is an educator, multi-modal artist, and writer specializing in the intersection of myth and mental health. Sunny’s writing walks the line between poetic and logical, giving readers a chance to interface with the mind and imagination. Sunny’s been putting pen to paper since he was a child, writing everything from albums, novels, and plays, to essays, interactive games, and of course, many articles! While studying both psychology and writing, he realized his real passion in life was helping others unlock their creative spark. Whether he’s leading a D&D game, directing a production, or diving deep into the brain, you can be sure Sunny will be ushering you toward finding meaning in your life.
January 23, 2025
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