Calming Strategies (FREE printout)

Let’s admit it together, 2020 has been quite the year! I don’t need to list the ways that I, and I think, many of us have been challenged this year. However, I want to highlight the many ways that we’ve all adapted, kept going and made it to today. Whether it feels like it or not, we all have innate and developed skills that have helped us through this season (and our lives) to where we are now. You are resilient!

On auto-pilot, we may reach for the chocolate, buy ourselves something nice or watch another episode on Netflix, which can all be very helpful at times (I LOVE chocolate!) but there are ways that can be more mindful without breaking the bank or numbing the senses.

Thankfully, these skills and practices are easy to implement in our daily lives, they just take a little self-discipline and figuring out what works for you.

Here are just four suggestions to try next time you’re feeling some BIG feelings:

• Breathe - Youtube search “breathing exercises” and you’ll get a plethora of videos that will help you to find and calm your breath. Managing our breath helps us to manage our emotions.

• Exercise - Get outside, walk, jog, run or put on a yoga, dance or HIIT video, do anything but get moving.

• Journal - Get some paper and write whatever comes to mind. Draw, doodle, colour or scribble to get those emotions out of your body and onto paper.

• Talk - Call a trusted friend or family member, meet a loved one for coffee or a walk.

For those with children, it can be challenging to help them with their BIG emotions. To help, I’ve created a mini-workbook of activities to help you talk with your child about calming strategies for them. You can download the pdf here: FREE DOWNLOAD. Let me know how it goes!