B.R.E.A.T.H....

Turtle, I want to first say good job with this post. You said, "I am ... scared really scared that I am going to cut...." Do you see what you did? In the past you would have just said, "I'm going to cut." You changed the way you worded your sentence. So proud of you for this! Those two sentences have two completely different meanings, and you changed it!

In my opinion, here are some things for you to work on:

1. Practice grounding yourself. Sit on a chair with your back straight and both feet flat on the ground, then take a slow deep breath and as you are breathing in count to 4. Then hold it as you slowly count to 4. Then slowly release it and count to 4. Do that for 5 minutes or longer until you feel more relaxed and clam.

2. Try to recognize what you are feeling (you did a good job in this post). "I'm feeling scared that I'm going to cut." Tell yourself that you don't need to cut. "I am feeling angry because mom took my things away." Tell yourself that it is ok that you feel angry.

3. Try doing "soothing talk", gently talk to yourself like you were talking to a young child. Say, "Turtle, you are going to be ok." (use the word "you" when talking to yourself not "I"). Give yourself a hug. Rub your arms. Think about what you'd like your mom to do to give you comfort, and then you do that to yourself. If you want your mom to play with your hair, then you start to play with your hair. You become your mom, you become your nurturer.

4. Tell yourself your positive affirmations again use the word you not I... "You are strong." "You deserve to be loved." "You are loved." "You have many people who care about you." "You are beautiful." "You do NOT deserve the pain."

Just keep doing these things over and over again.

Love you lil sis! Big hugs!

Be safe,

Celtic