These are some ideas I got off of a website and a few of mine, please add your own and we can start a list to be able to help eachother.
~Doll~
Write in your Journal
Listen to your favorite music
Watch a sunset
Color in a coloring book
Play your favorite instrument
Tell one person how you feel
Teach a child to play a game
Pop or stomp on bubble-wrap
Have a water balloon fight
Paint a picture
Go to the pet store
Take a long hot bath
Go berry picking
Hug someone
Take a long drive
Pack up some clothes for charity
Go to a concert
Take a leisurely walk
Rent your favorite movie
Take a trip to the toy store
Go to a movie by yourself
Call an old friend
Fingerpaint, Doodle
Build with blocks. Build a tower and knock it down
Build with Legos
Spend time with your pet
Wash your car with a friend
Pick dandelions
Have a water-gun fight
Play Hopscotch
Have a snowball fight with someone
Paint a Room in your house
Read a book
Take a vacation
Take a nap
Count and roll loose change
Throw nerf balls, koosh balls or bean-bags at a wall (available at most toy stores)
Remind Yourself "It'll be Ok"
Take a deep breath, count to 10
Ask your therapist to make a tape with you that you can use during difficult times
Go to a favorite "safe" location (beach, park, woods, playground, etc.)
Think of advice you'd give someone else... and take it!
Say something good about yourself
Use
Self Affirmation tapes and books... and make your own
affirmations (use notebooks, index cards, tapes, post-it notes, journal)
Meditate, use Relaxation
Call a
Hotline
Have a pillow fight or punch a pillow
Do gardening or housecleaning
Play your favorite game as a child
Spend time with a sibling
Hold and/or tell your favorite stuffed animal or doll your feelings
Find an
ICQ, AOL or e-mail pal or
join a chatroom for support
Stay in touch with others through contact - don't isolate yourself
Stop, Swap and Console
STOP what you're doing. Calm your thoughts. Try to identify what you're feeling.
Ground yourself in the now and say STOP in your mind. Visualize a stop sign.
SWAP things in your mind. Think about someone you care about... "would my loved-one deserve to feel guilty in this situation?"; "Would I want a loved-one to act on this impulse?"; "Would I exercise compassion if my loved-one was feeling this way?" Now swap again. Remind yourself that YOU deserve as much patience and compassion that you believe a loved-one deserves. You
ARE a loved-one to yourself... so you should treat yourself accordingly!
CONSOLE yourself. Take care of YOU. Give yourself comfort. Journal if you have to. Call your therapist or someone you trust and ask for help. Address your feelings. Communicate what you're feeling...
really feeling. Validate yourself. Help yourself to cope in
more healthy and productive ways.
Stop, Swap and Console
STOP what you're doing. Calm your thoughts. Try to identify what you're feeling.
Ground yourself in the now and say STOP in your mind. Visualize a stop sign.
SWAP things in your mind. Think about someone you care about... "would my loved-one deserve to feel guilty in this situation?"; "Would I want a loved-one to act on this impulse?"; "Would I exercise compassion if my loved-one was feeling this way?" Now swap again. Remind yourself that YOU deserve as much patience and compassion that you believe a loved-one deserves. You
ARE a loved-one to yourself... so you should treat yourself accordingly!
CONSOLE yourself. Take care of YOU. Give yourself comfort. Journal if you have to. Call your therapist or someone you trust and ask for help. Address your feelings. Communicate what you're feeling...
really feeling. Validate yourself. Help yourself to cope in
more healthy and productive ways.