[Fuzzybear]

Have you learnt strategies (DBT or other) to improve mood and reduce anxiety - taught by a T or self taught

[fern46]

The tool I lean on the most is my ability to adopt multiple perspectives at once. I might be 'stuck' in a particular mood or frame of mind. Shifting over to another perspective and seeing through an alternate lens helps me to see my mood is not my only truth. Sometimes I am really polarized. In those cases it helps if I first see through the eyes of neutrality and then shift over to an alternate perspective.

Once I can see through more than one lens it helps me to know my particular situation isn't one I have to be stuck in.

I'm used to working primarily in teams and having to support everyone's ideas and weave them together. I find a similar approach toward working with myself and my various moods is helpful.

[Yaowen]

What a great question.

I think the most helpful thing I have learned that helps me personally is an idea I have learned from Dr. Aaron Beck who is one of the fathers of Cognitive Therapy.

I cannot put the idea into words as well as Dr. Beck. There is a 3 minute 34 second YouTube video of Dr. Beck speaking about this on the Internet. It is called "Life Wisdom from Dr. Aaron Beck." If anyone is interested, I would urge them to watch this short little video. Of course I realize that what helps one person might not be helpful to someone else.

Since I tend to get stuck in a "could be better but isn't better" outlook, I have been greatly helped by learning from Dr. Beck how to shift my perspective to a "could be worse, but isn't worse" perspective. It isn't always easy but it always tends to help me when I am looking in a negative way at myself, others, events and things.

I find it to be the single most important thing I learned in dealing with my depression. Maybe in another post I can share what helps me the most with anxiety.

With anything mental health, it's always important to take things one step at a time and set goals along the way, no matter how small and "insignificant" those goals may seem. When you work toward a goal, you have motivation; then when you achieve that goal, you have a sense of accomplishment. But the trick is to create small, achievable goals. For example, maybe you're heavily depressed and don't even want to get out of bed. Well, maybe start off by setting a goal to brush your teeth and another one to take a shower. They don't have to be big, daunting things like "clean the whole house."

The idea is this: if you have motivation and you're able to achieve things, you start to feel good about yourself.

With anxiety in particular, sometimes you have to face your fears in order to get over them. I'm not saying you should ALWAYS do this, but for example, if you're afraid of making new friends in real life and you're too anxious to leave your house, well, you will never make new friends. But if you push through your fear and put yourself out there, there is a chance that you *will* make friends. Not a guarantee -- because nothing in life is a guarantee -- but you will never make friends if you hide away in your house and refuse to come out or refuse to invite people over.

[bpcyclist]

The most helpful thing I have ever found for dealing with my anxiety, which I definitely do get, sometimes, cripplingly, is good old-fashioned Buddhist breathing, Just breathing. Just focusing on my breath. Prayer also helps calm me down. I am not on any anxiety meds right now, so this does happen sometimes. I just have to breathe my way out of it. I have no other choice. It does work for me.

As far as general, overall strategies for dealing with mood issues and general Bipolar Coping With Life stuff, I love DBT. Use it every day, all day. Love me some Marsha Linehan. I also like CBT/REBT, Shame Resilience (the Brene Brown stuff--might be worth checking out her Ted talks), my faith, of course, regular exercise, regular old mindfulness practice, and other things. It is an all-hands-on-deck approach for me. I use it all.

[Wild Coyote]

Hi Fuzzy and Friends! Great idea for this thread, Fuzzy!

One of the practices I use : breathing exercises. Another is grounding myself.

It's very easy to start following your breath. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches a very simple method:

On the inhale, think or say: Breathing in, I know I'm breathing in.
On the exhale, think or say: Breathing out, I know I'm breathing out.
Continue this pattern.
This should bring you into the Present Moment.

One of the Buddhist "secrets" to meditating: Choose an area on the top area of your head. Place your attention on that spot and in between the brain/tissue and the skull.
Then utilize any type of meditating practice/exercise you wish to use. Maintain your focus upon the spot you have identified. *

I highly suggest Placing your attention on the spot you've chosen on your head/skull.
Engage in the simple breathing practice mentioned above.

*The most frequent error when choosing and focusing upon the spot you have chosen (on the top of the head): Some people will roll their eyes upward while focusing upon the identified spot. It is as if they think they need to "see" the spot chosen in order to focus their attention there. Place your attention/focus on the chosen spot while continuing with both eyes gazing elsewhere and/or close your eyes if it is easier.

In time, and with practice, one will be able to maintain his/her attention on the spot, will breath consciously, while going through the day. This will require finding the perfect intensity of focus, depth and rate of breathing in order to go through your day in a meditative to a somewhat meditative state.

Initially, simply practice the method outlined at the beginning of this post.

I hope this method proves helpful to someone.

Note: I find this a very easy practice to initiate at any time. I have started this practice when in stressful situations. With practice, this method can be used in any setting without others noticing.

[bpcyclist]

Originally Posted by Wild Coyote

Hi Fuzzy and Friends! Great idea for this thread, Fuzzy!

One of the practices I use : breathing exercises. Another is grounding myself.

It's very easy to start following your breath. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches a very simple method:

On the inhale, think or say: Breathing in, I know I'm breathing in.
On the exhale, think or say: Breathing out, I know I'm breathing out.
Continue this pattern.
This should bring you into the Present Moment.

One of the Buddhist "secrets" to meditating: Choose an area on the top area of your head. Place your attention on that spot and in between the brain/tissue and the skull.
Then utilize any type of meditating practice/exercise you wish to use. Maintain your focus upon the spot you have identified. *

I highly suggest Placing your attention on the spot you've chosen on your head/skull.
Engage in the simple breathing practice mentioned above.

*The most frequent error when choosing and focusing upon the spot you have chosen (on the top of the head): Some people will roll their eyes upward while focusing upon the identified spot. It is as if they think they need to "see" the spot chosen in order to focus their attention there. Place your attention/focus on the chosen spot while continuing with both eyes gazing elsewhere and/or close your eyes if it is easier.

In time, and with practice, one will be able to maintain his/her attention on the spot, will breath consciously, while going through the day. This will require finding the perfect intensity of focus, depth and rate of breathing in order to go through your day in a meditative to a somewhat meditative state.

Initially, simply practice the method outlined at the beginning of this post.

I hope this method proves helpful to someone.

Note: I find this a very easy practice to initiate at any time. I have started this practice when in stressful situations. With practice, this method can be used in any setting without others noticing.

Bravo, Wild Coyote!!!!

[Fuzzybear]

Good posts! Thanks everyone

(sorry this reply is so late, I've been revisiting a couple of my older threads )

[*Beth*]

This is such a helpful thread, Fuzzy.

[Crook32]

For anxiety I have a small microfiber cloth like you use to clean phone screens. I take it everywhere and rubbing that helps me fidget with something and lowers my anxiety. It also keeps me grounded when I feel stressed.

[bpcyclist]

Clever and practical. Yay!

I know how daft this sounds (yet I always bring it up), but what really helps me is watching cartoons

it just seems impossible to associate a bad mood with tom and jerry, or mickey mouse, or any other various fun characters that populate the cartoon world.. and if you're feeling in a bad mood, trust me, watching someone chase a rabbit or build a treehouse is garanteed to cheer you up

one thing that helps me too is discovering new music

I recently got myself a free account on spotify for that very purpose

brouzing through songs of a favorite artist (or an entirely new favorite) is so calming

of course coming on here.

joining in with the games and other distraction posts