Water colors

06 Tuesday Oct 2020

Posted by RichardB in Art Therapy, emotions, mindfulness, Self expression, Therapy Cards, Wellness

One Creative Therapy Tool that I use is to paint. Some times pictures of actual ‘things’ like trees or boats; but I usually paint shapes.
Lately I have been using water colors to paint shades and gradients of color. Colors shifting from one type of purple(for instance) to a deeper purple.
There is a lot going on in the simple act of painting color that involves
cognitive processes, emotional expression, mindfulness practice, amongst others. There is the hand eye coordination, and the movement of the body (hand,arm shoulder), to apply the paint to the brush, water and paper. There is the picking and choosing of colors that I want to use; sometimes I pick a color that has a pleasing effect on how I feel, and sometimes that choice changes how I feel. The act of painting requires focus and at least a little concentration being in the here and now.
I have been turning my gradient paintings in to therapy cards. I work a lot with groups providing therapy and often participants have difficulty expressing their feelings and/or thoughts. The cards provide an avenue for people to share/start a conversation. I have created affirmation cards, feelings cards, drama therapy cards, movement cards, yoga asana cards, and many others.

4bcds

Emotional Intelligence

15 Tuesday Sep 2020

Posted by RichardB in emotions, positive, Therapy

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feelings, groups, lists, process, therapy

I often work with groups using lists. In movement therapy as well as psychotherapy, educational and process oriented groups lists are a great structure for groups to explore thoughts, and/or feelings. Here is a list that often comes up in groups ten suggestions about feelings.
1. Become emotionally literate. Label your feelings, rather than labeling people or situations.
Use three word sentences beginning with “I feel”.
Start labeling feelings; stop labeling people & situations
“I feel impatient.” vs “This is ridiculous.” I feel hurt and bitter”. vs. “You are an insensitive jerk.”
“I feel afraid.” vs. “You are driving like an idiot.”
2. Distinguish between thoughts and feelings.
Thoughts: I feel like…& I feel as if…. & I feel that
Feelings: I feel: (feeling word)
3. Take more responsibility for your feelings.
“I feel jealous.” vs. “You are making me jealous.”
Analyze your own feelings rather than the action or motives of other people. Let your feelings help you identify your unmet emotional needs.
4. Use your feelings to help make decisions
“How will I feel if I do this?” “How will I feel if I don’t?”
“How do I feel?” “What would help me feel better?”
Ask others “How do you feel?” and “What would help you feel better?”
5. Use feelings to set and achieve goals
– Set feeling goals. Think about how you want to feel or how you want others to feel. (your employees, your clients, your students, your children, your partner)
– Get feedback and track progress towards the feeling goals by periodically measuring feelings from 0-10. For example, ask clients, students, teenagers how much they feel respected from 0 to 10.
6. Feel energized, not angry.
Use what others call “anger” to help feel energized to take productive action.
7. Validate other people’s feelings.
Show empathy, understanding, and acceptance of other people’s feelings.
8. Use feelings to help show respect for others.
How will you feel if I do this? How will you feel if I don’t? Then listen and take their feelings into consideration.
9. Don’t advise, command, control, criticize, judge or lecture to others.
Instead, try to just listen with empathy and non-judgment.
10. Avoid people who invalidate you.
While this is not always possible, at least try to spend less time with them, or try not to let them have psychological power over you.

Asanas that chase away the blues

28 Thursday May 2020

Posted by RichardB in breath, emotions, grounding, positive, Wellness

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asanas, health, wellness, yoga

Nice article from the Times of India, citing research using Yoga Asanas: Among the many clinical researches being conducted at Nimhans , one involved patients of an old-age home who were exposed to six months of yoga therapy. MRI scans taken before and after showed an increase in the size of the hippocampus, the brain’s memory index. “It was larger than before because the grey matter had increased. The results will be published in a scientific journal shortly ,” adds Gangadhar. The hippocampus is vulnerable to stress and atrophy is seen in patients of schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe depression. “Yoga acts as an antidepressant ,” he says. Read the entire article here.

Water colors

19 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by RichardB in Art Therapy, emotions, mindfulness, positive, Therapy, Wellness

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cognitive processes, drama therapy cards, emotional expression, feelings cards, mindfulness practice, movement cards, paint, yoga asana cards

One Creative Therapy Tool that I use is to paint. Some times pictures of actual ‘things’ like trees or boats; but I usually paint shapes. Lately I have been using water colors to paint shades and gradients of color. Colors shifting from one type of purple(for instance) to a deeper purple.

There is a lot going on in the simple act of painting color that involves cognitive processes, emotional expression, mindfulness practice, amongst others. There is the hand eye coordination, and the movement of the body (hand,arm shoulder), to apply the paint to the brush, water and paper. There is the picking and choosing of colors that I want to use; sometimes I pick a color that has a pleasing effect on how I feel, and sometimes that choice changes how I feel. The act of painting requires focus and at least a little concentration being in the here and now.

I have been turning my gradient paintings in to therapy cards. I work a lot with groups providing therapy and often participants have difficulty expressing their feelings and/or thoughts. The cards provide an avenue for people to share/start a conversation. I have created affirmation cards, feelings cards, drama therapy cards, movement cards, yoga asana cards, and many others.
(click image for larger size)

Anger Group

30 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by RichardB in Anger, Anxiety, emotions, Handout, mental health, Therapy

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anger, handout, therapy

Once a week I facilitate a anger management group. I use a variety of handouts and activities to have a process oriented group interaction. One of the hand outs I use is below. I use it in 1 of 2 ways. I have folks fill it out first and then we discuss or we go angry-young-girl-cute-face-kids2 through it together and discuss. We explore as a group, learning from each other.

ANGER WORDS

anger disgust grumpiness rage aggravation dislike hate resentment agitation envy hostility revulsion annoyance exasperation irritation scorn bitterness ferocity jealousy spite contempt frustration loathing torment cruelty fury mean-spiritedness vengefulness destructiveness grouchiness outrage wrath

Other:_________________________

Prompting Events for Feeling Anger

Losing power.

Losing status.

Losing respect.

Being insulted.

Not having things turn out the way you expected.

Experiencing physical pain.

Experiencing emotional pain.

Being threatened with physical or emotional pain by someone or something.

Having an important or pleasurable activity interrupted, postponed, or stopped.

Not obtaining something you want (which another person has).

Other:_______________________________

Interpretations That Prompt Feelings of Anger

Expecting pain.

Feeling that you have been treated unfairly.

Believing that things should be different.

Rigidly thinking “I’m right.”

Judging that the situation is illegitimate, wrong, or unfair.

Ruminating about the event that set off the anger in the first place, or in the past.

Other:____________________________

Experiencing the Emotion of Anger

Feeling incoherent.

Feeling out of control.

Feeling extremely emotional.

Feeling tightness or rigidity in your body.

Feeling your face flush or get hot.

Feeling nervous tension, anxiety or discomfort.

Feeling like you are going to explode.

Muscles tightening. .

Teeth clamping together, mouth tightening.

Crying; being unable to stop tears.

Wanting to hit, bang the wall, throw something, blow up.

Other:__________________________

Expressing and Acting on Anger

Frowning or not smiling; mean or unpleasant facial expression.

Gritting or showing your teeth in an unfriendly manner.

Grinning.

A red or flushed face.

Verbally attacking the cause of your anger; criticizing.

Physically attacking the cause of your anger.

Using obscenities or cursing.

U sing a loud voice, yelling, screaming, or shouting.

Complaining or bitching; talking about how lousy things are.

Clenching your hands or fists.

Making aggressive or threatening gestures.

Pounding on something, throwing things, breaking things.

Walking heavily or stomping; slamming doors, walking out.

Brooding or withdrawing from contract with others.

Other:_____________________

Aftereffects of Anger

Narrowing of attention.

Attending only to the situation making you angry.

Ruminating about the situation making you angry and not being able to think of anything else.

Remembering and ruminating about other situations that have made you angry in the past.

Imagining future situations that will make you angry.

Depersonalization, dissociative experience, numbness.

Intense shame, fear, or other negative emotions.

Other:______________________

Women and Men react differently

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by RichardB in emotions, mental health, research

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men, Neuroscience, research, women

Women react more intensely to negative images than men, a difference that can be seen even when looking at their brains, a new study finds.

Researchers from University of Basel, whose study will be published in an issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, found that women rated positive and negative images as more emotionally stimulating than men did, and that their brains were more active than men’s when viewing negative pictures. 5241352878_f53a343088

Such findings seem to support a common perception that women are more emotionally sensitive than men “and provides evidence for gender differences on the neural level,” said lead author Annette Milnik of the University of Basel. Read More Here.