I am not a licensed therapist or social worker. I personally have gone through Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT) which has helped me with cope with anxiety attacks. Guided meditation is one tool that I have found to be extremely helpful, but my happy place isn't a beach or a forrest or outerspace, its a bath tub! I was trying to think of ways to clear my mind so I could fall asleep better and I came up with this visual, of a tub being emptied. I thought I would write it down to help my friends who are also coping with anxiety, but reading while you're trying to sleep is anxiety inducing for some. I have included the transcript below. Your mind is full. You can’t sleep.
Gently, dip your hand into your thoughts so that you do not disturb them. There is a slight ripple around your wrist. It’s cold, murky, and thick with worry and negativity. It’s hard to begin to even sift through these thoughts. You lift up your hand, now covered with thick dark thoughts dripping off your fingers and back into your mind.
You can’t see it right now, but at the very bottom of these thoughts, there is a drain with a heavy plug.
Determined, you roll up your sleeves. You gently dip your hand back in to the cool murky darkness. Your fingers are met with a viscous resistance, but as long as you move slowly, the thoughts give way to your pressure. Now, slowly, you apply more pressure, up to your elbow. You still have not reached the bottom, but you know it’s there. You keep applying steady pressure, slowly, deeper into the thick cold murkiness of your own thoughts. As the thoughts reach your shoulder, your fingertips gently brush against the bottom of your mind. You have reached your goal, you gently swirl your fingers across the smooth cold basin, and soon you find the chain. You firmly grasp the chain and wrap it around your hand, careful not to disturb your thoughts. Then, with a gentle tug, you feel some tension, but then a release as the plug releases the drain.
You pull your arm out of your mind, and watch as the once overwhelmingly stagnant pool of your thoughts create a small vortex directly above where the plug used to be. Slowly but surely, your thoughts drain from your mind, leaving a pristine lining. Not even a droplet, not even a residue. All of your thoughts slowly flow in a vortex leaving you with a clean and empty mind. You found your way with persistence. You found your way with peaceful and deliberate movement. You can control your thoughts when you are peaceful and persistent. Sometimes our thoughts build up to the point that it’s overwhelming, but with your peace and persistence, you can empty your mind once more. And there you find a place of contentment.
Guided Meditation written by Bridget Bai
Video "Underwater Seabed Light" downloaded from user motionstock on pixbay
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