Mindfulness Strategy #7: Changing Your View ..................Pages

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

What (Description): Changing your view (reframing) is a way to look differently at something (problem, event, issue) that makes you feel stressed. This can make that something feel smaller or help you see the event in a better way.

Where (Setting): Anywhere you can safely stop what you are doing and find a place to think (and maybe someone to talk to).

When to Use: When you get stuck in the past, have a problem now, or think that things will not get better.

Why (Benefits): Helps you feel better, be happier, have more success, be able to do things you couldn’t do before, and let go of the past.

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

How (Task Analysis):

1.Take a breath. 2.Pick something that is bothering you. 3.Decide if what is bothering you is small, medium, or large. 4.Think about what happened and how it makes you feel. 5.Decide if your reaction is small, medium, or large. 6.Decide if the size of the thing that is bothering you matches the size of your reaction.

Take a breath and think kindly about yourself.

Picture what is bothering you getting smaller, like a leaf floating away on the water. 7.Think about how you feel now.

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

Step 1: Take a deep breath.

Step 2: Pick something that is bothering you.

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

Step 3: Decide if what is bothering you is small, medium or large.

Step 4: Think about what happened and how it made you feel.

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

Step 5: Decide if your reaction is small, medium or large.

Step 6: Decide if the thing that is bothering you matches the size of your reaction.

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

Step 7: Take a breath and think kindly of yourself.

Step 8: Think of what is bothering you getting smaller, like a leaf floating away on the water.

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

Step 9: Think of how you feel now.

Practice (Video/In-Person Script)

Let’s practice changing your view. Start by taking a breath. Think about something that is bothering you. Is it small, medium, or large? What happened? How does it make you feel?

Now take another breath and think kindly about yourself. Picture what is bothering you getting smaller. Now picture it floating away like a leaf on the water.

Think about how you feel now. When something like this happens again, try to match your reaction to it to the size of the leaf you just pictured.

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

Discussion Prompts:

• How did that make you feel? • Do you think this is a good thing for you? • When do you think you could use this?

Sample responses: Anytime you are frustrated, angry, nervous, or your emotions are high, and you want to change how you feel and react to problems.)

Modifications:

• Decide if something bothering you is heavy or light. • Use the positive self-talk Q-TIP strategy:

Quit Taking It Personally. • Bring a Q-Tip with you to important meetings or conversations to remind you of this mindset. • Notice when you are feeling good and hold that feeling in your heart. • Reframe negative thoughts into positive ones. • Change thoughts of “I can’t” to “I can” or “I can’t yet.” • Make your power pose.

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

Modifications (continued):

• Notice when you are having negative thoughts. • Ask others to ring a bell, make a sound, or show you in another way that you are having negative thoughts. • Let them float away like a cloud or pop them like bubbles.

Managing Stress • Choosing strategies

Strategy #7: Changing your View

Meditation Script:

Stop what you are doing. Get your body comfortable. Smile with your lips together. Notice how just that little change makes you feel. Take a deep breath in through your nose slowly. 1, 2, 3, 4. Breathe out through your mouth slowly. 1, 2, 3, 4. Keep breathing deeply and slowly. In 2, 3, 4. Out 2, 3, 4 ...

When you breathe out, try to let go of any tightness in your body. Relax your face, shoulders, belly, and legs.

Imagine you are sitting by a gently flowing stream. Imagine you are watching leaves floating by you in the stream. (Pause)

If you notice a thought in your mind, imagine placing it on a leaf. Imagine watching the leaf with the thought on it float by on the stream. (Pause) If you notice a feeling in your mind, imagine placing it on a leaf. Imagine watching the leaf with the feeling on it float by on the stream. (Pause)

Keep watching the stream and place any thoughts or feelings on the leaves and let them float by. (Pause) Let the stream fade away in your mind. Take another breath. Think about how you feel.