Robin Raven - The Little Book of Self-Soothing: 150 Ways to Manage Emotions, Relieve Stress, and Restore Calm

The Little Book of Self-Soothing

150 Ways to Manage Emotions, Relieve Stress, and Restore Calm

Robin Raven

This book is dedicated to Joyce Houser, MFT.

Joyce, youre a shining, creative force for good in the world! Thanks for inspiring me on my journey of self-love and self-soothing.

Self-soothing is the process of taking immediate actions to help you feel better in this exact moment. It addresses your physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional needs to help you reduce everyday stresses, quiet the noise around you, and regain a sense of calm. Whether you just got bad news, feel anxiety creeping in, or are overstimulated after being in a loud group, its important to learn self-soothing techniques that you can call upon to restore your physical and emotional health.

The Little Book of Self-Soothing is your guide to calming yourself when your body or the environment around you feels uncomfortable, unpleasant, or overwhelming. Like self-care and self-healing, self-soothing empowers you to take control of your situation and give your body what it needs in the moment. Though they are complementary, self-soothing differs from both self-care and self-healing. Self-care refers to the daily habits and actions you do to keep yourself mentally, physically, and spiritually healthy, while self-healing is more about long-term actions and things like seeing a therapist to heal from trauma. All three of these types of self-awareness are an important part of overall well-being.

The ideas and suggestions in this book will help you assemble a tool box of self-soothing techniques. Each of the three main sectionsbody, mind, and spiritoffers dozens of actionable ways to soothe yourself, whether in the short or long term. With these activities, youll be able to support your overall well-being and health when you need a helping hand. For example, youll:

• Go for a Walk in Nature
• Try Paired Muscle Relaxation
• Transform Judgmental Thoughts
• Let Go of False Worries
• Visualize a Treasure Chest of Comforts
• Detox Your Spirit

You can do most of these 150 exercises whenever you need to soothe yourself, whether you are at home, at work, or even on the go.

If you like, you can start at the beginning of the book and try a different self-soothing exercise any time you need it, or you can look through the contents to find an exercise that resonates with you at any particular moment. You might consider keeping a companion journal to this book so that you can write about what your feelings are before, during, and after each exercise. This record can help you identify the techniques that work best for you.

This book can empower you at every step of your self-soothing journey. These exercises and ideas will remind you to check in with your body and feelings during difficult moments and take action to recover your inner and outer peace. As you feel yourself move from agitated, tense, and upset to cool, calm, and collected, you will reclaim your sense of balance and well-being. Let The Little Book of Self-Soothing help you face lifes ups and downs with confidence, composure, and grace.

Relax with Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is a holistic healing practice that uses scents to enhance your emotional and overall well-being. It can be especially helpful for self-soothing, as comforting and restful scents provide a calming atmosphere for you to breathe in and focus on.

Discovering which scents best soothe you will take a little trial and error. Start by gathering a variety of different essential oils. Consider popular ones like lavender, peppermint, rosemary, sweet orange, spearmint, pine, and cinnamon.

Now get a bunch of cotton rounds and sit down with your essential oils. Pour a couple of drops of one essential oil onto a cotton round. Hold it about six inches from your nose. Close your eyes and gently breathe in through your nose. Hold it closer if needed. Do you feel energized or calmed? Write down how that scent makes you feel.

Wait a few minutes, then repeat the practice for each of your chosen scents. After you try them all, look over your notes and decide which ones you want to use regularly for self-soothing.

Let Music Move Your Body

Getting your body in motion can actually calm and soothe your mind. How? When youre doing something fun that requires focus, its easier to let go of anxiety, at least for a little while.

Start by turning on a song that usually inspires joy. Now close your eyes. Focus on the music and how you want to move your body. Imagine the music as a physical force touching your feet, ankles, legs, thighs, pelvis, stomach, midriff, chest, arms, shoulders, neck, face, and scalp. How do the parts of your body want to respond to the music? Trust your instincts. For example, do your feet want to tap to the music? Do they want to jump or spin instead? Move your feet however feels best to you.

How about your legs? Perhaps your legs want to glide across the floor, pretending that youre an ice dancer. Get your legs and feet working together with the music.

Now bring in your whole body. Throw your arms up in the air. Twist and turn from your waist. Bop your head to the beat if youre inspired to do so. Do any movements youd like as long as you are engaging your whole body.

When the song ends, rest and reflect on how the dancing soothed you. Then put on another song and repeat the activity or just relax and revel in the moment.

Hold Your Heart While Humming

Your heart is the emotional center of your body. Focusing on it can be soothing and empowering, and this exercise may also inspire greater feelings of love for yourself.

First, get as comfortable as you can. Once you feel physically relaxed, place your hand on your heart and start to hum. Keep humming for about ten seconds, then pause.

Take your hand off your heart. Check in with yourself and assess the physical sensations you feel right now.

Now place your hand gently on your heart again and start humming. Hum for as long as it feels comfortable. As you do, think about the love that you have for yourself. If you arent feeling love for yourself in this moment, act as if and pretend that you do.

Take a break, then once again put your hand over your heart and start humming. Envision love radiating from your heart and through your body, then try to visualize sending that love into the world. Remind yourself of all the power and love that you carry within you.

Be a Sloth

Soothe yourself by getting in touch with your inner sloth. In addition to being adorable, sloths are known for moving very slowlyin stark contrast to the rapid pulse of modern society that causes humans to rush through our lives.

For the moment, reject societys fast-paced pressures. Instead, slow down and behave as though you were a sloth. Its okay to feel silly at first. Embrace that!