•CREATE A SAFE SPACE WITHIN• . A dear friend of mine recently asked me how do I manage intrusive thoughts. These thought patterns are very common to experience when dealing with mental health - specially in anxiety and trauma recovery. Intrusive thoughts can take you down a rabbit hole of self-judgement, and it can get incredibly toxic, harsh and violent without reason. . During my treatment one of the first things my therapist taught me, was a technique used in CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) called "The Container". I had to imagine a box, as detailed as possible, where I could KINDLY place those intrusive thoughts and be able to move on with my day, instead of getting hung up on them. . I became incredibly curious about this box, it opened the possibility to create space within my own mind, to SAFELY put whatever thought I was not ready to process. Naturally, I had to build it!! I needed to know how this box would look and feel. What material? Size? Under what context would I place it?. . The time it took me to build it, allowed me to understand my own thought process. I discovered that the level of "intrusiveness" depended on how stressed or triggered I would get. So every time my mind would start, I'd interrupted the pattern by creating a new one saying: "Thank you for this thought, I know you are trying to protect me. I'll kindly place you in my box, to process you at a more appropriate time". It really encouraged me to be kinder to myself!. . The box is not particularly pretty, nor elaborate in design, but it helps me ground every time. Creating this safe space within, allowed me to develop a whole new narrative about how I tell my own story. A new story that is rich, layered and kind... Always reminding me that there is no timeline for our feelings, and that this process can also be filled with JOY!. . Swipe left to get a closer look of my box!🤓. . . #mentalhealthawareness #cultivatingjoy #weareborncreative #weareallinthistogther #arttherapy #artheals #intrusivethoughts #safecontainer (at Wynwood Art District) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuCbOsgHI_B/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5wbvc7yhkbli
