Exercise - How Are You Feeling Today?

6 FACES SHOWING EMOTIONS

Mental Health & Wellness Exercise: How are you feeling today?

Take a moment, feel your breath, feel your body, and see if you can recognize and identify the emotions and feelings you are experiencing at this moment. Do not judge them or try to get rid of them or transform them. Whatever feelings you are experiencing are completely normal reactions to completely abnormal situations. Just breathe.

Once you can name an emotion or two, or twelve, try to identify the next best feeling thought. 

  • Would it feel good to move your body? 

  • Would it feel good to spend time with family? 

  • Or call a friend? 

  • Or do something with your hands like cook or organize something, make a project or fix something? 

Take a look at this list and see which category stands out today for you and do it.

  • Beliefs (values, beliefs, self-statements)

  • Affect (expression of feelings)

  • Social (time with others)

  • Imagination (creativity, humor)

  • Cognition (information gathering, organizing)

  • Physical (for your body and your mind) 

Moving forward, select an activity once daily for good self-care. Introduce this moment to breathe and connect with your body and emotions to your housemates and make it a daily household habit or ritual to practice good mental health hygiene during social distancing or quarantine. You wash your hands multiple times a day, take each 20 second pause as an opportunity to breathe, connect with your body and name what you are feeling. Good mental health hygiene is that easy- and also that important!

Source: https://sites.google.com/arlington.k12.ma.us/mentalhealthandwellbeing/home