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Self-Care: Finding the right Fuel for your Tank

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Self-care is a word that is thrown around a lot these days, it’s important to know what it means and how to act on it. An analogy that is usually used is that when your emotional gas tank is on E, self-care is what refuels your tank . But self-care can be different for each individual and connecting to what it means to you personally. Here is a different way to think differently about self-care and ways of implementing it into your life, so you can find the right fuel for your tank . What is self-care? Self-care is doing small actions or activities which are connected to specific personal values . When is self-care needed? Self-care can be used at any time, and should be implemented on a daily and weekly basis in order to maintain wellbeing.  Having extensive burnout or exhaustion Prolonged feelings of anxiety, depression, or anger Extreme difficulties with making major decisions  Challenges finding direction in life What are values? Values are the deeply held views and verbs that
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Train of Thought

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  Train of Thought  Mindfulness is a helpful way of being able to take a conscious step away from our thoughts, emotions, and even physical experiences. There are many different exercises which can be helpful in mindfulness and it is important to find one that works for you.  This activity is called the train of thought . It’s a visual activity that takes 2-5 minutes to do. It can usually be helpful if you’ve noticed you’re mind has felt flooded with a lot of thoughts and emotions recently, as well as if you have had a lot of stress.   First to do the activity first sit in a comfortable position with limited distractions, and close your eyes.  Imagine yourself driving in your car in a rush to be somewhere and then you come to a railroad track with a very slow train going by.  Even though your frustrated there’s no other routes around, so go ahead and put the car in park and sit back and relax. You’ve been needing a second to just sit anyway.  As your sitting there watch the train cars
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USU Ag Wellness Podcast

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Check out the podcast we did with USU about mental health and agriculture.  USU Podcast
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Reflective Listening

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  Reflective listening is a way to show that you are accurately hearing what another person is saying. Reflective listening can be helpful with a disagreement, argument, or problem solving. The reason this helps is because: A . You can better see their problem and solution , from a logical and emotional perspective. B . When someone feels their point of view is truly seen, they are more likely to lower their defenses and hear your personal point of view as well. Be present with the other person  (focus completely on the moment with that individual, stop what you are doing, remove distractions and have an environment where you can focus on them) Listen intently to what they are saying  (stay tuned only to what they are saying, do not go over in your head what you would like to say, the most important thing is hearing not speaking) Say back to them in your own words what you think they are trying to communicate "What I hear you saying is ..." Ask them if what you said is
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Finding Shelter in the Emotional Weather

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Finding Shelter in the Emotional Weather Emotions can be confusing because they can come and go at different times, similar to the weather. We often would like to change our emotions, Feel excited rather than anxious, or joyful rather than sad. But the truth is that we can't directly and automatically just change our emotions. Very similar to the weather, we can't control it, we have to let it pass through. The good news is that there are ways that we can be able to take shelter when it feels like there is an emotional storm happening, and ways that we can find safety until the overwhelming emotions pass. Here is a list of things to keep in mind when you are feeling overwhelmed that can help temporarily with managing intense emotions. Sometimes it can help identifying these things before hand, and writing them down, either in your phone or on a small card you can keep in your wallet, so when you are feeling like in an emotional crisis, you can pull the list up for reference. -
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Distraction Tools

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  Distraction Tools What are they? Distraction tools are any activity that turns our thoughts away from an emotionally triggering or stressful situation, and helps us focus on something different and less distressing. It can be an escape from reality for a moment, and helps give us space before coming back and addressing  an emotional challenge, when we feel more ability and strength to manage it.   How do they work? Distraction tools are effective because they are healthy ways of going into the numbing mode, as referred to in the mindfulness skills section. Our brains naturally want to numb because they get tired of being in the problem solving mode continually. When a problem gets too overwhelming it can be beneficial to take a step away from the problem for a little bit in order to decrease panic and pressure into making quick decisions. And when we need to come back to a problem sometimes the break away from it allows us to come back at it with a new perspective.  When it comes to
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Mindfullness Skills

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  Mindfulness Tools What are they? Mindfulness skills are a way for us to build internal awareness . They allow us to see our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations without being attached or identifying with them. One way of looking at it is sitting on the beach and watching the waves come in and out versus being in the waves and being thrown around by them. Being on the beach is a much calmer spot to be, and you don’t worry about drowning. Mindfulness lets you sit on the beach. Mindfulness also allows you to sit with emotions and thoughts rather than avoid them.   How do they work? One way to explain mindfulness skills is being able to understand the 3 levels of awareness we tend to be in. The middle level (or the main floor), is where we are continually using our brain which creates thoughts and emotions in order to problem solve how to survive in everyday life, whether that be physical, social, or occupational. Living on the main floor and being in continual problem solving mod
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