Instructor: Dr Mark Hurst, Winter 2007/08
Student: Elizabeth Lahren, A00092341
GOIN’ UP!
Strategies for lifting my mood/increasing positive emotions.
I’m a country gal. I’ve lived on a farm for most of my life, so my mood lifting strategies mostly deal with animals and improving their lives. This would include getting the wheelbarrow and pitchfork, shovel, and the hose. When younger, there were always the stalls and cow barn to clean out. Seeing a job well done, the animals in a clean environment, always made me feel really, really good. Besides, if I didn’t clean up after the animals, I had to walk through it to get to my chores. Cleaning was a good thing.Now that I’m an adult I only have a kitty and two horses. So to lift my spirits I will spend time with the kitty, brush him out and play with him. There’s something about that deep purr from way down in him somewhere, knowing that he has pleasure, that gives me a sense of pleasure also.The horses are a huge lift for me. One horse is a giant fellow with a heart murmur. I have had him for fifteen years. He can’t enjoy the activities of my life as before. We can’t go riding together, get lost in the woods, splash in the waves, or just enjoy a full blown gallop together. However, brushing him out, his huge black long mane, and his beautiful tail, always gives me extreme pleasure. He leans into the brush as it glides over his monstrous body and that in return gives me pleasure and a sense of satisfaction. Nothing else, and no one, exists at that time. We are alone in the universe, in the sun, just he and I. It is flow.Reading a good book will also bring up my mood. If I don’t like the life I’m living, then I go live another one in the pages of a good mystery or a love story about a dashing prince that comes to save me…until Doug gets home and it’s time to fix dinner. Sometimes he’ll bring home dinner and saves me. We play checkers together, cards, and read together in front of a cozy fire in the fireplace. This is nice also and it always brings up my mood and stops all the self-destructive talk that happens during the day. Being with a good friend is a good thing. GOIN’ DOWN !
Limiting my self-rumination, incessant, ongoing self-talk
This one is harder. I’m really bad about getting down on myself. So, to curb it, I do a lot of self-talk to counter argue with my thoughts. If I’m getting down on myself about being in school, then I counter argue my thoughts with the truths that I see that are evident in my progress in school. I remind myself of where I was emotionally when I started school, (suicidal) and where I am now (not suicidal). I think of my plans for the future, what I want to do now that the children are out and on their own, and the wonderful freedoms that I have now. That shuts up that rumination pretty darn fast and I try and keep it there.Another technique I use is just plain ‘breathing’. We all do it but I find myself in a bit of a panic and my breathing is waaaaaaaaaaaay too fast. I suffer from panic attacks. I was given drugs for it but of course those darn things cause more problems then you want so I took it upon myself to teach myself to sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooow down. This again involves the self-talk. “Okay, what’s the matter? Well, panicking isn’t going to help that. Remember when………okay, right, nothing ever happens as bad as I think it will. It’s going to be fine. Okay, slow the breathing, deeper, deeper. Alright, what’s fun to do right now? We could start that book. How about a walk? No? Homework? Oh god, no! Okay, let’s start a fire in the fireplace, go to that cute little store over there and get some stationary, or…………..Hey! That new movie should be on cd now. I’ll go get it and Doug and I can watch it tonight with some popcorn.” I’ve learned what my triggers are and I have now trained myself so well that I automatically will turn on my favorite movie, grab a book, hum “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”, blast the neighborhood with Barry White’s “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baaaaaaaaaaaaabe” while I wash the truck, dance to Barry White while I wash the truck (that will teach the neighbors to spy on me), or just start walking. Many times I just tell myself, “You are going to be just fine. Let’s think of something else”, and just force myself to do it. It works.I have also learned that if I DON’T control it, then it becomes a full-blown migraine and I’ve ended up in the emergency room three times with them. Just TRY and listen to another speech from a well-meaning nurse or technician telling you that “migraines are normally caused by excessive stress. Do you have any stress in your life right now?” Do I dare say, “Look lady, I’m a psychology student at Evergreen College and I’m studying ‘Positive Psychology’ and if you don’t cork it….”