8. Start a Dream Journal
First, find a journal you like that
is pleasing to write in. Also, find a pen that is easy and pleasing to
write with. Keep these items in a place that is easy to reach while you
are lying in bed. When you are in bed and ready to go to sleep, close
your eyes and tell yourself: “I will remember my dreams tonight.” This
sets your intention in your mind. It may not work the first night, the
second night, or even for a few weeks. But eventually, it should work.
In the morning, the second you wake
up, reach for your dream journal and immediately start writing. If you
remember a dream, write about it in as much detail as you can. Even if
you don’t remember a dream, just start writing whatever impression is in
your head. As you write, dream impressions, even full dreams with
elaborate plots, may come into your head. If they don’t, you’ll still be
writing from the subconscious, which is more accessible in the first
few minutes after awakening.
Then, after a month has
passed, go back and read your journal. Do you see themes, motifs,
recurring images? These are probably signals from your subconscious.
Reflect on what they might be telling you about the direction your life
is going in, your health, your relationships, and your happiness.
9. Learn about Flower Remedies
Flower remedies or flower essences
are substances made from water and whole flowers, then preserved with
alcohol. They contain no actual flower parts, but people who use and
prescribe them believe they contain the flower’s essence or energy and
can promote emotional healing. The remedies are thought to work in a
vibrational, rather than a biochemical, way on the body. The typical
dosage is four drops of the flower remedy under the tongue four times
per day.
Flower remedies are a
noninvasive, safe, gentle way to balance the emotions. Yes, you drink
them, but they are considered noninvasive because no actual flower parts
remain in the remedy.
10. Try Flower Remedies
Bach flower remedies, the most widely
known, and other brands of flower essences are available in health food
stores and from holistic health care professionals. Different flower
remedies address different emotional imbalances, helping to clarify the
mind, “unstick” the emotions, and help to restore rational and
productive emotions. Often, several remedies are prescribed in
combination.
If you would like to try
making your own flower remedies, look for books that tell you how to do
it, or talk to your holistic health care practitioner. You can also buy
flower remedies from health food stores or holistic health
practitioners.
11. Get a Little Help from Your Friends
Let your friends help you manage your
stress! Some people already have a group of friends they can turn to,
but when things get stressful, it’s often easy to stop calling them. Do
you stop returning e-mails, calling your buddies, or going out with
your group when you are feeling stressed? Engage in some friend therapy
and give those buddies a call.
If you don’t have a ready-to-go
group of friends or have lost touch with yours, you may have to start
from scratch. One of the easiest ways to make friends is to join
something. Take a class, join a club, attend a church, find a support
group. You might need to try a few different things before you meet
people you can really relate to, but don’t give up.
12. Take Initiative
Treating your stress with friend
therapy doesn’t mean you sit at home alone and wait for your friends to
come to you. You take the initiative and get out there to make contact.
Sometimes, it just takes a few words to find someone who is in the same
position as you and needs friend therapy, too.
Just being with another
person—talking, having fun, taking a break from the daily routine—is a
great way to relax, raise your self-esteem, and have the chance to be
there for somebody else, too. You don’t have to do anything in
particular with your friends to make it friend therapy. You just have to
get a social life.
Of course, there are
limits to what friends can and should do for you. Part of friend therapy
is giving as well as taking. A productive friend therapy relationship
should certainly be reciprocal. If you use your friends for constant
unloading but never allow them to unload on you, they won’t be your
friends for long!
13. Hypnosis: Hype or Help?
While hypnosis has certainly been
used (or misused) by those seeking applause, hypnosis and hypnotherapy
are legitimate tools that are also used to help people put themselves
into more positive mental states. Hypnosis is, in essence, deep
relaxation coupled with visualization.
Hypnosis is not some
mysterious state in which you are completely at the mercy of the
hypnotist. While hypnotized, you retain your awareness, but your body
becomes extremely relaxed and disinclined to move, your awareness
becomes narrow, your thinking tends to become literal, and you become
much more open to suggestion than you would be in a nonhypnotic state.
This suggestibility is what makes hypnosis work.
14. What Happens During Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a state similar to
sleep. The body becomes so profoundly relaxed that it ceases to be a
distraction. The mind becomes highly focused and, thus, more able to do
what we want it to do. This focus makes the imagery we use to direct our
behavior and feelings more real, so real that our bodies respond to it.
This is nothing new. When watching a movie or even hearing a story, our
bodies often respond as if we were part of the action—we may experience
a faster heart rate at an exciting part, a surge of emotion at a
poignant part, feelings of anger at an injustice.
Hypnosis uses the body’s ability to
react to the mind by directing the mind in specific ways while the body
is relaxed. That’s all there is to it.
