These practices consist of self-soothing to recognize and take care of our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. For most of us battling trauma, self-nurturing is a foreign language. We don’t know where to begin. No one taught us. We weren’t taught how to self-nurture in school (although maybe we should have). And most of us grew up with parents who had no clue how to self-nurture themselves, let alone how to nurture their kids. We have had few if any role models to show us how to feel safe in our bodies, self-regulate intense emotions like fear, move through negative feelings and thoughts, differentiate between safe or unsafe environments and people, or build healthy relationships. And any conversation around self-nurturing and self-care has to address the elephant in the room. Many of us with hidden trauma hold devastating beliefs that we don’t deserve anything good or pleasurable or safe in this world. We believe we don’t deserve to feel loved, happy, respected, or at peace.

Downloads

• Dailies Check-In & Feelings Wheel

Session Assignments

Assignment 1:

Write down one or two self care activities that you can start to do for yourself today in each category:  

• Physical - take a bath, get dressed, eat
• Emotional - talk to a friend for support
• Mental - Look up an article or read a book on recovery
• Spiritual - Pray, read scriptures, meditate

Assignment 2:

Using the feelings wheel check-in with your emotions each day for a month. You only need to pick one emotion. If you notice more than one emotion pick the one that stands out the most. You can download the feelings wheel and the check-in sheet below.