(A Life Hack worth Knowing!)

A lot can be accomplished in a 50 minute counselling session. In order to keep the momentum of progress in healing, it is important to take some time to reflect on the session rather than shutting it out once you leave the safety of the counselling room and re-enter the busy-ness of daily life. For this reason, Counsellors often suggest “homework” to clients: small things a person can do between sessions that will help them to stay connected with their healing journey.

This is especially true when I am working with folks experiencing symptoms of anxiety. The “homework” I give is often about getting grounded in the present moment: a healthful way to cope with the strong emotions. We now live in an age where there are apps readily available to help with this. While many of these apps are fantastic, some cost money, and some are a little confusing to use. I’d like to share a strategy that I stumbled into – which is both free and user-friendly!

Many people use Instagram to stay connected with friends. However, what if every time you opened Instagram, you were flooded with beautiful words, uplifting images, motivational quotes, and messages of hope? It truly is that spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down – in this case, the medicine is acceptance of the trials and tribulations that we as humans are bound to come face-to-face with at some point, and the sugar is our ability to cope with it – or ride the waves of strong emotion.

Want to give it a go? Here are 3 simple steps to get started:

1. Create an Instagram account (skip this step if you already have one)
2. Use the search button to add as many people and businesses as you can that reflect positivity. You may need to do a bit of research here, and don’t feel bad about removing someone if you discover they aren’t posting the positivity you had hoped for.
3. Open the app daily and scroll through the posts to get your daily dose of happy!

Here are some examples to get you started:

• dailyom (Mindfulness quotes)
• brenebrown (Brene Brown, Gifts of Imperfection)
• eckharttolle (Eckhart Tolle, spiritual teacher)
• donmiguelruiz (Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements)
• beherenownetwork (mindfulness quotes)
• thichnhathanh.bot (Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes)
• jack_kornfield (Jack Kornfield, (author, Buddhist Practitioner)
• happy_maven (mindfulness and positive psychology quotes, therapy dog)
• puppology (photos of dogs that, if you like dogs, is sure to make you smile!)
• tarabrach (Tara Brach, psychologist and mindfulness teacher)
• mygrateful.life (gratitude and mindfulness quotes)
• insightla (mindfulness quotes)
• drdansiegel (Daniel Siegel, psychiatrist, author, mindfulness teacher)
• drpeterlevine (Peter Levine, author, somatic experiencing teacher)
• stevefarber (motivational speaker)
• melrobbinslive (motivational speaker)
• theellenshow (Ellen Degeneres)
• calm (mindfulness quotes)

Have more to add? Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

Credits:
– “A spoonful of sugar” quote – Mary Poppins
– Instagram image – Thich Nhat Hanh
– Instagram image – Jack Kornfield
– Instagram image – Dailyom