HOW TO USE THE PERFECT DAY TECHNIQUE TO GET RID OF STRESS & ANXIETY
When you experience anxiety or depression, negative and irrational thoughts can flood your mind and feel overwhelming. You might have the same thought that makes you feel anxious all day long over and over again. These thoughts feel like they are spiraling out of control or have a snowball effect. Or you could have really negative, depressing, and sad thoughts that make you feel depression all day. As a therapist and counselor a great mental health technique that I teach my clients that comes from cognitive behavioral therapy is the “perfect day” technique. If I asked you to think about all the things you ate for dinner last week, say the alphabet backwards, and count in units of three in your head could you do it all the same time? Absolutely not! The “perfect day” technique takes advantage of this concept of not being able to think about too many things at once in order to distract your brain away from having anxiety provoking thoughts or ones that make you feel depression.
The “perfect day” technique consists of using your imagination to think about what a perfect day for you would be like in extreme detail by using all of your five senses. The five senses are: touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound. There are no limitations in reality when thinking about and visualizing what your perfect day would be like. Imagine you are anywhere you want to be, doing whatever you want to do, with anyone you would like. Break down this perfect day by incorporating each and every sense. This keeps your brain so busy and your thoughts so occupied on something that is positive and feels good that you will not be able to have negative thoughts that would bring you anxiety or depression.
Here is an example below:
I imagine that I am at the beach with my family. I think about how the ocean smells so amazing and strong (SENSE OF SMELL). As I walk along the shore I feel each grain of sand underneath my toes and the waves of the cool water move back and forth hitting my legs (SENSE OF TOUCH). I hear the waves crashing into the shore and the laughter of my family as they splash each other and play in the ocean (SENSE OF SOUND). I feel very thirsty so I decide to reach into my cooler and get a large bottle of lemonade which tastes very citrusy and sweet (SENSE OF TASTE). I decide to sit on the sand and watch my family play tag chasing each other up and down the shore (SENSE OF SIGHT).
In the example above you can see how I incorporate all five senses in visualizing my “perfect day” at the beach. Use this cognitive behavioral therapy mental health technique whenever you are having incessant negative, irrational, or anxious thoughts. Think about your perfect day for as long as it takes to be fully distracted away from what you were thinking about that was provoking your anxiety or depression. Be creative and enjoy the experience when using this anxiety and depression battling technique!
ABOUT ESSENCE OF HEALING COUNSELING:
Roberta Alves is a therapist and counselor at the Essence of Healing Counseling with an office located in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. She is a Certified Anxiety Specialist and uses a scientific and evidence based type of therapy called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Research has shown that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is proven to be extremely effective in treating anxiety. Roberta is truly passionate about the work she does and loves serving her clients in Ft. Lauderdale and the surrounding South Florida areas. If you want to learn the proven techniques to overcome your anxiety to schedule an appointment today.
