My Mantra: “I’m a great mom, I’m lots of fun, I keep my cool, cause that’s my rule”

Bag-it-all (Worry Container)

Alternatives Although visualization exercises are a tool well worth working to achieve, if you ﬁnd they add stress instead of removing it, try one of following options instead.

• Draw a bag on a piece of paper and then follow through the exercise by writing words or creating images to represent your stressors inside the bag. Be sure to do the breathing and tension- removing pieces as you do your drawing.

• Find a nice bag and collect small objects you can use to represent your stresses as well as small slips of paper. As you work through the exercise, deposit objects or write your stressors on slips of paper to put in the bag. Do not rush the process and do not omit the breathing and tension-releasing or you might ﬁnd your deep-seated stressors will stay buried and tension will not leave your body.

Because these exercises give you something more concrete to work with, I would suggest you dump the bag out at the end of each day into a tub and/or destroy the papers. Reading them will only bring your stressors back into your conscience, so this is not a picture you want to post up or dwell on in any way throughout your day. The idea is to release the pent-up tension that comes from holding on to these thoughts. Once they have been moved from your mind to the bag, the objects have done their job and are no longer important.

Bag it all recording