Trigger Happy - Avoid Triggers, Stay Positive

Another picture from my Color Me Calm coloring book.  I like this one-she looks so calm and happy.  "Evening vespers" are a sunset prayer service found usually in Catholicism and I interpret this to mean that the girl in the picture is filling her head with positive thoughts, sounds, and sights before going to bed, which is a good idea.

Yesterday was World Mental Health Day and filling your mind with positivity before going to bed is a way you can stay in good mental health.  I do that by reading from several devotionals at night -if I am not too tired.  Doing that helps me refrain from criticizing myself and worrying about the next day.  I also need to stay away from things that may trigger me to become emotionally unbalanced.  For me, that means not watching cop shows or shows with graphic rape or abuse scenes or where the topic is about suicide or eating disorders.  Shows with those topics make me depressed and upset and so I avoid them.  It can be hard enough trying to remain positive when one has mental illness, so I might as well not fill it with any more unpleasant and stressful sounds and images than I need to.

If you've been following this blog for a while, then you know that I have been having a hard time with my body image lately.  My therapist does a twelve week course on body image that she wants me to take soon.  We use a workbook and have homework exercises that she says are really helpful for people like me.  I hope that I can take it-I think I could use the help.  If I do take it, I'll let you know what workbook I'm using and will share my insights.