(Written in 2015 – Sometimes in medical (Covid) times our minds just need a mental vacay)
Can just thinking about nature make you feel better? From first-hand experience, this Resort Girl believes that it can. Just this week, picturing a beach spot and sharing Resort Girl travels with a fellow RG — and my nurse — brought sunny skies after a necessary, but unnerving, medical procedure.
My RG nurse shared her favorite Florida getaway with me after the procedure. My nose could smell the salty air, and could I feel the sun on my face. I wanted to taste that low country cooking she was describing in delicious detail. And, even though I was clad in no-so-stylish medical attire while she spoke, we were both suddenly standing there in our RG lounge wear imaging this little piece of beach paradise.
Cognitive therapy also is a natural technique to handle everyday stressful situation — a little mind vacay for Resort Girls. A wise man once taught me how to use cognitive behavior instead of medicine to calm my very creative and sometimes overactive and reactive at times mind – which can be attributed to my DNA.
But all Resort Girls may want to try it out when facing a stressful life situation – to calm your mind to maybe make better decisions, or not say or do something reactive. It just breaks those 10 crucial seconds before words come out or adverse reactions start! It can also help you if you are temporarily in a place you don’t want to be — but need to be — like a hospital bed or having a medical procedure.
Here is the visual this wise man shared to calm the soul:
Picture a woman standing alongside a river bed with a beautiful hat in her hand. She may be someone you love and know like your mother or other RG BFF or maybe even you. Then, imagine this woman throwing her hat into the water and watch it slowly and gracefully gliding down the river bed. As you imagine it gliding downstream, it gives your mind just enough time to break that thought and ease into a calmer state.
(Today, this post is dedicated to my beautiful mother, who reads my blog everyday-but is presently in the hospital. She inspires great ideas and feedback and is my biggest fan and inspiration. Mother, we will be back at the beach soon – being Resort Girls. You will be out of the hospital…. and on the beach walking beside the dolphins again. Let’s keep that peaceful picture in our minds….)
Keep dreaming of those sunny blue skies Resort Girls… it is powerful medicine!
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