Welcome.
This is a short drawing practice to help you notice and express what you're feeling.
Whatever label you place on that feeling,
Pleasant,
Messy,
Hard or otherwise,
This exercise gives you a gentle way to acknowledge it,
Examine it and record it as part of a good self-care practice.
Think of this as emotional hygiene,
Like brushing your teeth between dental visits.
So checking in with your emotion helps you know when you might need extra care or outside support.
If at any point this practice brings up strong memories,
Overwhelming feelings or distress,
Please pause.
And if you feel the need to,
Reach out to a trusted person or a professional.
Now let's begin.
Find a place where you won't be disturbed for the next 10 minutes.
Bring paper and something to draw with.
You can use one color or many,
Whatever calls to you.
When you're settled and ready to draw,
You can begin by drawing a simple person.
A stick figure is enough.
This is you in this moment.
Don't worry about accuracy or beauty.
Just draw.
Draw slowly.
Breathe deeply.
Once your person is on the page,
Settle into your breath.
Inhale fully.
Hold for a second and exhale completely.
Repeat this until you feel grounded.
Close your eyes if it helps.
Turn your attention inward.
Now ask yourself,
What am I feeling right now?
Does this feeling live in your chest,
Your throat,
Your belly,
Your shoulders or stomach?
Or somewhere else in your body?
What shape is this feeling?
If you were to assign it a shape,
What's the first shape that comes to mind?
What color is it?
What size is this feeling relative to your body?
Gain an idea of how big or how small this feeling is.
Does this feeling have a temperature?
Is it hot or is it cold?
Is it heavy?
Perhaps it's light?
What does it feel like to the touch?
Does it have a smooth surface,
A spiky surface or a soft surface?
When you sense it clearly,
Open your eyes and draw that feeling onto your person in the spot where you felt it.
Draw it in the shape that you saw it.
Draw it in the color that you saw.
Give it the texture that you felt.
Try to relay all of the traits of the feeling that you felt.
Notice how,
As you are drawing this feeling,
That the thing that was once inside you is now on the page.
Pause a moment,
Inhale and exhale.
Now,
Let's zoom in.
Draw a square around the shape that you've drawn on your person.
Next to the person,
Draw a larger square,
The same height as your figure.
Connect the corners of both squares.
The top right of the smaller square joins to the top right of the bigger square,
And so on for all four corners of the squares.
This larger square is your microscope slide.
Within this slide,
Redraw that feeling in more detail.
Add texture,
Add color,
Add all of the little details that you noticed about that feeling.
Imagine that you're looking at it through a microscope,
So those details are even more visible.
When you feel like you've completed the drawing of this feeling,
Give it a face,
Eyes,
A mouth,
Maybe even a nose and eyebrows.
However you choose to,
Give your feeling a face.
If you want to,
You can even give it a name.
Now,
Look at the face.
What is its expression?
Inside the slide,
Write all of the words or short phrases that this emotion is currently thinking or saying to itself.
Keep breathing gently as you write.
Fill the entire space of the slide.
Stop only when there's nothing more to write.
Sit quietly.
Breathe.
Now ask this little character,
What else?
And write that down.
Ask again,
What else?
And write down anything that comes up.
One more time,
Just to make sure.
Ask,
What else?
And finally,
Ask this little feeling character,
What do you need right now?
Look into its eyes and listen.
On another part of the page,
You can write down every answer that comes to you.
What would help this feeling or emotion feel seen?
What would make it feel whole?
What support does it need?
Write.
Write down as much or as little as feels relevant and important.
Now,
Circle all of these answers that your little character has given you.
And draw an arrow back to the little person on the page next to the slide.
Everything you circled is what you need right now.
Take a deep breath in.
Hold it.
And exhale slowly.
Thank your little emotion character.
Choose at least one thing from the list to do in the next 24 hours.
You may want to journal more or call a friend or talk to a professional.
Do whatever feels right for you.
And well done for making space for yourself.
You have identified and expressed what you're feeling right now.
And that is a powerful act of self-care.
