Elizabeth Houseman

Kalamazoo, MI, USA

Julia

Paula

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Sam .

Visualize a strong container to safely store troubling thoughts until you are ready to process them.

Science

Stress & Anxiety

Psychology

Stress

Guided Imagery

Visualization

English

Containing is a useful skill that we all need sometimes, when something difficult comes up for us, but we don't have time right now to deal with it.  Learning to use your imagination strategically to put things away for later can help you feel calmer and more focused right now.  Everything you put into your container will need to be taken out later, when you have the time, energy and support that you need, but for now, you can store things safely there, and take a break from them and be present.

Containing

 We all have things that come up in our minds that are troubling, and sometimes we don't have the time right now to give them the attention that they need. While it's not usually a good idea to ignore a troubling experience forever, it's best to come back to what's troubling us and find a way to resolve it for ourselves. Now is not always a good time for that. For those times when something needs to be put away for later, we can learn a skill called containing. Containing involves using your imagination to drive your emotions. Your imagination is really powerful. Let's explore it. If you like dogs, I want you to picture a little golden retriever puppy. If you don't like dogs, take some time to think of another cute thing that you'd like to imagine instead, and think of that when I describe the puppy. This little puppy I'm going to get you to imagine is so little that his fur is still all fluffy and it doesn't quite sit down on his back. The fluffy fur pokes through the little pads on his feet and it stands up a little on the top of his head. The puppy's running through tall grass and he's so little and the grass is so tall that he gets a little hidden in the grass, but because he's galloping, he's excited. He keeps bounding up above the tall grass. And suddenly he trips and falls over. Notice your body for a moment. Notice what you're feeling. Does it feel nice? Whatever feelings you've got, you got those feelings just from using your imagination and being willing to picture something in your mind. If I asked you to think about something not so nice, your body would feel differently too, wouldn't it? Your imagination is a powerful driver of your emotional system. So we're going to use the power of your imagination to think of something big enough and strong enough to hold whatever it is that you need to put away for later. Make sure that what you're putting away is a thought or a feeling or a memory, but not an aspect of you. Keep yourself close to yourself and look after yourself, but by all means put away those disturbing experiences for now. Take some time to picture this container really clearly and vividly. What's it made of? What colors and textures does it have? What about inside it? What does it look like in there? How big is this container? How do you open it and close it? Does it make a sound when you close it that's satisfying and you know it's shut? What do you need to have as a means of closing it and locking it up to know that whatever you've put in there will stay put until you can make the time to come back for it and deal with it? When you do come back, you might want to do that with the support of somebody. Let yourself imagine putting what's disturbing you into that container and closing up that container and locking it, sealing it tightly shut, and put the container somewhere safe and protected so you can find it again later when you're ready. Take a moment to notice how you're feeling right now. Did you put away everything you needed to for now? Please feel free to put away anything else that you might be better off addressing later so that you can feel calm and focused in the present. As you go through your day, if you notice anything else intruding on your day that would be better saved for later when you have the time and space to address it, remember that you can revisit this container in your mind and put things into it knowing that they'll be kept safe and you can come back for them later when the time is right.