traumasurvivors:

Grounding Techniques

For anxiety, panic attacks, flashbacks and/or nightmares.

In those moments, it can be hard to think of what to do. Please consider writing yourself a to do list for those moments that you can go through. Whether it is things from this list I am sharing with you or your own grounding methods you have thought of. Write a step by step of how to get yourself grounded that you can have on your phone or notebook. 

Physical Sensations

• Put your hands in cold water (you could even hold an ice cube.)
• Squeeze something soft like a blanket or stuffed animal.
• Hold a favourite item like a stimming toy or something you love. If you are outside, consider picking up a leaf (or rock etc) and examining it and how it feels. 
• Put your hand over your heart and feel it. You are here. You are present. Inhale (through your nose) for four seconds and Exhale (through your mouth) for six seconds.
• Cuddle or pet your dog/cat if you have one.

Think of things you enjoy touching. I know someone who keeps bubble wrap around so they can pop it when they feel distressed.

Taste

• Drink or eat something (if you can) with a strong taste. (Something really sour, maybe something spicy, or anything with a strong taste.)
• Chew gum or suck on a mint or similar.
• Let a chocolate or similar melt in your mouth. Really focus on the taste and the sensation.
• Drink a cold or hot beverage.

Please be aware of your limits. Are you going to be able to focus on this? Is there risk of you choking if you panic and/or dissociate heavily?

Sight

• What do you see now? What colours are the walls? What is the floor made of? Name five items in the room with you?

Scent

• Spray a scent that is non triggering like a body spray, or air freshener.
• Have some essential oils to smell when you need.
• Do not light a candle if there is a risk of you dissociating too much to remember it. This can be dangerous. Please only light a scented candle if you are certain it is safe to do so.

Sound

• Put on a non-triggering movie/show/youtube video
• Put on some non-triggering music.
• Listen to the sounds where you are and list them off. Are there bugs chirping outside? Are people doing work outside? Do you hear a heater/fan going? Etc.
• Play nature sounds (there are apps that do relaxing sounds. Consider downloading one.)
• Call a friend. (If this happens in the middle of the night, maybe ask a trusted friend to send you some recordings you can play of them saying calming things for you?)
• Listen to an audio book or read a book you like out loud.

Other

• Have an anchoring phrase/mantra like: “My name is ___. I am ___ years old. I live in ___. I am safe. ”
• Have a soothing or distracting app you go to on your phone. (There are colouring apps and just nice games or activities to do.)

Remember that even if it does not feel like it right now, you are going to be okay. You’ve gotten through this before and you can do it again. I believe in you. I hope you believe in you, too.

fromthewondersystem:

Dissociation and Memory Loss

I’m a little wiped out today, so I don’t have a ton, but here’s what I do have! I’ll start with some grounding tools and techniques for dissociation my therapist shared with me.

• A grounding box: Put different things in here that stimulate your senses. This includes things that are visually appealing, things that have strong scents (I’ve found smell to be one of the easiest ways to ground for myself), things with different textures, things that make certain noises, etc.
• Setting up a calm place you can go to in your mind when you’re stressed or triggered can help with grounding. It involves taking a memory of a place and time where you felt safe and calm and going through your senses in that memory to help remind yourself of that feeling. You also set up a word connected to the memory and reinforce that connection to help you get there more easily.
• Use an anchor item. This can be rings, a bracelet, a key chain, or fidget toys that can help you be more present in the moment.
• Rub ice on your left collarbone.
• Use a heating pad or warm item on tense areas like your stomach, shoulders, chest, or feet.
• Salt on your tongue, sour candy, lemon or lime juice, mint candy, breath strips (for the intense mint), and (peppermint) five gum can all help you with grounding by stimulating your sense of taste and bringing you to focus on that as you come back from dissociation.
• Cold showers or splashing cold water on your face can sometimes help with grounding.
• Tip: Look for yawning as an indicator you are becoming more grounded.

While we do what we can to lower dissociation from day to day, amnesia can still be a problem. Here are some tips for identifying/dealing with amnesia from DID/OSDD.

• First I wanna share a tip for my fellow systems with ADHD out there. I’ve now had two therapists let me know a good way of identifying whether memory loss is due to ADHD or dissociation. With memory loss in ADHD, if someone reminds you of something, you’re likely to remember it once they tell you, but with dissociative memory loss, you may not actually recall the memory even after someone tells you about it.
• There are different types of inter-identity amnesia you can experience with DID. What we often call blackouts are more well-known, where it seems like a whole chunk of your day/week is just fully missing. You don’t know much about the time you lost. With what we often call greyouts, the memory is more like knowing what happened than visually remembering, in the way that it’s more like someone gave you a summary of what happened while you were out. In some cases, you may initially remember everything that happened after a switch, but those memories fade soon after.
• Some of what helps me identify which alters were present during certain memories is going through the memory and seeing if it seems like it’s in first person or third person to me. Most people have memories in first person, and if I as an alter was fronting (and not just co-con or remembering shared memories with other alters), I may see the memory from a first-person point of view, while if it belongs to someone else, it’ll seem more in third person.
• Have a (private) place to keep important basic info about yourself if you need it/can’t remember. If you have a journal, you can dedicate a couple pages to this.
• Setting reminders/alarms to go off when something needs to be done (and making sure I write what I’m reminding myself about) is really helpful in trying to be less forgetful.
• Something that’s been helping me out a lot lately is having a small whiteboard on the wall by my bed. It’s got different daily tasks (including a lot of self-care like drinking water, taking meds, brushing my teeth) and check boxes next to each task. I’ve found this easier than bullet journaling personally, because I’ll often forget I even have a bullet journal. When this is on my wall, I can’t miss it. It’s also satisfying to check off boxes as I complete things, and if I get everything done I need to, I give myself a gold star sticker, and I give myself a silver star sticker if I got everything but one thing done, so I don’t just give up if I miss something during the day.

drawingden:

Clothes and Folds Tutorial by fakhear

Support the artist and visit their Etsy!

the-brambled-way:

This is my own personal correspondence table for the use of alcohol in magick. It may not match your own usage of alcohol, but if you like anything you see, feel free to adopt it. Some of this is based in what the alcohol is made from, some on its history, and some of this is based in personal experience or associations. This is not about alcohol as an offering, but the usage of it as a spell component. The list is in no way exhaustive and does not include mixed drinks or brands. Just your basics.

Distilled Spirits

• Absinthe: (Air) Useful in protection work. It is especially useful for safe astral travel. Using it to draw sigils for safe travels on one’s body before leaving it can keep away nasties in the meantime.
• Gin: (Earth) Useful in spells promoting good health and is good as a binding ingredient for other alcohols’ properties. It can also be a good to use if the caster of the spell lives in poverty and this is pertinent to the spell in some way.
• Rum: (Water) Useful in money spells or spells for gaining other material possessions. Rum can be especially useful in a spell involving an underhanded motive or intention, especially if the results leave you with more as a side effect of the spell’s main goal.
• Tequila: (Fire) Tequila is all about timing. Perfect, exact timing. It can be used in spells involving punctuality, appointments, or decision making. It can be used when something has to be done just right, as well. Never use it for something involving the past or anything about the future. Tequila is always for the present, and in this moment, as they come issues.
• Vodka: (Fire and Water) Good for strength and courage. Lifting yourself up by the bootstraps and carrying on with what needs to be done no matter how hard it is or how tired you are. Can be used in spells involving getting through difficult times, motivation, pushing forward, finishing projects. Shit’s gotta get done? Vodka.
• Whiskey: (Water) Whiskey can be used in spells to promote change, usually when change is unwanted by someone else. It helps bypass interference and bring the change about in ways that which opposes it does not immediately notice.
• Brandy: (Earth) Brandy can be used in love spells, especially those for preserving pre-existing love. It can also be used for attracting a long-lasting love as opposed to a fling.

Fermented Beverages

• Beer: (Earth) Beer is used in spells involving the home, family, and the past. It can also be used in spells involving practicality vs desire.
• Cider: (Earth) Cider is used in spells for harvesting what you’ve already planted. It helps ensure that the things you’re working towards are successful and your effort is not wasted. But you must put in the effort.
• Wine: (Earth and Air) Wine can be used in spells for health, stress relief, and blessings. It can also be used for spells involving standing on your own and independence.
• Mead: (Air) Mead can be used for spells involving inspiration, study, education, scholarly pursuits, the arts, and oratory issues. It can also be used to sweeten the temper of yourself or someone else.
• Sangria: (Fire) Sangria is good for happiness spells, celebrations, and anything involving good times and fun. It is also good for spells meant to broaden horizons and promote new experiences.

queenofcoquette:

Hair

1. Invest in a natural hairbrush- Some of them are hundreds of dollars, but there are plenty affordable options! They’re good for your hair and the environment
2. Get a silk pillowcase- Might have to save up for this one, but it’ll help your hair and skin!
3. Stop using hair ties- Claw clips and scrunchies are WAY better for your hair
4. Gently tie your hair at night- Whether it’s a low, loose bun or braids, protect your hair at night
5. Use hair oil anytime your hair gets dry
6. Make sure to get trims to get rid of dry ends

Skin

1. Use a gentle cleanser and unscented moisturizer- Literally a basic routine with cerave or cetaphil will do WONDERS to your skin
2. Exfoliate once a week- Don’t over exfoliate!
3. Stay away from harsh products that might irritate your skin
4. Use SPF to prevent early aging and skin damage

General

1. Have a nail routine!- I love to use a nail growth oil, it does wonders!
2. Make sure to clean under your nails- Some people have really dirty nails and it’s not cute-
3. Always have a good fragrance- Like a signature scent!
4. Use a body scrub once a week for soft skin!- Also vanilla lotion smells so good, and lotion helps perfume stick to the body
5. Stay Healthy- This is the most important! Stay hydrated, eat well, stay active, get enough rest and have proper hygeine!
   

theoldcottage-deactivated202208:

Tools Used in Magick

• An apple - to create or inspire love, to break love or love spells, divination, communion with the dead, obtaining beauty and fairness.
• A lemon - to break spells, to create hexes that affect physical life, to promote strong healing by way of a detox or purgation, to bind people frm doing magick towards you. Can be made into a lamp for protection against curses and evil.
• An orange - amazing offering to spirits, especially those of the dead, to break misfortune, summoning good fortune, bringing good health, inspiring joy and positivity, can be used as a lamp for any of the above purposes.
• Ginger - giving fire to any spell, ginger tea or root can be consumed before rituals to lend power ot the witch, due to its potent nature, it can be used as a poppet to inspire passion, sexuality, or to dominate someobody, a potent money charm. I do feel like it does have some very strong purification qualities.
• Mirrors - to amplify magick, protect and bind people, for reflecting hexes and evil, for scrying magick.
• Rice - for spells of growth, abundance and benediction, mixed with other herbs and can be made into a talisman for household wealth. Also good as offerings to certain spirits, could also be used as a protection spell due to the idea that the reason rice is thrown at a wedding is to confuse evil spirits, useful in rain spells.
• Coffee - empowerment of all spells, stimulating psychic gifts, amazing for enhancing spirit communication and amazing for spirit offerings (black coffee), useful in breaking curses and road openings and strong cleansings. Has a good ability in money magick and in empowering love in a relationship, like most food, it can be enchanted to make someone caring and loving towards you.
• Black Pepper - a martial incense, good for works of exorcism, domination, subjugation, potent cleansings, curse breaking, afflicting curses, creating war and conflict, good for break up works.
• Matches - there is a small belief that due to matches containing sulphur, they have the tendency towards darker magick (sulphur and brimstone), but this can or cannot be applied in one’s practice.
• Flour - can be used to mark out circles and as a base for powders. Mixed with salt and black pepper it creates a protection powder, with sugar, a powder to promote love, peace, sweetening etc. with sugar and cinnamon, useful for money magick and to induce love and lust. It can be mixed with the ashes of a petition, sigil or prayer and used to dust things like doorknobs. It can alternatively be mixed with a small amount of water which can then make a paste to anoint doors and windows as a temporary mark.
• Salt/White Vinegar - mixed together and placed in a room creates a potent cleansing agent.
• Sewing supplies - used in creating bags and poppets but also useful in things such as love magick, binding magick and so on. For example, sew two photographs together to make a small packet and add sugar, basil and red rose petals to create a love pouch, orange peels can be added for martial bliss.
• Tin Foil - good for reflection spells, can be used in heating spells. So taking a fish heart (for example) and working it to inspire love, wrapping it in tin foil and putting it in a fire or in the oven is a good way of heating up a spell, useful when you want to warm someone’s heart to you, fire up their loins, their temper etc. Alternatively, due to its reflective surface, it can be used in binding spells.
• Clay - it can be u sed in poppet magick but also to seal people. For example, green is associated with Venus, so a green heart can be used in magick relating to love.

hex-stone:

ASK ME ASK ME ASK ME ASK ME ✨

1. Museum date or aquarium date? Why?

2. Describe your favorite type of weather.

3. Name a subject/topic you know a lot about.

4. Do you have any friends or know anyone with the same name as you?

5. What’s something most people love that you hate?

6. Who knows the most about you personally?

7. If you could create ANY mix-up or mythical animal and have it be brought to life, what would it be?

8. Do you think everyone in our lives serves a purpose, or are some people just there?

9. How do you feel about getting your picture taken?

10. Any guilty pleasure/s?

11. What is your favorite Studio Ghibli film and why?

12. Do you always make eye contact with people when you’re speaking to them?

13. Have you ever self-harmed?

14. What’s the nicest compliment you’ve ever been given?

15. Have you felt butterflies in your stomach today?

16. Did anyone/anything get on your nerves today?

17. Is there something you currently want, that you can’t have?

18. Who was the last person to make you feel embarrassed or uncomfortable?

19. Think of the last film you watched. Who was your favorite character in it?

20. What are you known for?

21. What is something you are skeptical about?

22.If you have a job, do you prefer morning shifts or evening shifts?

23. What is something you are most confident about?

How about something you’re really insecure about?

24. What do you think in general of girls with short hair? How about guys with long hair?

25. With films in languages you do not speak, do you prefer a dub or a subtitle?

26. If you wear makeup, what are your preferred brands?

27. What part of a person’s body do you usually find the most attractive?

28. What/which music are you currently listening to?

29. Do you find smoking unattractive?

30. What was the last thing you looked up on Google?

31. What is the 10th picture in your phone gallery?

32. Would you ever dye your hair an unnatural color?

33. What job would you be terrible at and what job would you be good at?

34. Do you think forgiveness is mandatory to move on from something?

35. What did you think was cool when you were younger?

36. Is there a place that makes you sad to return to?

37. What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?

38. Have you ever treated someone badly just because someone else treated you badly?

39. What’s your favorite lyric from your favorite song right now?

40. What was the last thing that completely took your breath away?

41. Is it true that if you can’t love yourself, you can’t love another?

42. What’s the most positive thing you could say to yourself right now?

43. What time of the day feels the most magical to you?

44. Were you a cute baby?

45. Is there something you wish you had said sorry for, but never did?

46. What is any creative talent you wish you had?

47. Do you think you’d make a good teacher? Why or why not?

48. Do you think it’s possible to fix a “broken” relationship?

49. If you chose to get a tattoo what would it be and where would you want it?

50. When was the last time you stayed up past midnight and what were you up to?

cryptic-glitch:

the-rooke-system:

clever-and-unique-name:

DID Awareness Day Asks

1. What is one thing you wish everyone understood about DID?
2. Are you in therapy? What is your experience with therapy like?
3. Do you have an inner world? If you do, what is it like?
4. What is communication like between you and the others? Do you have any particular systems set up to help with communication?
5. Has any conventional advice for DID ever not worked for you (journaling is unhelpful, can’t visualize an inner world, etc)?
6. What does “safety” mean for you?
7. Do you have any introjects? How do you feel about their source? How do they feel about their source?
8. Do you have any non-human alters?
9. Is there anything that makes you feel like your experience with DID is “different” than what you see other people with DID talk about?
10. Who is the most likely to get into a fight (physical or verbal?) Who’s the most likely to try to patch things up afterward?
11. Does anyone wish they could make big changes to your body’s appearance?
12. Choose some parts/alters and describe each in 5 words or less.
13. What does dissociation feel like for you?
14. How often do you think you switch?
15. Do any of you experience body dysphoria or dysmorphia?
16. How many parts/alters do you think you have at this time?
17. If you have younger parts/alters, what makes them happy or excited?
18. Do you consider yourselves to be covert or overt about having DID?
19. Do you experience denial often? How do you react when you experience it?
20. What grounding methods or skills work best for you? Do different skills work better for different parts/alters?
21. What does “recovery” mean for you?

Not awareness day but these seem important. So feel free to ask us any of these!

what they said!!

prompt-dealer:

1. “And that makes it okay?”
2. “Are you afraid to die?”
3. “What would you do if I didn’t come back?”
4. “Do you know what it’s like?”
5. “Hasn’t this addiction done enough damage already?”
   
6. “Why are your eyes so red?”
7. “How do you think this ends?”
8. “Why would I ever want to be with you?”
9. “Is that what you think of me?”
10. “Do you know what a gunshot wound feels like?”
11. “How am I supposed to go on?”
12. “Can’t you see how fucked up this is?”
13. “If I told you I hate you, what would you do?”
14. “Should you be drinking that much?”
15. “What if we just crash this car and make it all stop?”
16. “Do the drugs still get you high?”
17. “Am I the reason you cry every night?”
18. “When did you stop loving me?”
19. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”
20. “How did things go so wrong?”
21. “When did things fall apart?”
22. “Which part of me wasn’t enough?”
23. “How do I make you love me again?”
24. “How much does it hurt knowing you lost me?”
25. “We’re you trying to destroy us?”
26. “How do you want to die?”
27. “Is the weight of it all finally too heavy?”
28. “Are you okay with having blood on your hands?”
29. “How do you sleep at night?”
30. “Can you still sleep at night?”
31. “Is being high all the time worth losing everything?”
    
32. “Can you feel the blood draining from your body?”
33. “Do you know how it feels to wish for death every day?”
34. “Will you miss me at all?”
35. “Can I have one last kiss?”
36. “Do you understand what you’ve done?”
37. “Is this how you thought your life would be?”
38. “Did you expect this to turn out better?”
39. “Can you really blame me?”
40. “How could you do this?”
41. “Can you be the one to do it?”
42. “Does this mean what I think it means?”
43. “Are you leaving?”
44. “How do we fix this?”
45. “Would you hate me?”
46. “Do you want to die?”
47. “How many more innocent people have to die?”
48. “Can you promise me no one else has to get hurt?”
    
49. “Are you satisfied now…?”
    
50. “Do you even know what love feels like?”

mattjabbar:

“City in Paint” illustration series.

In many of my previous projects, I searched for pleasant, exciting, and nostalgic Japanese cityscape fragments. I then painted them as best as possible to make them look even more appealing. I tried to bend the reality I saw to do my artistic bidding, as is often done by animation background artists. Next, in the “Tokyo at Night” book, I explored and portrayed Tokyo’s night side, trying to uncover the truth about it. When painting those illustrations, I realized that I could make even quite desolate, grimy back streets seem appealing. This was a problem. Even though the final pictures looked “cool,” I wouldn’t say I like the original places, really, and would not want to live in a city like that at all.

So, together with Kana, we started thinking about how a more pleasant to live in city would look like. I tried to imagine everyday scenes from such a place without making them look too nostalgic and unobtainable. It’s not the “rose-colored” past or a world from an animated movie that will never come to be. I’m tried to paint a city that could exist in Japan even now.

I decided to paint digitally this time to convey more of the atmosphere of each place. I wanted to capture the temperature, the smell of the air, the play of the light, or the weather. For this, having the flexibility of digital tools helped a lot.

To fuel this creative attempt, I was using a lot of elements from the many reference photos I took in Japan during ten years of living here. Having a library like this allowed me to make the paintings more believable.

Technical details:

• Painting: Procreate, Art Studio Pro apps on 2020 iPad Pro 12.9 inch
• Editing: Photoshop
• Brushes: Download my Procreate 5x brushes beta on Patreon.