Weekly Wellbeing: Safe Place Imagery
This coping strategy was recommended to me at a time when I was feeling very overwhelmed. I found it useful so I thought we could do a bit of a wellbeing activity based on it! I hope you find it helpful too! I don't know a lot about the science behind it, but I do know this is a dbt skill, which basically means it can help if you're struggling with your emotions 🙂
So.. your brain can be a powerful tool when you need to cope with things. Sometimes when stuff feels really overwhelming, it can help to have a 'safe' place to go to, in your imagination, to help yourself feel calmer and safer. Of course there are times when this is more appropriate than others- usually you would want to go to your safe place if you were doing some mindfulness or trying to relax when you are feeling anxious/overwhelmed. It should be at a time when it is safe and practical to do so, and is supposed to be different from daydreaming (which I don't know very much about- you are welcome to share your experiences of these on the forums if you want!), or dissociation. You can read more about how to use imagery here and here. I'm no expert on this by any means so if you're in doubt, I would really encourage you to reach out to a professional support person (here's a list of supports)
Today's activity
- If you already have a safe place, real or imagined, feel free to share your experience of it here!
- Otherwise, create your own mental image of a safe place- for me this is a scene where I am sitting on a green grassy field next to a lake and my cats are there with me and sometimes we'll look up at the clouds or go for a swim
- If you feel comfortable, you could tell us why this is a safe space for you! Is there any special meaning attached to this place?
- It might be helpful to engage all your senses- so for me I might imagine the feel and smell of the grass and water, the warmth of the sun, the sound of the wind, etc
- Check out this older thread on the forums with some safe space ideas 🙂
Comments
Oof haha I was juuust going to say my daydream world is my go-to safe place but then I read that it's not meant to be daydreaming 😅
The kind of daydreaming in the linked article is maladaptive daydreaming, which is a disordered type of vivid daydreaming (basically it involves intricate storylines and characters etc.). The kind I do is the non-disordered type which shares some similar traits with MaDD except that it does not negatively affect my real life. It can be tricky sometimes to keep a healthy balance between living in real life and spending time in my daydream world, especially in tough times.
When I feel overwhelmed I often escape to my daydream world for a little bit to calm myself down and when I come back to the present moment my mind would feel clearer and I'd be able to handle the situation better. However it is easy to get carried away with the daydreaming to the point that it becomes your sole coping mechanism and you start neglecting basic self care to spend time in your daydream world, compromising your real life.
Outside of my daydream world I don't really have a certain "mental safe place" I go to when I feel stressed. I think this is because I'm already very familiar with it. Like, I know this place, I know these characters, my brain associates my daydream world with a feeling of security and peace. And I like stuff that comes with a storyline lol. But I think I'll give making a safe place separate from my daydream world a go because it'll definitely be useful for dealing with my emotions in the event that I start wandering into maladaptive daydreaming territory and need to put my daydream world on a break.
Hey @Mulberry_Owl
I really appreciated your writing about your experience with daydreaming. I agree in that it can be easy to get carried away with daydreaming, but it sounds like you have a pretty good awareness and thus can usually keep it at a good balance!
I hear you when you write about already knowing your safe space. Kind of like “why fix what isn’t broken?”. It sounds like you feel open to the idea of trying to find different coping strategies. In your reflections, what do you feel a new ‘safe space’ might look like? Like everything, moderation is key.
hey LSE5 this is a really cool weekly wellbeing! (although it says it was posted in september so I feel like i'm too late but also it's pinned so 😛 )
The first time I tried safe space imagery it was just from a random guest mental health speaker at my school and it felt genuinely life-changing. I was like holy shit, this is what calmness feels like??? I've never gotten it to work as well as it did that time, probably because now I worry about how much I want it to work, lol. But I really recommend everyone to try it! Some places I have imagined have been real places I've been, or sometimes inspired by a place I have read about in a book, or a picture I've seen. if you're into pinterest it's fun to make moodboards of your calming places 🙂 I also love the link you shared with ideas for other types of imagery. I might give them a try.
This idea of a mood board is so cool! 💛I imagine making a mood board would help you to visualise your space in even more detail!
Do you make mood boards often?
Yes I make lots of moodboards! It's a nice mood booster and super chill creative activity, like making a collage without all the effort 😄 I have different ones like travel inspiration, photos that make me happy, a dream home, queer pride, and boards for characters I have made up. I think it goes well with imagery. Once my psych did guided imagery with me and we imagined stuff about my 80th birthday party (ik that sounds kind of random but it was a cool activity!) and I was quite moved by it so I made a moodboard to remember the images and feelings. And it helps with imagining safe places for sure!
Ooooo that sounds so cool! I'm actually going to go set up a pinterest account right now hahaha - thank you so much for sharing this! I'm actually super excited to give this a try
For some reason, imaginging my 80th birthday just now made me super emotional ahahaha - I feel like doing a mood board for that would be so cool 💛
I'm so happy that inspired you!! here is a little piece from one of my boards, I like to imagine being in this safe, soft, snowy place filled with warm light and colour 🙂 And it is magically not cold, haha.
The 80th birthday activity is really lovely, I think it is an exercise from Acceptance and commitment therapy. I found a bit about it online here.
That is so so beautiful!! I feel calmer even looking at it - a bonus that it's not cold hahahaha. I love it 💛
I've just had a read through the link you posted, and I think I'm definitely going to include that in my journalling tonight - it seems like just a great way to reset the way you're looking at/approaching life if it's gotten a little bit messy and complicated. Thank you so much for providing that link 💛
