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Mental Health no Jutsu #5: Happy Box part 4, The Box Itself

We’re doing something a little bit different this month. It’ll be broken down into Four (4) main parts and we encourage you to add onto them as you see fit. The goal this month is to take care of yourself, and this project is gonna be fairly personal so we’re not assigning difficulties or bonus points- or even examining how it helps kill art block.

A couple rules for the Happy Box:

1: Keep everything you make this month in a safe place until we get to the last week. You don’t want to lose it.

2: Don’t worry about how other people might judge your Happy Box. This is for YOU, not them. they don’t have to like it.

Part 4: Acquiring and Filling a Box

Okay so, this is pretty straight forward:

Acquire a box to put the things in. You can build one, or buy one (as Roo did) but either way, once you have it, make it yours.

If you're a sticker kind of person, put stickers on it.

Draw things on it that makes you feel safe, write reassuring words, woodburn crazy celtic patterns- whatever you need to do to really OWN this box, do it. It can have a lid or not have a lid and it can be as big or small as you like- so long as it holds all of your items. Go nuts! and DOn't worry about finishing it right exactly now- you can come back to it later, if you need to! the point is, it's your box and it has things that make you feel good in it.

Once you're happy with the box (or have a box at all) go ahead and put your things in there. Arrange them how you like- and again, this is your box, so you can be as much or as little particular about the exact arrangement as you like.

And then, once you have everything in the box that you need in the box, put it somewhere safe, where you can get to it when you need to.

We love to see your completed ABEs, but we know that this one is sort of personal! We do encourage you to post pictures of your box, and you can do that here by sending us a submission or photo replying (we have that enabled, we think) or you can go to our website and post the results of your box there!

[tix-n-roo]

Mental Health no Jutsu #4: Happy Box Pt 3, Journals

We’re doing something a little bit different this month. It’ll be broken down into Four (4) main parts and we encourage you to add onto them as you see fit. The goal this month is to take care of yourself, and this project is gonna be fairly personal so we’re not assigning difficulties or bonus points- or even examining how it helps kill art block.

A couple rules for the Happy Box:

1: Keep everything you make this month in a safe place until we get to the last week. You don’t want to lose it.

2: Don’t worry about how other people might judge your Happy Box. This is for YOU, not them. they don’t have to like it.

Pt 3: Goal Book and Anxiety Journal.

In addition to having some comfort and musical stimulation for your happy box, its best to have something to keep your mind occupied on the positive and productive. For this, we suggest having two journals in your happy box – one for goals and one for your negative emotions.

For your Goals, You’ll want to get a notebook you don’t mind writing in. Its okay to have it in your happy box… or even have it travel along with you during the day. . Start off small. Dont be overwhelmed by the thought of what kind of book it is…as long as you can write on it.  If you’re worried about losing it, its a-okay to just write in those cheap wide-ruled notebooks

Fill your first with goals you’d like to meet. Pick idealistic, realistic goals … being able to love yourself, being more positive, being able to run 5K , have the courage to speak to strangers…. Just stick to one page for goals and make sure not to place a time limit on them.  

When you have your goals written down, then its time to plan them out! Prioritize first- really important goals that are necessary for your well being, goals you really want but that aren't as imporant, and things you'd just sorta like to do. Now pick wone goal you wouldn’t mind working on first and break it down. What benefits will you gain by achieving your goal? What are the consequences? Can you think of any obstacles that you may encounter? What can you do to overcome them?

Write down resources that would help you achieve this goal. Numbers and addresses to buildings, websites with information. Take time to print relevant articles and taped them into the book so you can read up on them when a computer isn’t available.

And then from there, be sure to write down any progress you make with your goals. You’l l be surprised how easy a goal can be met when planned properly. And , when you’ve achieved your goal, it feels sooo good when you cross it off.

A worry book will be treated differently. We’d like for you to grab a notebook that you wouldn’t mind missing if it go lost. This book will be seeing a bit of damage.

You worry book will be used to track, disassemble, and destroy any negative feelings you may have. . Ask yourself what  is bothering you so much and why….Writing will hopefully get the edge off in any negative feels your having as well as able to help you deconstruct and see the real core of these emotions .

If its a page that is just full of negativity that you needed to get out, feel free to rip that page out and destroy it. Burn it, flush it, eat it… whatever you need to do to get it out of sight and, hopefully, out of mind.

To Help out with your journals, we have created a few pages for you to print out and tape to the back of your books. Hopefully these will help you get to your path of your own happiness. Good luck!

Goal Book Questions: tape this to the back of your journal.

Unhelpful thinking Styles. [ Which one of these thinking patterns do you find yourself using a lot? ]

Worry Diary Questions 

[tix-n-roo]

Mental Health no Jutsu #3: Happy Box Part 2, Comfort Items

We’re doing something a little bit different this month. It’ll be broken down into Four (4) main parts and we encourage you to add onto them as you see fit. The goal this month is to take care of yourself, and this project is gonna be fairly personal so we’re not assigning difficulties or bonus points- or even examining how it helps kill art block. 

A couple rules for the Happy Box: 1: Keep everything you make this month in a safe place until we get to the last week. You don’t want to lose it. 2: Don’t worry about how other people might judge your Happy Box. This is for YOU, not them. they don’t have to like it.

Part Two: Comfort Items

This week you’ll be gathering some things that usually make you feel nice- comfort food, comfort blankies- things that maybe you feel like you should feel bad about needing, but you shouldn’t. How you cope is your deal, not everyone else’s.

Thing #1: Foods and Drinks.

Just what it sounds like- do you have a particular food that you like to have that makes you feel better (chocolate, maybe?) Do you have a go-to tea when you’re feeling down? Get some to keep in your box- or if you can’t keep the food itself (maybe baked goods is your thing) keep the recipes there, so you can whip them up when you need them.

Thing #2: Fragrance

You know you have one- a smell you just absolutely love. Maybe it reminds you of home, or maybe You’re not sure what it is about it, but it calms you DOWN. Get some of it- if you’re a flower person, keep some dried flowers in there, or know a place to go get the kind you like if you need it. if you’re not too sensitive to concentrated smells, maybe buy a tart warmer or a diffuser and invest in some scented wax tarts or essential oils.

Thing #3: Tactile

We don’t care what anyone says- stuffed toys and blankets are essential transitional items for most of us, and it doesn’t matter how old you are: if it works for you, use it! It doesn’t have to be something soft and fuzzy, either- but it does need to be an item, and you should be able to hug it (or have it hug you) and it should make you feel safe. If you don’t have anything that fits this, or you can’t think of anything, you can leave this out- assigning happiness to an object rarely works as intended- We do, however, suggest maybe making yourself a blanket.

We love to see your completed ABEs, but we know that this one is sort of personal! We do encourage you to post some items from your box- you can reblog or you can respond on this post- we DO have replies enabled if you’ve been following us 7 days or more- you can also Submit the list, but it’d be best to post replies over on our site so we can track things better! If we get enough responses we might put together a big list for people to look at.