Tool – Sticky Notes

There are times when we have multiple things upsetting us at one time. I can easily start to feel overwhelmed if I try to take them all in at once.

If you’re a list maker, you may run into times where you try to make a list, and instead of bullet point lines, the things you need to address turn into a page of items, almost a journal of overwhelm.

If you have the time and the privacy, here is an exercise I use to calm my nervous system.
This exercise allows you to break down the overwhelm into pieces, and prioritize them, while getting some calming physical release as well

• I get myself into a room where I can be alone to think, and have a little bit of room to move around
• Take a stack of papers (you could use stickies, recipe cards, legal pad, anything you can find). When I can, I actually use a normal sheet of paper so I can have the space to write out in giant letters on the page
• Take a pen or marker (I use a magic marker for emphasis)
• Create one page for every issue. Write a one or two-word description of the issue in a big title at the top of the page. This title is not meant to be a sentence, it’s a quick word or two.
• As you create the pages, lay them all out in front of you somewhere in the space. Sometimes I make them a circle, so I can move around them. Sometimes they are randomly spaced out in the room, so I can move around in the room, keeping me more physically active
• Create as many pages as you want. Each item gets its own page
• Continue paying attention to your breath as you create the pages.

Once you have all of your pages, take a moment to see if you can slow your breath down and keep it steady.

Now start to move around the space. As you do, visit each page one at a time and spend a little time there

• Focus on it as an active issue. Think about the issue and all of the things it encompasses
• Don’t filter yourself or your thoughts
• Here is a chance to address the issue and speak to it/vent at it if you wish., Don’t rush through.

If I need to, I write an additional, short word or two on the specific “issue” page if you need to define it further.

These aren’t meant to be journal pages, they’re a temporary placeholder for the issue at hand

• As you examine the page, start noticing your body. Is there a point on your body that is flaring? Do you need to do a little stretch as you look at this page? Do the stretch.
• Do you feel tension? Literally shake the tension out of yourself out as you feel the tension.
• The goal is to keep yourself relaxed as you visit each page. What can you do to lessen the physical/emotional tension around that issue?

Spend time on the page, working through the points of the issue, giving it the airtime it demands, until you’ve come to a place where you feel calm, you feel like it’s sufficiently compartmentalized into its own place, and you can move to the next page.

Give yourself a little moment of peace in between viewing each page. If you need to walk around, create some neutral movement to get you back to a grounded feeling in your body.

Now you can “play with” your issues

• Collect the pages up into a specific order if you wish. Then place them out again if you wish.
• Are you able to prioritize them in terms of urgency?
• Can you consolidate any pages so you can reduce the number of issues?
• Can you separate the issues out: items you can control? Items you cannot control at all?
• If it’s an item you can’t control, can you move it out of your pile?
• Can you make one page less important, or realize it’s really connected to another issue?
• Do I need to separate one issue, creating two pages instead of one so I can focus on each issue separately?
• Work with the pages however you would like. Here’s a chance to feel empowered about how you deal with / address the issues in front of you.

Viewing the pages in front of you, appreciate that you’ve given yourself some space to look at each of the issues, instead of using them all to make a giant stack that you struggle to carry around as one lump problem.

You can keep the bunch of pages and revisit in a day or two, but they’re not meant to be a long-term list. You can always make another list of issues next week. The point of the exercise is to break them down for a few minutes, give yourself a little room to vent your way through them, and understand how you plan to deal with them moving forward. Then get them out of your focus.

If you want to go further, treat yourself to the ritual of imagining a resolution to each issue. As you do, wad the page up into a ball or rip up the specific page/issue one at a time until you have a trash can full of issues.