Distract with ACCEPTS

This is a skill used to distract oneself temporarily from unpleasant emotions.

The acronym stands for:

Activities: Push the pause button and turn to positive activities that center, ground, calm, and reconnect us to our strengths and wholeness.

Contribute: Acknowledge our strengths and gifts and offer them to others.

Comparisons: Practice seeing ourselves in the greater clan of humankind. We all suffer; we all feel challenged by our suffering; we all have the capacity to extinguish our suffering.

Emotions (evoking alternate emotions): Shift into humor and lightheartedness with activities that produce positive emotional states.

Push away: Put our heated situation on the back-burner for a while. Put something else in the forefront of our minds. This is not suppression; it is pushing the pause button and taking a breather.

Thoughts (evoking alternate thoughts): Direct our mind to think about something else which brings us a sense of safety and ease.

Sensations (evoking alternate sensations): Do something positive that has an intense feeling other than what we are feeling, i.e., taking a cold shower, putting on music, screaming into a pillow, dancing, etc

IMPROVE the Moment

This skill is used in moments of distress to help us relax.

The acronym stands for:

Imagery: Imagine relaxing scenes or other experiences that are pleasing and calming.

Meaning: Find purpose or meaning in what we are feeling.

Parenting Oneself: Talk to ourselves in a nurturing and comforting fashion. Coming up with a personal mantra or statement that is soothing.

Relaxation: Relax muscles, breathe deeply. This is also a self-soothing tool.

One thing in the moment: Focus our entire attention on what we are doing right in the moment. Coach ourselves to stay in the present moment (out of past and future thinking).

Vacation: Another form of pushing the pause button. Take a break from whatever is happening for a short period of time. Whatever is feeling urgent - is not as urgent as we might think. When we clear a space to pause - we interrupt the momentum of thoughts and feelings that cause a sense of urgency (code red).

Encouragement: Loving self-talk. See ourselves as our own cherished and vulnerable child. Be gentle and loving toward ourselves. This allows us to offer ourselves a deep and abiding acceptance and encouragement to get through the difficult moments.