I assume you found this article from the other parts in the Change Aids series, so let’s get right to it and continue the list!

Were you ever told you were a person who learns by DOING, not by being told or by reading? If so, you may find great success with changing patterns or setting new intentions by employing various strategies that get you MOVING in some fashion along with thinking about your goal/desire.

Kinestetic Cues

This category is pretty broad as almost any hobby that you do daily could be a cue for you to be reminded of an intention/desire to shift something. If you do Collage or Photography as a craft you could literally tear out or photograph any small reminder you see throughout your day! If you Dance or do Yoga or Martial arts each day, you may choose to associate a specific movement to your intention. Say for instance thsat you have taken notice recently through your Mindfulness practice that you are kind of prideful or egotistical about something and you are wanting to maybe be more humble. You might start to associate the chair pose or a “sitting down” posture (or sitting still in a real chair) as a practice of intentionally “sitting down” when you want to be seen, or praised or garner attention. Another posture might be down-dog…but that one’s less appropriate, say, in the workplace LOL

Artistry Cues

If you are artistic in some fashion like you make your own earrings or you create your own nail art. That may be a forum for you to explore this symbolism and incorporate a token, like say you wish to be more outgoing than you have been lately, and want to “strike out” more boldly. In this case, you might choose to color your nails bright red and put long/spiky flashes of white toward the tips to remind you to be bold and go for it!

Psychosomatic Techniques

Some people may have hear of EFT Tapping (if you haven’t it’s a FANTASTIC way to help your Vagas nerve relearn how it preceives and interprets your environment). You can learn about it HERE — for free. It’s GREAT stuff that works, and can be used to remind yourself at various points in your day to reset, realign, and remember an intention. I encourage you to try it if you haven’t. There’s nothing “spooky” or “metaphysical” about it. It simply relies about the pathways of the body’s vagus nerve to redistribute blood and reset the ANS (Autonomic Nervous System) almost instantly.

Micro-Kinetic Meditations

Like my love of Mugs in the last Part of this series, I LOVE micro-kinetic meditations. (Yes, I totally made up the phrase! LOL) It basically means you are focused and still like in traditional meditation/contemplative practice, but you have some VERY small movement you are fully focused upon that moves only as fast as you feel safe and *nearly* still doing, like the opposite of a stop-animation movie. Like each small movement you’re making is a polaroid in time and progresses only once the body feels each snapshot. Another way to describe it is suuuper slow singular muscle stretching to the point of complete relaxation. (Yea, it’s harder to describe than to actually DO. Sorry.) But if you want to try it out, here’s my FREE version of the somatic meditation that changed my life.

This technique saved me and warded off my worst fears taking over when I would do this technique while sitting alongside my mother in the ER very, very worried about her status over the 2 long, hard years I helped her fight cancer. We didn’t know in those moments what was wrong, and could ONLY WAIT until we were seen. ONLY WAIT. And my over-thinking mind would want to jump around like a monkey entertaining every worst-case scenario imaginable. But instead, I would just sit very still, no one could really even notice I was doing anything. But, doing it helped me be able to stay present, calm and remember every bit of what the doctors had to share (which was vital, to be able to then relay that info back to extended family members). It’s really powerful stuff, and what makes it unique is that you’re asking the body to do SO little, that it conserves energy, and yet it keeps the mind open, and spacious and engaged.

Symbolic Movements

Due to the fact that this one is symbolic, it is then intention-specific, so you have to kind of think through/feel through your own particular situation. But let’s use the example that you’ve noticed in your life that you’re so busy lately, that you only speak to you kids when there’s a correction to be made, and it tends to be in a rushed/critical spirit. But, your intention/desire is to shift to speaking to them more uplifting words in an encouraging tone instead. For you, this symbolic movement technique for me conjures up in your mind the gesture of raising of your pet’s chin to stand taller or hold their head high. When you notice their energy getting sporadic and chaotic, and you reflexively go to tamp “down” their boisterous or messy behavior, and literally almost go to motion to them to put the brakes on their expression of the emotion their feeling, instead, try literally gesturing upward slowly, along with a slow inhale, to symbolize that you ULTIMATELY want to honor their experience as THEIR OWN (that they are young, and energetic, and full of enthusiasm. And maybe think of a word that encapsulates what you’re needing in the moment as well.

So this might look like: “Wow. I see that you’re very excited (on the inhale). In my body, I’m not feeling that way. Would you please try to contain your big huge experience to your own personal space for a bit (slowly gesturing a circle)? Thanks buddy.” Linking a positive picture (of your pet) and having that in your mind will aid you in finding a bit more space/grace in dealing with your child when they’re feeling like they’re “too much” for you to handle them in the moment. For parents this type of association is a fantastic tool b/c we need all the help we can get to defy the instinct to change their emotion, change them. It will serve them in the long-term as well to learn to self-contain their own experience as their own and honor the fact that not everyone around them will share their emotions AS they’re having them. Ultimately it will help them feel validated and become fully independent, a grown up allowed to have their OWN experience. And allow others to have their own. Ok that was was long! Again, it’s easier done than explained. (Sorry for that)

Journalling

We’ve all heard the word journaling, but in this regard, applied to behavior changes or intention-setting you wish to pursue, it deserves its own section to explain my personal philosophy on all the MANY various ways to journal all different sorts of things! Here is my current, exhaustive list. See if any resonate with you more than others and use curiosity as your guide to try out a couple as you’re able/interested.

You literally COULD journal or log anything that you select, so the list IS endless. So I’ll just choose 4 options here to give you some possibilities you may not have thought of.

1. Rage to the Page Technique: Let’s say someone in your life is really irritating to you (a boss, co-worker, friend, spouse, etc) but they’re someone you’re “stuck with” and you MUST find a way to learn to appreciate their presence in your life. You also can find the generosity of spirit to desire to, say, “open your heart” more to them to offer greater empathy to them, or you intend to start to “hear them out” on their opposing view of politics that always bring up, or since you’re annoyed that they chew and talk at the same time, you want to barf you’re so repulsed each time. Journalling about this situation might take on looking like a “Grievance Log”. You spill your guts out onto paper after each time they “do” the annoying thing (that’s the 1st step). Then, you can revisit it when it’s passed and no longer bothering you, and get curious and answer ————— what6reread it and pretend they’re say your best friend. You observe whatever you might about the actual situation, and then you —————. If this is an approach you might want to take, CLICK HERE for a few Grievance Logs, or any composition journal will do.
2. Let’s say you have noticed *something off* lately — anything, but you can’t seem to solve the mystery of what’s bothering you. It could be that you’ve started to get headaches, or you’ve started to avoid leaving the house, or you’ve started noticing you have an irritable bowel and your desire is to understand yourself better to see if they’re an underlying cause you can address yourself. This method can be thought of as an “Puzzle Tracker” where you’re trying to keep notes on what you’re eating, drinking, worried about, or working on. It serves like a Scientific Journal to aid you is seeing all the variables that might be contributing to the final result of a headache, or not leaving the house as much.
3. Another great journaling exercise is an Art Journal, this one can be very powerful for those of you wanting to grow some aspect of your personality or increase your attention/focus on. Maybe it’s that you want to be more calm and draw a peaceful little scene on a page before work each day, and a simple vignette at lunch or before bed, or all three! This is ideas for those who are artistic visually and need to move their hands (illustrators, painters, sculptors, knitters). However, it can also be adapted for those who are artistic with their language, and love WORDS…so you may create a “Peace Journal” but be on the lookout for every synonym to peace in your day: Harmony, Joy, Serenity, Tranquility, Security, Solitude, etc and simply Block-letter a word a day or color in the word with different colors each day! Anything that gets you hand moving while you focus upon your intention.

Hope those helped you come up with a movement-based method to create changes and make them stick for you if you know that you are movement/action learner. In Part 3, if you are a Visual-learner…you’re in for a treat, b/c I am too! So I have more tips/tricks than I can list of visual symbols and visual methods to remind yourself of some intention you have. Ok, so if you’re ready, CLICK HERE for Part 3…