How to Create a Safe Place

Creating an imaginary haven that you can lose yourself in is a good mental excerise and also calms you down. This stimulates your imagination and takes you to a world all your own.

Steps

1. 1
   Start creating your safe place as follows:
   
   
   • Set aside a half an hour or so.
   • Sit at a desk or in a comfortable chair.
   • Turn off all distractions.
     
     Take a calming breath.
   • Breathe in through your mouth.
   • Hold for a count of five.
   • Breathe out of your nose.
   • Smile gently.
   • Relax and say "Ahhhhhh"
   Review your good memory file for places that you experienced as calming and safe. Pick the best of these and see it in your mind's eye in as much detail as possible.
   
   • Change any unpleasant features.
   • Add sounds including some soothing music.
   • Add a pleasant smell. If you think of the ocean, seek to smell the salt air.
   • Add movement — swinging in a hammock, rocking in a chair.
   • Add mementos that remind you of good times including pictures of people who calm you.
   • Add anything else that comforts and calms.
     
     
     

Make the safe place as imaginative as wished; your safe place is yours alone and nobody else can, or should, direct it. Draw a picture or describe your safe place in words or on paper, to help you visualize it more clearly, or to retain the memory for use another time. Here are some examples of safe places people have created using this exercise:

• Lying on a large soft cloud floating gently in an otherwise clear sky. His dog is with him, sleeping peacefully, at his side. It is sunset and the sky is an ever-changing palate of gold and purple and pink. The only sound is the soft tinkling of some wind chimes. The air smells of fresh cut grass.
• On the front porch of a cabin set among pines looking out over a quiet lake. The smell is of pine. The sounds are of birds chirping. She sits on a rocking chair and behind her sits a guardian angel who tells her she is safe and strong.
  
  
  

ake another calming breath. Follow the steps outlined above. 

Picture your safe place in detail.

• If it feels calm and soothing, enjoy.
• If it is isn't calming, change it until it is.