One of my favorite parts about being a therapist is witnessing the insight, creativity, and self-awareness that people of all ages bring into the therapy room. Sometimes, the most meaningful discoveries happen when we step outside traditional talk therapy and find new ways to explore our inner experiences.
The following therapeutic activities offer creative ways to explore coping mechanisms, self-talk, sources of support, and core values, often reaching parts of our experience that words alone can't fully access. They can help us better understand our emotional responses, reconnect with our inner resources, and discover new ways to navigate challenging moments.
Whether you're a parent, caregiver, mental health professional, or simply looking for new ways to support your own emotional well-being, I invite you to approach these activities with curiosity and let your imagination take the lead.
Body mapping
Our emotions don't exist only in our thoughts. They also communicate with us through our bodies, sometimes in ways we don't immediately recognize. Anxiety might show up as tension in our shoulders or butterflies in our stomach, sadness as a heaviness in our chest, and excitement as a burst of energy throughout our body.
Body mapping offers a creative way to slow down, turn our attention inward, and get curious about the connection between our emotions and physical sensations.
To begin, draw or print a simple outline of a human body. Choose an emotion you'd like to explore, perhaps one you've experienced recently or have a particularly difficult time navigating. Take a few moments to notice what happens in your body as you bring awareness to this feeling.
Using different colors, shapes, symbols, or words, mark where you notice these sensations on your body map. There's no right or wrong way to represent your experience, so allow your creativity to guide you!
As you explore, consider:
Where do I notice anxiety, sadness, anger, or excitement in my body?
What sensations do I associate with feeling safe, calm, or connected?
Are there areas of my body that feel tense, heavy, energized, or difficult to connect with?
How do these sensations shift between different emotional experiences?
What might my body be communicating about what I need?
Remember, the purpose isn't to change or eliminate uncomfortable sensations, but to become more familiar with how your body communicates with you. Developing this awareness is also an important part of AEDP therapy, where we gently explore our emotions and the ways they show up in our bodies, helping us process difficult experiences and connect more deeply with ourselves.
Inspiration Toolbox
A few weeks ago a client of mine named that he had “no motivation” to complete an impending project at school.
I asked, “Where does motivation come from?” and we spent the rest of the session surprising ourselves with the sources of inspiration accessible to him once he brought awareness to it. As we discussed the sources, we wrote them down as a bulleted list he could print and keep in his pocket.
Motivation and inspiration can be difficult to access at any age, especially when we're feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, or disconnected from ourselves.
Whether you create a simple list, collect meaningful images, or put together a vision board, consider the following sources of inspiration for your own toolbox. As you identify each one, take time to explore why it inspires you.
Family members
Friends
Animals
Fashion
Celebrities or famous figures
TV/Movie characters
Coaches, mentors, teachers
Book/comic book characters
My religion
A specific culture/community (i.e. clubs at school, queer culture, etc)
Coping Kit
Often times we struggle with knowing what coping mechanisms serve us best in certain contexts. Remembering our choices and determining which is appropriate under high stress, high emotions, or a time crunch can result in behaviors that don’t reflect our best selves.
Therefore, it may serve us to consider stress regulation options available to us when we have the most resources at hand: safety, time, support, and present mindedness.
As I completed this activity with a client, we wrote coping tools on slips of paper they kept within an envelope. Another popular option is to decorate popsicle sticks with the tools and keep them in an accessible location, like a desk or a locker.
Remember, coping is holistic! The body, mind, and heart should be kept in reference when building a toolkit.
Examples of coping mechanisms for kids and teens include:
Physical
Stretching
Taking ten deep breaths
Going for a walk
Squeezing ice
Using a fidget spinner
Sleeping before making a big decision
Emotional/Mental
Take a 15-60 minute break to read, watch a movie, or read a book
Call a trusted loved one or friend
Consider, Will this stressor matter in 2 days? 1 week? 1 month? A year?
Journal
Remind yourself of past successes
Create an Ally
This is a guided visualization I use with clients of all ages, adapted from a resource I learned through my EMDR training. It can be a meaningful way to connect with feelings of support, comfort, and inner strength, particularly during moments of stress or emotional overwhelm. If you're interested in learning more about using EMDR as a trauma healing tool, you’re welcome to reach out to me.
This activity is often easiest when someone reads the steps aloud and guides another person through the experience, though it can also be practiced individually.
Find a quiet space with minimal or no distractions. Dim lights, incorporate noise machines, invite your pet to join, or include whatever other sources will bolster your sense of comfort.
Settle into a position that you can maintain without tension or distress for several minutes. Initiate several rounds of deep breathing or box breaths until you feel outside concerns are muted.
With eyes open or closed, consider a figure that you associate with support, calm, strength or nurturance. It can be a person, animal, or fictional character from a movie or book. It can be a real person, though many find it best to pick a figure that is imaginary as we often have mixed feelings about real people in our lives and this figure should represent 100% positivity. Continue breathing, and take a few moments to notice who or what comes to mind.
Invite greater awareness of your ally. What size are they? What colors do you notice? What textures? What do you hear? Are there any smells? How is the ally positioned near you?
Allow yourself to feel the support of your ally, and as their presence increases, notice what body sensations and emotions are associated with them.
Optional: To increase connectedness with your ally or deepen positive emotional states or sensations, try gently swaying back and forth, tapping on your shoulders or knees, or whatever motion feels right to you.
Listen to see if your ally has any message of support to offer you, or if you have anything that you would like to ask of from your ally (i.e. increased sense of acceptance, kindness, good luck, etc).
Engage with your ally for as long as you would like or need. When you are ready to come back to the present, thank your ally for their support and remember that you can call upon them at any time to offer support.
Note: It can be helpful to record a reading of this meditation aloud so you can refer back to it when needed versus reading the script! If visualization feels uncomfortable or brings up distress, it's okay to stop, open your eyes, and reconnect with your surroundings.
A letter from your compassionate self
Many of us are quick to offer kindness, understanding, and encouragement to the people we love, yet struggle to extend that same compassion toward ourselves. When difficult emotions arise, our inner dialogue can become especially critical, leaving us feeling even more overwhelmed or disconnected from what we need.
This activity invites us to explore what it might feel like to offer ourselves that same warmth and understanding.
Begin by thinking about a recent experience that brought up difficult emotions. Perhaps you made a mistake, felt rejected, struggled to meet an expectation, or found yourself caught in a familiar cycle of self-criticism.
Now, imagine a deeply compassionate version of yourself sitting beside you in that moment. This part of you doesn't need to have all the answers or know how to fix what happened. Instead, imagine that they can recognize your experience with genuine understanding and care.
From this perspective, write yourself a letter. As you write, consider:
What was particularly painful, disappointing, or overwhelming about this experience?
What feelings or needs might deserve acknowledgment?
What would I want someone I deeply care about to know if they were experiencing something similar?
Are there expectations or judgments I'm holding against myself that could be softened?
What words of encouragement or support would I most benefit from hearing?
Once you've finished, read your letter back to yourself and notice what feelings emerge. Perhaps certain words bring relief or comfort, while others feel unfamiliar or difficult to believe.
Remember, self-compassion doesn't mean dismissing our responsibilities or pretending that difficult experiences don't matter. It means recognizing that we're deserving of kindness and understanding, even in moments when we're struggling.
Consider keeping your letter somewhere accessible so you can return to it when your inner critic becomes particularly loud.
You don’t have to navigate this all alone.
Learning to understand and care for your emotional experiences can take time, especially when you've spent years pushing your feelings aside or struggling to make sense of them. Therapy offers a space to explore these patterns with curiosity and compassion, deepen your connection with yourself, and discover new ways of responding to what you feel.
If you're looking for a Denver therapist to help you better understand your emotions, connect more deeply with yourself, and navigate life's challenges with greater ease, we'd love to support you.
