Hayz Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Here is a list of 153 Positive things you could do when you feel the urge of cutting that I found on another website and wanted to share. 1. Exercise 2. Putting on fake tattoos 3. Drawing on yourself in red marker (make sure it's washable!) 4. Scribbling on sheets an sheets of paper 5. Writing (poetry, stories, journal, etc.) 6. Cuddling with a stuffed toy 7. Being with other people 8. Watching a favorite TV show (preferably a comedy) 9. Posting on web boards, and answering others' posts 10. Thinking about how I DON'T want scars for the summer 11. Painting your nails 12. Going to see a movie 13. Eating something ridiculously sweet (or any favorite food) 14. Doing school work 15. Surf the net 16. Go into chat rooms to talk 17. Call a friend and ask for company 18. Playing a musical instrument 19. Singing 20. Looking up at the sky (night is especially beautiful) . 21. Redo this list. 22. Punching a punching bag (with gloves on) 23. Shoot rubberbands across the room. 24. Cover yourself with band-aids where you want to cut 25. Mix warm water and red food coloring, and put in on your skin (feels and looks like blood) 26. Letting yourself cry (can be very difficult for some) 27. Sleep (only if you are tired) 28. A hot shower, or relaxing bath (no razors in the tub, though) 29. Play with a pet 30. Detangling yarn or necklaces 31. Re-organizing your room 32. Cleaning 33. Having a pillowfight with the wall (yes, neighbors may think you are crazy, but that's ok) 34. Knitting or sewing 35. Reading a good book 36. Dressing up very glamorous (make sure no one can walk in on you, though) 37. Coloring my hair 38. Listening to music (try yo use calm music) 39. Watching a candle burn (no playing with the flames!) 40. Finding someone else you can help out 41. Meditate 42. Watching a scary (but not bloody, but if bloody movies help, than watch a bloody one) movie. 43. Work on a website 44. Have a vivid fantasy love affair with a celebrity 45. Go somewhere very public 46. Bake 47. Alphabetize your CD's 48. Chewing leather (especially if you SI by biting) 49. Buy a home Henna tatoo kit (peels off the next day-similar to skin picking) 50. Painting or drawing 51. Ripping paper into itty-bitty pieces 52. Hugs-(this one is very nice...) 53. Writting letters or email 54. Talk to yourself (or if that feels weird, buy a small tape recorder-I then feel like someone is listening) 55. Stroke nice fabrics 56. Hug a pillow 57. Hyperfocus on something like a rock, hand, etc. 58. fingerprint 59. Scream real loud (make sure no one is home!) 60. Dance 61. Make hot chocolate (mmmmm....) 62. pop bubble wrap 63. play with modelling clay or Play-Dough 64. count to one hundred 65. Build a pillow fort 66. pop balloons 67. Hug yourself 69. Reading things in a different language 70. Going for a nice, long drive 71. Complete something you've been putting off 72. Drinking absurd amounts of tea 73. Breaking plastic plates 74. Tearing up socks 75. Throwing socks against the wall 76. Archery 77. Rock climbing 78. Take up a new hobby 79. Organize bills and such 80. Cook a meal 81. Go out for ice cream 82. Buy a stuffed animal <o:p></o:p> 83. Look at pretty things-like flowers or artwork 84. Create Something 85. Pray 86. Randomly wave at people 87. Make a list of blessings in your life 88. Read the Bible 89. Go to a friend's house 90. Take up fencing 91. Watch an old, happy movie 92. Call a Help hotline or your Therapist 93. Talk to someone close to you that knows 94. Throw a temper-tantrum 95. Hit things-other than yourself 96. Ride a bicycle. 97. Polish silver or jewelry. 98. Gardening or watering house plants 99. Memorizing poetry 100. CHOCOLATE!!!!!!! 101. Feed the ducks or birds or squirrels, etc. 102. Draw on the walls 103. Play with facepaint 104. Do very Glamerous make-up 105. Colour with crayons 106. Memorise a novel or play or song 107. Put on boots and STAMP 108. Stretch 109. Find butterflies 110. Watch fish 111. Come up with baby names (even if you're not pregnant) 112. Make mashed potatoes 113. Make a tape of your favorite songs 114. Name all of your stuffed animals 115. Go shopping 116. Get into PJ's and just veg. 117. Buy cheap teddy bears and take out anger on them instead of self. 118. Throw everything (except glass) into the centrer 119. Go to a loud concert 120. Play the 15 minute game (say you can't cut for 15 minutes, and when the time is up, start again) 121. Plan your wedding / prom 122. Hunt for stuff on Ebay (you can find ANYTHING there) 123. Alphabetize your books 124. Hunt for your perfect home in the paper 125. Take up Tai Chi 126. Try to make as many words out of your full name as possible, then do your friends names) 127. count ceiling tiles/lights 129. search ridiculous things on the web 130. color-co-ordinate your wardrobe 131. do a home tan on yourself 132. sort all your photographs 133. color (or scribble) over the pretty women in magazines 134. plan a dinner party 135. play with a slinky 136. but yourself some toys and play 137. start collecting something 138. get a tattoo / piercing 139. play video/computer games 140. do a trash clean at your local park 141. Play on a swingset 142. go out and perform a random act of kindness for someone 143. call up an old friend 144. write yourself an "I love you because" letter 145. put on fake nails 146. try to build something 147. re-arrange your house 148. go to a public place and people watch 149. go through all your old stuff 150. go bargain - hunting 151. smile at least five people (you usually end up smiling genuinely yourself.) 152. go to the zoo and rename all the animals. 153. go for a peaceful walk. 154. Love you.<o:p></o:p> Here is another list 1. Excercise, running, etc. 2. Putting on fake tatoos 3. Drawing on yourself in red marker (make sure it's washable) 4. Scribbling on sheets of paper 5. Writing poetry 6. Cuddling with a stuffed toy 7. Being with other people 8. Watching a favorite TV show (preferably a comedy) 9. Posting on web boards/answering other people's posts 10. Thinking about how I DON'T WANT SCARS FOR SUMMER!! 11. Painting your nails 12. Going to see a movie 13. Eating something you can't resist! 14. Doing school work 15. Writing letter to someone but never actulley giving it to them 16. Go into chat rooms & talk 17. Call a friend & ask them to come hang out 18. Playing a musical instrument 19. Sing 20. Look up at the sky (at night is especially cool) 21. Making up your own list of things to do instead of S.I. 22. Punching a punching bag (with gloves on of coarse) 23. Snapping rubberband or hairband on your wrist 24. Cover yourself with band-aids where you want to cut 25. Go to the zoo and rename all the animals 26. Letting yourself cry (even though it can be very difficult for some) 27. Sleep (only if you are tired) 28. A hot or cold shower (changing the temperature of your environment will lots of times help you get your mind off of stuff and de-stress you) 29. Play with a pet 30. Smile at atleast five people (you usually end up smiling genuinly yourself) 31. Re-organize or clean your room or house 32. Go out and preform one random act of kindness 33. Having a pillowfight with the wall 34. Knitting or sewing 35. Reading a good book (but not a triggering one) 36. Dress up very glamouous 37. Color your hair 38. Listen to music (keep in mind that angry music can be triggering to some people) 39. Watching a candle burn (no playing with the flames please) 40. Finding someone else you can help out 41. Meditation 42. Call up an old friend 43. Work on a website or start a new one 44. Have a vivid fantasy love affair with a celebrity 45. Go somewhere very public 46. Bake cookies or another favorite food you like 47. Alphabatize your CD's 48. Chewing leather (especially if you SI by biting) 49. Buy a hoe henna tatoo kit 50. Painting or drawing 51. Ripping paper into itty-bitty pieces 52. Hugs-(this one is my favorite) 53. writting letters or email 54. Talk to yourself (if it feels too weird, buy a small tape recorder) 55. Hug a pillow 56. Hyperfocus on something like a rock or the floor 57. Fingerpaint 59. Scream as loud as you want 60. Dance 61. Make Hot Chocolate!! 62. pop bubble wrap 63. Play with modelling clay or playdough 64. Count to 100 65. Build a pillow fort 66. Pop balloons' 67. Hug yourself 68. Write yourself an "I love me because" letter to yourself 69. Reading things in a different language 70. Going for a nice, long drive--if you don'e drive, take a walk or jog 71. Complete something you've been putting off 72. Drinking absurd amounts of tea 73. fold paper and invent a new oragami shape 74. Tearing up socks 75. build something 76. Archery 77. Rock climbing 78. Take up a new hobby you've always dreamed about 79. organize bills, recipets, etc. 80. Cook a meal 81. Go out for ice-cream81. Go out for ice-cream 82. Buy a stuffed animal 83. Look at pretty things-like flowers or artwork 84. Create soemthing 85. Pray 86. Throw socks against the wall 87. Make a list of blessings in your life88. Read the bible 89. Go to a friend's house 90. Take up fencing 91. Watch an old comdey movie 92. Call your therapist or make an appointment with one 93. Talk to someone close to you that you trust 94. Throw a temper-tantrum 95. Tide a bicycle 96. Polish silver or jewellery 97. Gardening or water house plants 98. Re-arrange your house or room 99. Feed the ducks, birds or squirrells 100. Draw on the walls--pait the walls with water colors if you don't want anything permanant. 101. Play with facepaint 102. Do very glamerous make-up 103. Color with crayons 104. Memorize a novel, play or song 105. Put on boots and stomp! 106. Strech 107. Find butterflies and catch them 108. Watch fish 109. Come up with baby names even if you aren't expecting 110. Go to a public place and people watch 111. Make a tape or CD of your favorite songs 112. Name all of your stuffed animals 113. Go shopping 114. Get into your PJ's and just veg. 115. Buy cheap teddy bears and take out anger on them 116. Throw everything onto the ground--except glass 117. Go to a loud concert--angry music is triggering to some 118. Play the 15 minute game (say you can't cut for 15 minutes, when the time is up, start all over again) 119. Plan your someday wedding or upcoming prom 120. Hunt for stuff on Ebay 121. Alphabetize your books and magazines 122. Hunt for your perfect home in the paper or online 123. Take up Tai Chi 124. Try to make as many words as possibble out of your full name 125. Count ceiling tiles or lights 126. Go clubbing 127. Search for ridiculous things on the web 128. Color-co-ordinate your wardrobe 129. Do a home tan on yourself 130. Sort all your photographs 131. Color or scribble over pretty women in magazines 132. Plan a dinner party 133. Go through all of your old stuff 134. Buy yourself some toys and play like your 8 again! 135. Start collecting something 136. Buy a stuffed animal 137. Call 1-800-DONT-CUT And some more advice One way to increase the chances of a distraction/substitution helping calm the urge to harm is to match what you do to how you are feeling at the moment. First, take a few moments and look behind the urge. What are you feeling? Are you angry? Frustrated? Restless? Sad? Craving the feeling of SI? Depersonalized and unreal or numb? Unfocused? Next, match the activity to the feeling. A few examples: angry, frustrated, restless Try something physical and violent, something not directed at a living thing: Slash an empty plastic soda bottle or a piece of heavy cardboard or an old shirt or sock. Make a soft cloth doll to represent the things you are angry at. Cut and tear it instead of yourself. Flatten aluminum cans for recycling, seeing how fast you can go. Hit a punching bag. Use a pillow to hit a wall, pillow-fight style. Rip up an old newspaper or phone book. On a sketch or photo of yourself, mark in red ink what you want to do. Cut and tear the picture. Make Play-Doh or Sculpey or other clay models and cut or smash them. Throw ice into the bathtub or against a brick wall hard enough to shatter it. Break sticks. I've found that these things work even better if I rant at the thing I am cutting/tearing/hitting. I start out slowly, explaining why I am hurt and angry, but sometimes end up swearing and crying and yelling. It helps a lot to vent like that. Crank up the music and dance. Clean your room (or your whole house). Go for a walk/jog/run. Stomp around in heavy shoes. Play handball or tennis. sad, soft, melancholy, depressed, unhappy Do something slow and soothing, like taking a hot bath with bath oil or bubbles, curling up under a comforter with hot cocoa and a good book, babying yourself somehow. Do whatever makes you feel taken care of and comforted. Light sweet-smelling incense. Listen to soothing music. Smooth nice body lotion into the parts or yourself you want to hurt. Call a friend and just talk about things that you like. Make a tray of special treats and tuck yourself into bed with it and watch TV or read. Visit a friend. craving sensation, feeling depersonalized, dissociating, feeling unreal Do something that creates a sharp physical sensation: Squeeze ice hard (this really hurts). (Note: putting ice on a spot you want to burn gives you a strong painful sensation and leaves a red mark afterward, kind of like burning would.) Put a finger into a frozen food (like ice cream) for a minute. Bite into a hot pepper or chew a piece of ginger root. Rub liniment under your nose. Slap a tabletop hard. Snap your wrist with a rubber band. Take a cold bath. Stomp your feet on the ground. Focus on how it feels to breathe. Notice the way your chest and stomach move with each breath. [NOTE: Some people report that being online while dissociating increases their sense of unreality; be cautious about logging on in a dissociative state until you know how it affects you.] wanting focus Do a task (a computer game like tetris or minesweeper, writing a computer program, needlework, etc) that is exacting and requires focus and concentration. Eat a raisin mindfully. Pick it up, noticing how it feels in your hand. Look at it carefully; see the asymmetries and think about the changes the grape went through. Roll the raisin in your fingers and notice the texture; try to describe it. Bring the raisin up to your mouth, paying attention to how it feels to move your hand that way. Smell the raisin; what does it remind you of? How does a raisin smell? Notice that you're beginning to salivate, and see how that feels. Open your mouth and put the raisin in, taking time to think about how the raisin feels to your tongue. Chew slowly, noticing how the texture and even the taste of the raisin change as you chew it. Are there little seeds or stems? How is the inside different from the outside? Finally, swallow. Choose an object in the room. Examine it carefully and then write as detailed a description of it as you can. Include everything: size, weight, texture, shape, color, possible uses, feel, etc. Choose a random object, like a paper clip, and try to list 30 different uses for it. Pick a subject and research it on the web. wanting to see blood Draw on yourself with a red felt-tip pen. Take a small bottle of liquid red food coloring and warm it slightly by dropping it into a cup of hot water for a few minutes. Uncap the bottle and press its tip against the place you want to cut. Draw the bottle in a cutting motion while squeezing it slightly to let the food color trickle out. Draw on the areas you want to cut using ice that you've made by dropping six or seven drops of red food color into each of the ice-cube tray wells. Paint yourself with red tempera paint. wanting to see scars or pick scabs Get a henna tattoo kit. You put the henna on as a paste and leave it overnight; the next day you can pick it off as you would a scab and it leaves an orange-red mark behind. Another thing that helps sometimes is the fifteen-minute game. Tell yourself that if you still want to harm yourself in 15 minutes, you can. When the time is up, see if you can go another 15. source Self Injury http://www.palace.ne...ych/injury.html Cosmos..., catsmother21, Phoenix1225 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily-Bee Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Great stuff Hazy I have moved it and pinned it so it pinned together with another post with suggestions to prevent SH.Lilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daisy duck Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 thanks for the suggestions!I will be sure to keep that list!xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayz Posted January 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Great stuff Hazy I have moved it and pinned it so it pinned together with another post with suggestions to prevent SH.Lillythanks lilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink stars Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Thank you very much for that Hayz, it includes so many things I had never even thought to do to distract myself when feeling bad, I will deffinetly be keeping this list. xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrippleAndStarfish Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 never noticed this pinned up there!But now i have no excuse - i've printed out 6 copies of it, stuck one inside the door of the bathroom cabinet, one on each wall in my room, and one downstairs in the messroom...all the places i tend to go to 'hide'. So thankyou! xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backagain Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 thankyou am gonna copy it too an leave it next to my bed. f x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellz Posted October 14, 2009 Report Share Posted October 14, 2009 Thank you. Saved it onto my laptop...gonna write it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozbaby Posted November 8, 2009 Report Share Posted November 8, 2009 Thankyou will give it a go !xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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