Day 23 – The need to rest and digest

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Day 23 - I was reminded today that along with our sympathetic nervous system which triggers our fight, flight, freeze response, our parasympathetic nervous system triggers our rest and digest response – and many of these responses are best accomplished in a state of relaxation.  (There are a bunch of YouTube videos out there describing these systems!!).

All of this became relevant today in part because of my work at the High School – none of the kids I see at the high school wanted to talk today (one was literally absent!). One of the kids was happy to make a collage of where they’d rather be (than in school at the moment), and the other kid wanted to watch YouTube videos on their phone without any input from me! I felt it was at that moment my job to hold the space – just be with, gently offering my attention and the possibility of interaction. Is this expressive arts therapy and mental health counseling? 

 

Yes – I believe it is.  Sometimes there is just a need to have the space be unstimulating.  To have the space be an undemanding place to be – sometimes suggestions are welcome, sometimes they’re not. 

 

I worked on a collage I started several months ago.  I’m not sure yet if I will engage the images that showed up, or if I’ll just let them sit in my journal holding a space.

 



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