Activity: Making a nervous system plan

- Consider your intention for taking this course. Maybe you want to be less anxious or reactive, or you want more playfulness or balance in your life. Maybe you want to be a grounding influence for your team or your family. Your why is important and really acknowledging and feeling your why will help strengthen your commitment to applying your learning. Speaking of applying your learning, at this point, you know how to recognize when you're in one of the three autonomic states and you know some simple practices for regulating your nervous system. You have an idea of your stressors and you also know your resilience resources. With that, I encourage you to make a plan of action that's specific for you by making commitments about how you'll regulate your nervous system when needed. I'd like you to create a handful of commitments for how you plan to respond when you experience a stressor or you find yourself getting stuck in a mobilized or an immobilized state. Check out your nervous system plan handout, in the exercise files for this course. In it, you will be asked to create statements where you fill in the blanks with ideas from your list of stressors and resilience resources. It looks like this. When this stressor or state happens, I commit to using this practice or resilience resource. Be specific when you fill in the blanks. Try not to make your commitment too big that you won't do it or too small that it won't help you. Take your time with not just thinking, but also feeling your way through what will be meaningful and effective for you. Let me give you some examples of what these commitments might sound like. When I've been on Zoom all morning, I commit to going outside and taking a short walk at lunchtime. When I have a one-on-one interaction with this team member or client who stresses me, I commit to reaching out for quick conversation with this friend who helps ground me. When I'm losing sleep over an impending deadline, I commit to listening to music during the day while I work because it helps me feel more creative and less stuck. Once you have your list, read it back to yourself and see, when you say your commitments out loud, does each one give you a sense of safety and connection? If so, you've nailed it. If any make you feel anxious or overwhelmed, or you don't notice any feeling associated with it, rework your commitment until it feels like the right size for you. Remember, these commitments correspond to your why for taking this course. By making this list of commitments, you're making a larger commitment to yourself that your why is important and that you're willing to craft a plan of action based upon your learning.