Seven steps to happiness part 4 – get touchy feely

It’s week four in our series of seven steps to happiness, and today we’re learning how getting touchy feely can help us to release negative energy and feel great.

Every week for seven weeks, Katie Phillips from Daring & Mighty is sharing some simple but effective ways we can learn how to get out of our heads, and release pent up negativity and stress. This week, she explains why it’s important to really ‘feel’ our bodies.

Get touchy feely

Getting touchy feely is all about creating a conscious awareness that you are in your body. It’s a bit like getting physical and doing exercise, but this is less about getting your blood pumping and more about using your sense of touch to feel present in your body.

It’s a very very simple tool that’s all about making yourself feel good. And there are a number of really easy ways you can achieve this. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Massage – having someone else touch you makes you very aware of your body. We store so much mental stress in our body, and a massage helps to unblock and clear out all of that negative energy. You can make an appointment with a professional therapist, or simply swap massages with your partner or a friend. Easy!
  • Hugs –  this kind of affection is so loving and warm, and will make you feel better instantly. A hug really can melt away so much of the clutter in your head. So start giving and receiving them daily. So simple but so effective.
  • Touch-stone – find an item that will sit comfortably in your pocket – a small smooth stone is perfect. Sit with the stone and remember a time in your life that made you feel happy and light. Think of the experience. Really take yourself back to that moment and feel how you felt then. Use all of your senses – what could you smell, touch, taste, see, hear? Immerse yourself completely in the memory. Then, when you really have hold of the feelings and senses, give them all to your little stone and know that whenever you touch that stone in your pocket, you’re back at that happy, light place. This is a great little trick to transport you out of your head when you’re feeling particularly caught up.

Some simple tools but sometimes it’s the really simple stuff that works!

By Katie Phillips from Daring & Mighty.

Join us next Sunday when we go au naturel in our pursuit of happiness! You can also read last week’s advice – put pen to paper here