How to Manage Your Stress and Anxiety – Part 4（Final)

Find and Connect to Your Resources

Hello everyone,

Did you know you already have inner resources that can help you feel safe, grounded, and calm?

When stress or anxiety feels overwhelming, we can gently return to what comforts us—a favorite memory, a trusted person, a cozy place, or something we love.

Welcome to the final post in the How to Manage Stress and Anxiety series 🌿

The fresh green season is here🌿 I hope you’re doing well.

Today, I’d like to share some ways to connect with these inner sources of support.

In the last post, I introduced a grounding exercise that can help calm the nervous system and reconnect with oneself.

Today, I’d like to share a new exercise that builds on that grounded state. We’ll gently explore and connect with the inner resources that are already within you.

Let’s briefly review what we’ve covered so far:

In Part 1, we examined what happens in our minds and bodies when we feel anxious or overwhelmed through a neuroscience lens. I shared how returning to the present moment can offer a helpful way out of stress or anxiety.

Parts 2 and 3 focused on using simple body-based practices to return to the “here and now.” In Part 2, we explored using the five senses, and in Part 3, we practiced grounding through the body.

Both practices can help settle your nervous system, but if you’re seeking a deeper sense of ease or stability, I hope you’ll try today’s approach:

getting to know and connecting with your inner resources.

Exercise 1: Imagining What You Love

Start by gently bringing to mind something or someone you love.

It might be...

a favorite place,

a beloved person or animal,

a piece of music, artwork,

or nature.

Anything is welcome.

Take a few moments to picture it vividly.

How do you feel being with that image or memory?

What sensations do you notice inside your body?

Exercise 2: Imagining A Sense of Safety

Next, bring to mind a situation, place, person, or object that makes you feel safe and at ease.

It could be...

a moment when you’re lying down and resting,

listening to your favorite music,

or being with someone you trust.

As you hold that image, what begins to happen in your body?

Do you feel any softening?

Warmth?

A little more spaciousness?

Sometimes, after grounding, I like to imagine myself in a place where I feel deeply safe, or with someone I trust. When I do, I begin to notice different sensations than during grounding alone—my shoulders might soften, my chest opens up, or I feel a warmth in my belly. It feels so comforting that I sometimes fall asleep, or just stay in that peaceful state a little longer. Afterward, I often feel more energized, clearer about something I was struggling with, or ready to take the next step.

As I mentioned in the last post, this kind of visualization may also bring up unexpected feelings—you might feel some anxiety, or even self-blame if the exercise doesn’t go smoothly.

If that happens, please know there’s nothing wrong. You can simply notice what’s happening with a gentle curiosity—and if at any point you feel like, “I don’t want to continue right now,” that’s okay. You can stop whenever you need to.

What matters most is Not “finishing the exercise” but being kind and attuned to your current state.

How was it for you to reconnect with something or someone you love, or that makes you feel safe?

And what was it like to sense that in your body?

I’ll be sharing a guided audio/video soon, based on the experiential exercises from an AEDP® Introductory Workshop I led in 2024. I hope it will help you in practicing these exercises at your own pace whenever you need them.

Thank you for reading to the end. Wishing you gentle moments of connection, and I’ll see you in the next post!