The Birds and the Peas

Have you ever heard of the "Pea-Technique"?

I learned it from my therapist. I'm pretty sure she didn't invent it though, so some of you may know it too, perhaps under a different name.
In short, it is a technique that is supposed to help you focus on the positives in life, instead of drowning in depressive thoughts.

You need:
• dried chickpeas or peas or any kind of small, round pebble
• two pockets

How it works:
• in the morning, you put the peas in one of your pockets, that will be your "storage" (you might have to experiment with how many peas fit into your pocket and how many you realistically need)
• then throughout the day, whenever something positive happens, you put a pea in the other pocket
• in the evening, you take a look at how many "positive" peas you've collected
• can you still remember what it was that made the pea go from one pocket to the other? If not, that's also fine, you can just concentrate on the amount of peas

This little exercise helps to shift your focus from the negatives to the positives in your life. "Pea-wandering events" can be tiny things like "I held open a door for an old lady" or "The barista at the coffee shop smiled at me", or bigger things like "I got a promotion". Anything you perceive to be good works. And after some time, you'll notice that the dark and depressing things which seemed to overshadow your entire life lose a bit of their power as small beacons (or "pea"cons) of light cut through the fog.

It's okay if this doesn't automatically work for you. Give yourself some time, have patience. Rome wasn't built in one day either. And after you've overcome your fears and dark thoughts, you'll be more powerful than Rome anyway.

Peace out,
Emilia