Help to Regulate via “Daily Practice” by Anna Runkle
Anna Runkle is a life coach and author who supports self-healing of childhood Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
When healing our childhood Complex PTSD, or any sort of PTSD, Anna recognizes that we especially need to address our neurological dysregulation.
Anna coined the term The Daily Practice, a process which she learned, decades ago, from a friend named Rachel Hope who learned a rendition of it from Alcoholics Anonymous.
The Daily Practice is a very useful tool to use at least twice a day to learn to regulate our nervous system, emotions, and thoughts.
Sign up for Anna’s free course on using The Daily Practice which include several videos and a PDF: The Daily Practice.
I typed up some brief notes for my own use on how to do The Daily Practice and want to share this with you.
Do sign up for Anna’s free course for all sorts of helpful information on this process as my notes are not intended to replace the course—only to assist after listening to the course until The Daily Practice becomes a habit. (And also to encourage you to do the course yourself.)
Notes:
This exercise, done every day, can help us to neurology, emotionally and mentally regulate; to gain clarity; and to free up mental space to use instead to gain inspiration, drive and energy in order to create a fulfilling life.
Do The Daily Practice session at least 2x a day for at least 5-10 minutes.
Use scratch paper to just list and dump any raw thoughts of fears and resentments that come to mind.
This list will get destroyed at the end of each session.
Have no concern about analyzing, proof-reading, using proper grammar, etc.
Writing instructions:
Anna says we will call any negative emotions either a fear (i.e. an anxious kind of thought) or a resentment (i.e. an angry kind of thought).
When writing resentments, focus on the fears underneath each resentment as there are many fears buried under our resentments.
On your scratch paper, write all the fears and resentments that come to mind:
I have fear that _____,
Fear that _____,
Fear that _____,
Fear that _____,
etc.
I am resentful towards _____
because I have fear that _____;
because I have fear that _____;
because I have fear that _____;
etc.
Sign off
After you’re finished writing fears and resentments, sign off to release them.
If you believe in God
Give it over to God, asking God to remove your fears and resentments. Write the following:
I am now ready and I humbly ask that You, God, remove these fears and resentments. I pray to know Your will for me today and to have the power to carry it out.
<sign your name>
If you don’t believe in God
Release your fear and resentments. Write the following:
I am now ready and hereby release these fears and resentments so that I can have a clearer vision of what I should do today, and so I’ll have the focus and the energy and the inner calm to do that to the best of my ability.
<sign your name>
Meditate
Meditate with the goal to just rest and so your brain and nervous system can compose and reset.
Also, “fresh thoughts and inspiration might just fall into your mind.”
For 20 minutes, just focus on clearing your mind. You can just repeat a simple word like “This” to help you to not think about other things.
FYI: Anna uses vedic meditation.
Tear it up
The last step is to just tear up your list and throw it away.
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I wrote about Richard Grannon’s method for emotional regulating here.
Do you need coaching? Please contact me. I’d love to help you.