Conscious Uncoupling: 5 Steps to Living Happily Even After

by Katherine Woodward Thomas

STEP 1 SELF-CARE SUGGESTIONS (Take at least 2 each day) 1. Keep a journal that is for your eyes only. Write out your rage, disappointment, indignation, embarrassment, sorrow, guilt, and horror. Let yourself express the entire spectrum of your emotions, censoring nothing, judging nothing, and turning away from nothing. 2. Move your body, even if it’s just for a few moments. Walk, stretch, run, swim, ride your bike, do yoga, jump on a trampoline, skate, lift weights, bounce a ball, dance, etc. 3. Listen to music that mirrors your emotions and sing along at the top of your lungs. 4. Look for opportunities to offer kindness to others, particularly to those who may be suffering even more than you are. 5. Visit great art to remember that so many of the things you are feeling right now have been felt throughout the ages by those who created something beautiful of their suffering. Go to the symphony, opera, theater, or a museum. 6. Sit under the stars and turn your face upward to remember how vast the universe is and how many possibilities it holds for love.