Building an Emotional Fort

A fort is a strong wall designed to protect warriors from an attack. Building an emotional fort for yourself will help you survive those bad days, and it will remind you that there is still hope and strength within you. An emotional fort will protect you. There are 3 parts of an emotional fort: the foundations, the walls, and an entrance.

We all have bad days. Days when we can’t seem to get our thoughts and emotions to a positive place. Days when we fear the smallest things. Days when we just don’t believe something good can and will happen for us.

I’ve put together some questions below that will help you build your own emotional fort. All you have to do is answer these questions with the words, images and sensations that come to mind as you reflect upon them.

Keep this exercise in a safe place, where you can easily access it when needed, especially on tough days.

Emotional Fort – The foundations: Hope and Gratitude

Hope

• Describe a time in your life when you felt full of hope. 
• Describe a time in your life when you were going through a challenging moment or situation but still felt full of hope.
• What does HOPE mean to you?

Gratitude

• What are you most grateful for in your life?
• What kind of giving back actions would you like to take in the near future, and why?
• What does GRATITUDE mean to you?

Emotional Fort – The walls: Joy, Peace and Inspiration

Joy

• Describe a time when you felt joy in your life.
• Describe the things that bring you the most joy and happiness in life.

Peace

• Describe a time in your life when you felt at peace.
• Describe the things that make the world around you stop and you feel fully present in the moment.

Inspiration

• Describe a time in your life when you felt inspired and determined to carry on, to reach for the impossible and to believe that you can.
• Describe the things that inspire you in life.

Emotional Fort – The entrance: Self-Compassion and Perspective

Self-Compassion

• What is self-compassion to you, and what does it look like in practice?
• Describe a time when you talked to yourself or a friend in a compassionate way (if you can’t think of a time, write a compassionate dialogue with yourself right now)

Perspective

• Describe a time when you realized that you are part of something much larger than that one moment in time?
• What are the things in your life that are constant and can ground you (like an anchor) no matter what is happening for you?

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