Suggestions for trying it out

Here are some easy ways to get started.

"Maybe I could/what if" topics are easy ones to try with a teddy bear

Get Teddy Bear Talk Support sessions scheduled for

• getting self going
• or checking in
• or shifting gears
• or for before they're ready stuff
• or having TB serve as a stand-in for someone it'd be helpful to meet with
  • or to try talking to
  • or have a dry run with

Grab a teddy bear in the spur of the moment

• cuz don't feel like it is getting the better of them
• something comes up that needs fixing or musing about

Digest ideas with a teddy bear

• Learning by explaining and puzzling over out loud support - in the midst of reading or studying, grab a teddy bear and talk things over as if the teddy bear were a fellow learner or someone you could teach the material to. Let them be someone you can digest ideas with.

Recruiting a teddy bear

You can point them to the "Guide for teddy bears" for getting up to speed on being a teddy bear.

Serving as a teddy bear

MAYBE TALK ABOUT THE PULL OF THE HABITUAL AND THE NEED FOR RULES THAT ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO RESIST THE PULL WHEN YOU'RE IN THE TEDDY BEAR ROLE

Arriving at a better place

THIS SECTION IS A LEFTOVER THAT I MIGHT NOT KEEP

General reasons

• Just for having spent the time at all. One way TBTS can be helpful is for getting you to spend time on things that you wouldn't otherwise spend time on without having a teddy bear on board with you.
• Variation and selection - pushes and pulls of various sorts

Reasons that are more specific to Teddy Bear Talk Support

• Imagining/simulating
• Totally committing
• More pressure in some ways less pressure in others
• The ephemeral nature of talking
• Staying in the game - Mere presence of teddy bear - I might be able to stay more focused on what's important or what needs the most attention, or have better self talk, or think more big picture, etc.

I'll know that the teddy bear won't let me get away with bad self talk, and that'll prevent me from talking that way about myself. The teddy bear's mere presence can serve as a touchstone to keep me operating in a particular mode. Or, it could be that I know I won't always have a teddy bear with me, so wanting to take advantage of that can get me to prioritize.