In a moment of panic when stress threatens to overcome you, it’s very well resolving to change your approach and making all sorts of promises to yourself, but what do you do in the moment? Use these emergency measures to put some reality into debilitating situations and get yourself back on track.

DETERMINE WHERE YOUR POWER LIES

Do a quick reality check on the extent of your situation. Realise you have the power to control your stress at any moment you choose. Distress is not outside your control but rather is your subjective response to a situation. Work on the notion you can almost completely manage your feeling level by controlling how you choose to respond.

INTERPRETATION

If distressed by something external, focus on the fact that your pain is not due to the incident itself, but to your estimate and interpretation of it. Just as we can inflate the severity of a situation, so we can deflate its impact on us. Changing your interpretation and perspective gives you the power to break down spiralling stress responses.

ACCEPTANCE

Rather than rejecting the physiological impact stress is having on your body, allow all the uncomfortable feelings in. Our normal response is to try and stop what is happening in the body, causing uncomfortable feelings to increase in intensity. By letting them pass through you and working with them instead of resisting them you automatically start to feel calmer. This also applies to the trigger or event that is causing you stress. Embracing your situation is necessary to move forward.

BE PRACTICAL

Apply yourself practically; think baby steps. Start by doing one thing at a time, do your best and nothing past that point. Break down your feelings and your situation into manageable parts. Address each part separately and you will feel more in control.

BIG PICTURE PERSPECTIVE

Follow an overwhelming situation or thought into its worst possible outcome. Write down the thing you fear most about whatever is causing you stress – you miss the plane, you get fired, your best friend never speaks to you again, whatever the situation, realise that you will still be alive in the morning and after some time you may not even remember this incident. Work out what the impact will be in the grand scheme of your life. Let it happen in your mind and the fear of it will dissipate.

LOAD SOME RELAXATION SOFTWARE

Listen to a guided visualisation until you are completely relaxed. While in this relaxed state set up a sensory association by flooding your senses with your favourite aromatherapy oil. Lavender, neroli, pine, vetiver, rose…any of these are suitable. After repeating this process a few times, you automatically associate the fragrance with relaxation. In a crisis you can rapidly induce the same relaxation response by smelling the associated smell.

BE AN OBSERVER

For a moment, detach yourself completely from both your situation and your feelings. Imagine observing yourself from an outside perspective or imagine yourself as a friend who has come to help you. Give yourself the same advice, reassurance and encouragement your favourite friend would.

FIND YOUR TECHNIQUE

Familiarising yourself with one of the many disciplines designed to reduce stress will keep you prepared for a crisis. Breathing exercises, yoga postures, meditation, pressure points, chanting, praying, music and visual imagery can all be employed in an emergency. Props like Mala beads, reflexology foot rollers, candles, incense or Chinese stress balls can also be used to induce a relaxation response.