Keep A Cool Head

The mind is like a pool of water. When stormy and unsettled, its reflection becomes distorted. But when that surface settles down, the reflection becomes clearer. And you can clearly see reality.

Emotional Control

Managing your emotions is the most important skill that you can master in life. Strong emotional arousal happens when your emotions take over. They hijack your thinking brain and kick in the ‘fight or flight’ response. This is somewhat unavoidable because we all occasionally experience strong emotions. The upside is that the more we manage them the easier it becomes.

Managing Emotional Arousal

Managing strong emotions is like riding a wild horse. You can let the horse run the show or you can tame it. You still want the horse to have energy, directed positive energy. You don’t want to get rid of strong emotions because they serve a purpose. You don’t want to be at the mercy of strong emotions.

Breathe Easy

Think about this for a moment. In survival situations, there’s something known as The Rule of Three. It means the human body can go for:

• Three weeks without food
• Three days without water
• Three minutes without oxygen

Breathing not only keeps you alive. It can help you not only survive but thrive in difficult times if done right.

Finding 20 to 30 minutes for a meditation session is not always possible. But you’re always breathing. When stressed, angry or worried, your breathing tends to become shallow and faster. This activates the flight-or-fight response. When this happens it’s difficult to respond in a calm and sensible way.

Focus on deep breaths, making the out-breath slower and longer than the in-breath. This activates the sympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest response). It allows you to think more clearly and remain calm in the face of challenges. And you can do it anywhere and anytime.

The 7-11 Method

Use this powerful breathing exercise to quickly calm down and step back into your power.

• Breathe deeply (through your nose) into your belly
• Make each out-breath longer than the in-breath
• You can breathe in to the count of 7, then breathe out more slowly to the count of 11
• You can try a count of 5:9 or 3:5 if 7:11 is too difficult, the emphasis is on the out-breath being longer than the in-breath
• Concentrate on the counting & feel a gradual calm clarity begin to take over.

ABC

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So you’ve managed to calm down – now what? You keep it simple! This powerful checklist will help you to keep your thoughts focused & your mind in the present.

A – Awareness. Notice where your thoughts & emotions are. Are they random or focused? Empowering or disempowering? Are you focused on the past, present or future?

B – Be here now. Bring your awareness to this present moment. Don’t focus on the future because it hasn’t arrived yet & forget about the past because it’s gone.

C – Choose to focus 100% of your energy & focus on whatever it is that you’re doing. Take care of this present moment & that will set you up to better handle the next moment.

Your ability to stay calm and collected is generally more useful than the power to run away, panic or get angry. Train the wild horse in your mind to move in the direction of your choosing.