8 ways to stay calm under pressure

I find these tools very useful and with what is going on in the world today we all need to use them more than ever!!!  I know I do!!!

1. Simply place your hand on your heart and breathe.  This simple thing releases oxytocin which helps regulate and calm thefight/flight/freeze/appease system.
2. Hug your best friend.  Hug someone you trust, a good long one.  This also releases oxytocin to balance out stress-related cortisol.
3. Remember a time you felt safe.  Imagine being in that place, close your eyes and pay attention to how your body responds.  again this releases oxytocin.
4. Write it down.  When upset, take a break and write it down.  Writing (left brain) an experience that bothers you (right brain), you are strengthening connections between these two parts of your brain.  It gives you more time to fully process the event.
5. Repeat a helpful slogan.  Slogans remind us of a larger teaching.  Find a few that touch your heart, write them down and post them around the office, car, house.  At times I repeat one every hour to just recalibrate myself.
6. Name the emotion.  At times just acknowledging what we are feeling gives our rational brain a chance to kick in.
7. Take in the Good.  Every day, morning or evening write down three things that you are grateful for and why.
8. Take a self-compassion break.  This is truly an amazing step.  It is one I love to teach. When you notice yourself judging yourself or impatient with your self, go to your heart and breathe this frequency of compassion for yourself.  Then ask your heart, what is truly needed, what truly matters here?

The more of us who do this within ourselves, the more beautiful the world will look to us!!