Ground yourself in 60 seconds

Feeling stressed? Nervous? Scared?

When I experience these feelings, here's what I do to ground myself and to avoid getting caught up in a pattern of negative thinking and negative behavior.

As soon as you notice a need to ground yourself, stop wherever you are. Breathe slowly and count 15 breath cycles.

If you're anything like me, by the time you get to the third breath, your brain has already hijacked your attention. It might be worrying about the upcoming situation that has you feeling bad. It could be planning what to do, or listing all the ways that things can go wrong.

No matter. Just get back to counting. Four, five, six. Distracted? Back to counting. Seven, eight.

It takes just 60 seconds and it will take some wind out of the sails of your negative thoughts.

Yours,

— Peter