Touch your tongue to the palate (to slow down your thoughts).
The benefit of pausing is that the reptilian brain calms down, so you have access to your
emotions, love, higher thinking – what’s good for the whole family not just for me, what’s
good for the organization, the country, etc. We can respond instead of react.
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Shift the awareness out of the problem
Bring awareness to your breathing
Reconnect with your body (especially the feet)
Change your environment – short walk, wash your face
Use your resources
o Music, talk to a friend
o Exercises
• Boundary setting
• Here-n-Now
• Grounding
3. Support – Just being in the presence of other mammals, not just humans, somehow
relaxes the limbic brain. So if you are not a people person, animals are who you could
go to. If you don’t have a pet, go to a place where you can hang out with animals. Touch
is very important – it bypasses the left brain, it bypasses jargon; better than saying you
will be okay, is a hug (from someone who feels safe to you). The language of the reptilian
brain is of sensation; there are no thoughts, there is no cognition. So the reptilian brain
and the limbic brain – where there is no talk (mammals and reptiles) – physical activity,
physical touch is the way they communicate. So, when we are stressed, to not be alone is
very calming. Our chances of survival go up manifold; stress levels drop. So, get enough
of that.
Close your eyes.
Think of someone who you know are happy to see you.
Think of someone with kind eyes.
Imagine them.
Take a moment and see how that feels in your body – to have those kind eyes
look straight at you.
When we are stressed we feel alone. Doing this for one minute, will remind your
physiology that you are not alone. In this moment, when you are in this place, you are
alone, but that is not the narrative of your life. That shifts you out of that ‘poor me’ spiral.
Our brain is responding as if we are in a forest, there are predators out there. But the
truth is you are not alone, someone or the other is always around us. So, remembering
that is good for us.
4. Appropriate action – This is true for chronic stress as well. The four A’s:
Avoid – Avoid stressful situations if you can – there is no glory to exposing yourself
to something that just stresses you out and does nothing else. As humans, we are very
hard on ourselves. If an animal doesn’t go for a walk one day, we are not going to say,
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