Feeling a little scrambled?

You are not alone

Our minds have so much to process in this fast-paced world it is easy to full prey to negative thoughts, become stressed or anxious. Here are some simple steps you can take to keep calm and carry on.

1. Breathe

Our natural response to stress is ‘guarding’, this triggers tension in our muscles and shortened breathing patterns. Drop your guard by relaxing your shoulders and taking five slow and deep breaths.

Try these free mindfulness meditations to get started.

Tip: Use a calming aroma like cinnamon, mint or lavender

2. Gain perspective

Often, when we are in flight or fight mode, it is easy to allow fear to overwhelm us. ‘Awfulising’ is now a recognised psychological state*, where the potential consequences imagined is more stressful than an actual event.

Acknowledge the fear, then consider the reality – whatever I am fearing, is it possible? Is it probable? Pause to assess your choices – can you inform yourself better about the fear to help eliminate the threat you are feeling?

3. Start with kindness

Our inner voice has immense influence, programmed from a very young age we are listening to our inner dialogue 24/7. It’s not easy to alter those deeply ingrained messages, especially when we are in a state of fear, but self-soothing can help. Begin by telling yourself that all things must pass, you can find a way to manage the situation and take back control.

4. Use a visualisation technique

Our subconscious mind is a powerful tool, capable of manifesting many physical states. When stressed, we are less able to stem the panic and bring thoughts into focus. Visualisation techniques can help by taking the edge off that heightened state of alarm, and much like meditation, the more we practice the better we become at calming our minds. Here are some good examples to try.

5. Distract your senses

If something has just rattled you, there may be an immediate physical and emotional reaction. Pause for a moment and if you can, physically move away from whatever has triggered a response.

Tip: Use this popular exercise is to distract your senses by finding:

Five things you can see
Four things you can touch
Three things you can hear
Two things you can smell
One thing you can taste

Self-compassion

Above all, it’s a time for self-compassion. Slowly replacing negative thoughts with positive affirmations takes time and like any new habit requires practice. Showing yourself kindness is the first step to creating a calmer outlook and allowing more peace into your life

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*Awfulising

How does this work?

The tailored approach LiveWell Dorset uses to come up with solutions to the things that are stopping us achieving our goals, is based upon work done by University College London developing the COM-B model of behaviour change. In this model, all behaviour is influenced by understanding a person’s capability to change, their opportunity to change and their motivation to change. By understanding which of these is the biggest barrier to change, we can tailor support accordingly. This model of behaviour change is at the centre of the support we offer, online and in person.

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