You're tired. You're hungry. It's the end of the workday. And you're stuck in your head dreading some upcoming demand that you're not a fan of. What to do?
One strategy is to use Acting opposite of the emotion. It's easy to get stuck in our own heads--perseverating on some minor negative situation or hyper-focusing on a big challenge that we can't avoid. If we can reframe our approach by taking a breath, altering our response to the situation, and acting with a calm demeanor as we face the issue...we can change the situation.
Let's restate this--call it looking for the silver lining, choosing to see the positive, or focusing on solutions. The key component here is the reframing of our response, it's not about denying that a problem exists or that the situation is challenging or that you're been dealing with this issue for months...
A few steps:
Awareness--Feel our emotions rising, feel the tightness in our breathing, notice the weight in our shoulders
The pause--Take a breath, pause (this could be shifting our gaze towards something calming or beautiful)
Identify--What is the issue? Quick--just one brief thought with this step
The shift--Replace the negative emotion with a positive one
Easy to do? Not always...but it's interesting how this strategy can affect us. We've seen students and staff (working at school) use this to navigate tough situations throughout the day, and help them shift to initiate tasks that need to get done (vs. letting the emotions of frustration, apathy, hopelessness, and grief keep them stuck). Try it out in whatever situation you choose, and Good Luck!