{"id":309,"date":"2007-06-22T11:50:09","date_gmt":"2007-06-22T11:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html"},"modified":"2007-06-22T11:50:09","modified_gmt":"2007-06-22T11:50:09","slug":"six-psychological-strategies-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html","title":{"rendered":"Six Psychological Strategies to Calm Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because Beyond Blue readers seemed to appreciate the physical strategies I listed on my “Six Strategies to Calm Yourself Down<\/a>” post (based on the suggestions Elaine Aron gives in her book, “The Highly Sensitive Person<\/a>“), I thought I\u2019d offer her psychological strategies as well.<\/p>\n

1. Reframe the situation<\/strong>
\nIn reframing, notice what is familiar and friendly, what you have successfully dealt with that is similar.
\n2. Repeat a phrase, prayer, or mantra that, through daily practice, you have come to associate with deep inner calm.<\/strong>
\nWhen repeating a mantra or prayer, if your mind races back to what is overarousing it, it is important not to get discouraged and stop. You will still be calmer than you would be without it.
\n3. Witness your overarousal.<\/strong>
\nWhen witnessing, imagine standing to one side, watching yourself, perhaps talking about yourself with a comforting, imaginary figure. “There\u2019s Ann again, so overwhelmed she\u2019s failing to pieces. I really feel for her. When she\u2019s like this, of course, she can\u2019t see beyond right now. Tomorrow, when she\u2019s rested, she\u2019ll be all excited again about her work. She just has to take some rest now no matter what seems to need to be done. Once she\u2019s rested, it will go smoothly.”
\n4. Love the situation.<\/strong>
\nLoving the situation sounds pretty flippant, but it\u2019s important. An expanded, loving mind, one that is open to the whole universe, is the opposite of a tightly constricted , overaroused mind.
\n5. Love your overarousal.<\/strong>
\nAnd if you cannot love the situation, it is vitally important and even more essential that you love yourself in your state of not being able to love the situation. [Got to be honest: I don\u2019t really get these two. Or maybe I\u2019m constricted and overaroused so much of the time, I don\u2019t really know what I\u2019m supposed to love.]\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Aron adds the power of music, although this isn\u2019t really a psychological strategy:<\/p>\n

6.\tThe Power of Music<\/strong>
\nFinally, do not forget the power of music to change your mood (Why do you think armies have bands and buglers?) But beware that most HSPs are strongly affected by music [I wrote about this in my “Play the Blues Away<\/a>” post], so the right choice is essential. When you are already aroused, you do not want to stir yourself up more with emotional pieces or something associated with important memories (the music most people, being underaroused, cannot get enough of). Sobbing violins are out at such times. And, of course, since any music increases stimulation, use it only when it seems to soothe you. Its purpose is to distract you. Sometimes you need to be distracted; at other times, you need to attend carefully.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because Beyond Blue readers seemed to appreciate the physical strategies I listed on my “Six Strategies to Calm Yourself Down” post (based on the suggestions Elaine Aron gives in her book, “The Highly Sensitive Person“), I thought I\u2019d offer her psychological strategies as well. 1. Reframe the situation In reframing, notice what is familiar and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anxiety","category-mental-health"],"yoast_head":"\nSix Psychological Strategies to Calm Down - Beyond Blue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Six Psychological Strategies to Calm Down - Beyond Blue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Because Beyond Blue readers seemed to appreciate the physical strategies I listed on my “Six Strategies to Calm Yourself Down” post (based on the suggestions Elaine Aron gives in her book, “The Highly Sensitive Person“), I thought I\u2019d offer her psychological strategies as well. 1. Reframe the situation In reframing, notice what is familiar and…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Blue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-06-22T11:50:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beyond Blue\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Six Psychological Strategies to Calm Down - Beyond Blue","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Six Psychological Strategies to Calm Down - Beyond Blue","og_description":"Because Beyond Blue readers seemed to appreciate the physical strategies I listed on my “Six Strategies to Calm Yourself Down” post (based on the suggestions Elaine Aron gives in her book, “The Highly Sensitive Person“), I thought I\u2019d offer her psychological strategies as well. 1. Reframe the situation In reframing, notice what is familiar and…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html","og_site_name":"Beyond Blue","article_published_time":"2007-06-22T11:50:09+00:00","author":"Beyond Blue","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html","name":"Six Psychological Strategies to Calm Down - Beyond Blue","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-06-22T11:50:09+00:00","dateModified":"2007-06-22T11:50:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/#\/schema\/person\/47318cdf8063cc052eccff0c99db4e75"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/06\/six-psychological-strategies-t.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Six Psychological Strategies to Calm Down"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/","name":"Beyond Blue","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Therese J. Borchard","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/#\/schema\/person\/47318cdf8063cc052eccff0c99db4e75","name":"Beyond Blue","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/45c\/45c6e619a20a364bd981e9dda64eaa02x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/45c\/45c6e619a20a364bd981e9dda64eaa02x96.jpg","caption":"Beyond Blue"},"description":"Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet.com. She is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist. You may find her at her personal blog, her website, or you may follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.","sameAs":["http:\/\/thereseborchard.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/author\/tborchard"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}