Coping skills when in distress – T.I.P.

When every thing seems just too much to deal with, and you are just overwhelmed by everything, remember the T.I.P. skills.

T.  Temperature.

Fill a bowl with ice cold water. Hold you breathe and dunk your face into the water. Hold it there for as long as you can. The shock of the cold will activate the bodies ‘dive’ response. No bowl of cold water handy? Get some ice cubes and hold them in your hand, and if you can’t get ice cubes, try holding an ice cold drink, anything cold will help. The temperature change will slow down your heart rate and increase the flow of blood to the brain. This will help to lower the strength of the emotion.

I. Intense.

Do something active! Run like crazy, dance, jog for a few minutes. This will expend the bodies energy and calm you down. Any intense exercise will do. Just try it next time.

P. Paced Breathing.

Tense all your muscles at once, while you breathe in, then relax the muscles are breathe out, saying a word that will help you, like ‘Relax’, or ‘Peace’.  You choose the word that works best for you.