PsychSense: Sensible Psychological Solutions

Here are 8 quick tips that will help you stay calm, communicate well, and provide psychological or Mental Health First Aid in and emergency or crisis.

Remember the story of the emperor’s new clothes?  Although this is a fairy tale, there are some important principles about human behavior that can be learned from it. One lesson is that if you want to believe something badly enough, you can convince yourself (and others) that it is true. This idea can be used to help you stay calm during a crisis. Here are some tips about making yourself believe in yourself.!  Fake  it till you make it!

1. Take a few seconds to look the situation over and do some self talk.
2. Imagine someone you admire is watching you
3. Act as if you are very much in control. This will actually make you feel more in control.
4. Pretend you are very confident and powerful
5. Exaggerate your calmness
6. Force yourself to talk slow, articulate clearly.
7. Be aware of your breathing, breath deep and slow.
8. Make deliberate calculated movements. You may wish to exaggerate them.

In my next post I will tell you how I learned to do this and how I used these tips to do a great job (and feel good about myself afterwards)