A toolkit for calm

With everyday stress levels rising, having a toolkit for calm in our lives could be the key to our happiness

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A toolkit for calm

Weโ€™ve all been there; everythingโ€™s going smoothly and then, bam, crisis hits. Whether itโ€™s a family feud or a financial blow, that sense of panic can floor us.

Keep this toolkit for calm to mind when things go off course…

1. How have you been feeling lately?

  • On edge, trying hard to keep up?
  • Forever trapped in a downward spiral?
  • Constantly firefighting?
  • Filled with an omnipresent sense of dread?
  • Unable to make any decisions?
  • Exhausted and desperately wanting to get away from it all?
  • Withdrawn, or frustrated with people around you?

2. What’s getting in the way of calm for you? 

  • Emotional experience? Our earliest memories of dealing with problems become the guide we follow as adults when anxiety sets in.
  • You bottle it up? You can keep painting over the cracks but, eventually, you have to strip the walls and start again.
  • You take on too much? When you push yourself beyond your limits and demands outweigh resources, you need to make space to create balance.

3. Real Calm, true freedom

โ€˜We believe that creating calm in our life starts with becoming more self-aware,โ€™ says Psychologies Editor, Suzy Greaves. Real Calm gives you tools, tests, techniques and questions to help you to make the right kind of changes. โ€˜You canโ€™t always control what happens, but true calm is about empowering yourself to decide how you react to these situations. And that is the ultimate freedom.โ€™

Our new book, Real Calm, is out now. Pick up your copy at WHSmith for ยฃ9.99. 

Photograph: iStock