A Simple Anti-Stress Anchor

An “anchor” in people terms is a reminder – something that helps your remember something else in a moment of crisis.

Examples of anchors can be things, like a lucky rabbit’s foot, or a medallion of a saint; a picture of a loved one or the old fashioned knot in the handkerchief.

Anchors can also be certain gestures and movements; when you do these, you are reminded of a different state of being, a different way of thinking.

This is extremely easy and very, very useful – we are going to make a simple anti-stress anchor for a particular situation where you ALWAYS get really stressed out and where some thing that would bring you back down to Earth and calm you down would be not just very welcome, but also very useful so you make better decisions and feel more in control of yourself generally.

So, think of a situation that occurs regularly and gets your regularly stressed out – angry, depressed, frightened, that’s all stress by so many other means.

Have you got such a situation? Can you see where it gets started, how you get wound up, and can you remember what that feels like as the stress is rising up?

Good.

Now let’s choose an anchor for you – and I suggest we use something simple but effective, such as clapping your hands, three times.

The first clap is for STOP.

The second clap is for THINK.

The third clap is for RELAX.

Do it now for practice, three times through, and quite quickly.

• Clap and say STOP! Blow your breath out through pursed lips for as long as it will go.
• Take a deep breath, clap and say THINK! blow your breath out as before.
• Take a deep breath, clap and say RELAX! blow your breath out as before.

Finish by taking a deep breath in through your nose.

Excellent … and remember to use this quite a bit because every time you use an anchor, it gets stronger and stronger; eventually, you just have to think about clapping and it’ll work like charm as well.

You will feel the "stepping down", the release of stress burdens right away.

You can also do this round and round, in a rhythmic fashion, if you need to expell physical energy too, STOP - THINK - RELAX!

Because you are getting physical movement and touch involved, this is quite a bit more effective than just counting down from 7 to calm down.