Calm yourself by slowing down your breathing and taking long belly breaths. When your emotions aren’t helpful, you can change their intensity with controlled breathing. Try watching a funny video, go for a run, or maybe list as many funny or unrealistic best-case outcomes that can come from this. Positive mental breaks can help you calm down and put you in position to refocus on the issue at hand.
Positive feelings help ease the effects of stress, anger, and other negative emotions. So, try to do something that will distract you for a minute or two to help you laugh or feel some other type of positive emotion. For instance, have you ever been really anxious because you were running late and couldn’t find your keys-but after you calmed down you noticed they were on your bed right in front of you the whole time? When you’re overwhelmed with negative emotions, it’s hard to think rationally. When you think the world is falling apart, a positive mental break can help clear your mind. When you see on paper that you or your battle buddy think, “I’ll never get a job” because you failed one test, it helps you to push back and ask, “Is this really the case?”
Getting thoughts out of your head and onto paper helps you take a clearer view of things. Here are 3 strategies that can help if you or others are struggling with catastrophic thinking. The jumps between thoughts often seem sensible and lead to a logical, final outcome-even though it might be extreme from what will actually happen.
“If I lose a connection with my kids, I’ll completely fall apart and die alone.”. “If my spouse leaves, then they’ll likely get custody of the kids, and I’ll lose touch with them.”. “If I lose my job, then my spouse will get fed up and finally leave me.”. “If I can’t handle all that pressure, then I’ll eventually get chaptered out of the military.”. “If my career becomes a mess, then my spouse will get mad, causing even more pressure to build up.”. “If I get an article 15, then it’s going to cause major problems with my career.”. “I failed to report, and it could result in me getting an article 15.”. Look at the example below to learn how this works. However, when you catastrophize, your brain is making small, sometimes logical, “if.then” connections that slowly build up to an irrational worst-case outcome. The jump from “failing to report one time” to “I’m going to die alone” might seem extreme and unlikely. The upshot is that there are ways to notice, understand, and manage things when you or someone you care about is catastrophizing. And even though their fears might be unreasonable, in that moment they seem real. You might think they’re being ridiculous and want to tell them to snap out of it, but what’s really happening is they’re catastrophizing-or magnifying a situation and getting stuck in irrational worst-case fears. *From his book, The Art of Possibility, which he co-wrote with Rosamund Stone Zander.Imagine your battle buddy is upset, calls you, and says, “I’m going to die alone” because they failed to report one time. losers instead of embracing possibility)? Next time you find yourself thinking that way, give Benjamin Zander’s suggestions a go and see if they help you navigate around the downward spiral. Remember Rule 6*: “Don’t take yourself so damn seriously.”Įxtra Credit: When was the last time you fell victim to the downward spiral (i.e. This unleashes others’ potential by having them set their own goals and aspirations. When everyone starts with an A, they work hard to prove they’re worth the good grade. Asking who am I being? This causes us to shift from blaming others to changing ourselves to achieve the outcomes we desire. Our frames of reference and stories (i.e., Mindset) can limit our ability to live in possibility. This refers to the frames of reference and the stories we carry in our minds when looking at the world. Remembering it’s all invented (by you). Now that you know what it is, you’ll recognize it. 
Develop awareness of it in yourself and others. #DOWNWARD SPIRAL HOW TO#
The downward spiral is a series of thoughts or actions that negatively feed into themselves, causing a situation to become progressively worse.īenjamin Zander came to Studio/E and shared with us the following insights on how to battle the downward spiral: These stories are defined by our Mindset, and Mindset can be easily influenced by the downward spiral. We tell ourselves stories that construct our personal senses of reality.
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